Hi all. I built a Back-to-Eden style terraced garden, and mushrooms have invaded. While I know it can definitely be beneficial to have them in there and it indicates I have good soil going, I'm concerned that they are choking off some of my plants (namely a marigold and a tomato). They also are sort of sticking to leaves of different plants. The caps seem to get wet and sticky pretty quickly. The woodchips around them are darker and the area smells heavily of mushrooms. I also have no idea what kind of mushrooms they are and if I should be worried about any toxicity. I doubt it, but I still worry! I've taken several photos....can anyone help identify these, and let me know if there is a solution or if it's just fine to leave as is? Thanks!
I don't know what they are but I had ones just like that come up around the tomatoes I put bark mulch around and everything was fine. You can see they're fruiting and dying pretty quickly. I wouldn't worry.
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We had the same mushrooms growing in the woodchips from the local tree cutter.They disappeared i think cause weather got hot and dry. This is Southern California. Lawton talks about mushrooms in the mulch also in Jordan . The mycelium counteracts the salinity in the soil, which is a very good thing. Any snails or earwigs too?
A common site in deep mulch; they are 'Inky Caps' (Coprinopsis atramentaria). They are 100% beneficial for your garden and even edible and delicious if you get to them fast enough. They are an itinerant saprotrophic mushroom similar to and often mistaken for Shaggy Manes. As with Shaggy Manes you only have a window of several hours to harvest and prepare them before they rot away. Just be sure to avoid booze if you do eat them as they used to be known as 'Tippler's Bane' since mixing them with alcohol can cause serious problems.
thank you for replies! i love this website. that is great to know that they are beneficial. unfortunately, i definitely drink so i will probably avoid eating them. i also had another suggestion of putting in another mushroom variety like wine caps and hoping it outcompetes these ones. i was going to do that anyway but hadn't gotten to it yet. at least i can eat those and enjoy a beer!
I will add my location, just haven't gotten around to beefing up my profile here. You're in Vermont too CJ? Where at?
About eating those mushrooms with alcohol, can they be consumed at a meal where you don't have booze, but then you'll still be fine if you drink later in the day? Or is it like, if you drink at all, don't eat these?
We had an outbreak of earwigs also this spring which i believe from too much wetness. They disappeared after we dried out the mulch. Snails are also a sign of too much watering/rain. Anyone ideas of watering with a layer of mulch. New mulch also seems to have baby plant eating critters, i found. Better let mulch mellow a little before seeding.
The inky caps will show up every time it rains. At least that's what mine do. I've never seen any harm come from them. They do an awesome job of breaking down mulch. I get them in grass, hay, straw, wood chips and even in some shredded paper. They are prolific and fleeting. Popping up in the early morning and gone by noon makes them kinda neat too. you can almost see them moving. Almost
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