How to Stop Mushrooms From Growing All Over Your Lawn

After a period of wet and humid weather, mushrooms may be an almost inevitable sight in your garden beds or yard. While there's nothing you can do about the forecast, you can learn how to stop mushrooms from growing in your lawn. While mushrooms can be a sign that your soil is fertile, they can ruin your curb appeal and potentially signal an issue with your landscaping's drainage, light, and aeration. Not to mention, some mushroom species are toxic—and if you have small children or pets at home, that's reason enough to want them gone.

Once you know the prime spots for mushrooms on your property, you can treat and maintain the area to help prevent new fruiting bodies from forming. Here's what you need to know about how to stop mushrooms from growing in your lawn.

Before you start plucking out all the fungi you can find in your yard, it’s helpful to know why mushrooms fruit. It starts with the mycelium, a web of filaments that lives under the soil that “fruits” a mushroom (the stem and cap) when it’s time to reproduce. For this to happen, your soil has to have the right blend of moisture and shade to create a mushroom, which will then mature and release spores to germinate new ones.

Getting rid of mushrooms is tricky since the fruiting body is just the tip of the iceberg—the mycelial network beneath the soil also helps to support the larger ecosystem, so you don't want to try to kill it. That said, you can be aware of the most common places where mushrooms sprout in your yard (think moist, shady places) and dig them out as best as you can.

What You'll Need:

• Gardening gloves
• Trowel
• Plastic garbage bag
• Spray bottle
• White vinegar

Step 1: Dig Up the Mushroom

First, make sure to put on your gardening gloves to prevent any skin irritation or contamination from touching potentially toxic mushrooms. Then, dig your trowel right under the mushroom, making sure you get as much of the fruiting body as you can. Try not to break it off at the stem.

Step 2: Dispose of the Mushroom

Immediately dispose of the mushroom in a nearby garbage bag. You can put the mushrooms you collect in your compost pile or composter if you have one; just know that more mushrooms may grow there.

Step 3: Treat the Area

Before you move on to the next 'shroom, give the area a quick spray with a diluted white vinegar solution to discourage future mushrooms from forming there. You can make a solution in any empty spray bottle with one part white vinegar and four parts water.

It’s not enough to just get rid of the mushrooms on the surface of your lawn. While using the white-vinegar spray mentioned above is a great nontoxic solution to prevent mushrooms from sprouting up in the exact place you pulled them from, seeing any mushrooms at all could signal a bigger issue with your yard.

Here's how to stop mushrooms from growing in your lawn once you've pulled up the fruiting bodies:

Keep Your Lawn Trimmed

Hopefully, mowing is already on your regular list of yardwork chores. But a benefit of keeping a trim lawn is that you'll have fewer mushrooms to pull out by hand later. After all, when the grass is too long, the shaded, damp earth provides the perfect conditions for fungi growth. Cool-season grass is best kept from 2.5 to 3 inches long, so mow accordingly.

Rake Regularly

Always rake up excess organic matter or thatch, as mushrooms will feed off decaying matter to release nutrients back into the soil. If you have too many mushrooms already, try raking away grass clippings and leaves, then tackle the 'shrooms by hand.

Water the Yard Less Often

When mushrooms appear, check if you’re overwatering your lawn and cut back accordingly. A good rule of thumb is to give your lawn a scant 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week. You may need to adjust if there's high heat and, of course, don't water at all if there’s rain in the forecast or your soil is already soggy. Keep in mind that your lawn shouldn’t be damp below the first 6 to 8 inches of topsoil.

Aerate Your Soil

Compacted soil impedes water drainage, providing a soggy environment that mushrooms love. This can be caused by foot traffic, mowing, general use, and heavy, wet soil that settles upon itself. A lawn aerator, which pokes small holes in the ground, is an inexpensive way to give your lawn’s soil a break and get back some airflow.

Let Light In

Too much shade can lead to soggy patches, so trim overhanging branches and thick shrubbery that cast long shadows over your lawn. Not only will mushrooms have a harder time thriving, but your grass will also be grateful. After all, a lawn needs sunlight to thrive, just like you.

While mushroom identification is best left to trained mycologists (i.e., don't consume any mushrooms you find in your yard), you may see several types of common varieties in your lawn. Regardless of what you find, try to pull them out while they’re young and before they’ve had a chance to release their spores.

Ringless honey (Desarmillaria caespitosa)

As the name suggests, this mushroom is honey-colored with a convex or flat cap and whitish gills. It tends to grow on wood and is nontoxic.

Fairy ring mushroom (Marasmius oreades)

This is a tan to red-brown mushroom with a knobbed cap and off-white gills. It's nontoxic and tends to grow in clusters.

Haymaker or lawn mower's mushroom (Panaeolina foenisecii)

This mushroom has a slender shape and a convex cap with broad gills. While not an edible mushroom, it's not highly toxic if accidentally ingested.

Destroying angel (Amanita bisporigera)

Often found near oak trees, this is a highly poisonous mushroom. It has a smooth white cap, white gills, and a textured, cottony stem usually with a bulbous base.

False parasol or vomiter mushroom (Chlorophyllum molybdites)

This poisonous mushroom has a white cap with brown speckles that starts rounded but flattens as it grows. It also has white gills that darken to green or gray.

Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria)

While it looks like one of the mushrooms from the Super Mario games, the fly agaric is another toxic mushroom. It has white-spotted yellow or red caps, a ring on its white stem, and white gills.

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