Home Depot: How to ready your lawn for Spring
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Mushrooms can be frustrating for green-fingered gardeners who pride themselves on a lovely looking lawn. Mushrooms and fungi can look unsightly and quickly make the garden look like a wild woodland. However, the issue of mushrooms growing in the lawn can be easily fixed once gardeners know how to do it.
While mushrooms may be unsightly on your lawn, they are actually a sign that the grass is thriving.
David Hedges-Gower, Chairman of The Lawn Association explained that mushrooms are a “good sign” in a lawn.
He said: “They show that soils are alive with fungus and bacteria.
“In other words, the mushrooms are telling you that your grass is healthy.
“But of course, some types give off a fruiting body, which can be irritating on your lawn.
“Many assume that using a fungicide would be the answer, but far from it.”
For those who want to find out how to get rid of mushrooms in the grass, follow these simple chemical-free steps and improve the overall appearance of lawns.
Not only will these methods get rid of the fungi fruit, they will boost the health of the lawn, producing a more lush, dense grass blades.
Water the lawn to reduce mushrooms
Lawns can form “fairy rings” which are circular areas of denser, greener grass or dead grass caused by Basidiomycetes fungi.
For those who dislike them, one of the best ways to treat them is watering.
Sandy Reid, Director of Greenkeeping at the St Andrews golf courses in Scotland, shared that these “rings” can be “very unsightly” and if left unmanaged and result in “dead grass”.
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He said: “There is no effective chemical treatment available, so the most successful practice we employ is to try to maintain soil moisture levels at 18 to 22 percent, as extreme fluctuations in soil moisture usually triggers fairy ring activity.
“We also target active fairy rings with hand watering to help reduce hydrophobicity in the soil, as it is this that leads to grass death.”
Various kinds of mushrooms can form fairy rings, including some that are edible and some that are poisonous.
Add air to the lawn soil
One of the simplest ways of getting rid of fungi’s visible fruit is to give lawns some regular TLC by aerating it, according to David.
He said: “Adding large quantities of oxygen into the soil will not only help the lawn roots, drainage, moss control, and more, it will also increase the number of fungi and bacteria that will fight against the fruiting fungi.
“Keep chemicals away as all they do is damage the soil.”
This essentially means making holes in the lawn at intervals to reduce compaction and in turn boost the grass health.
If using a regular long-handled garden fork, do it annually in early autumn.
For those using a hollow tine aerator, do it every two to four years.
Gardeners can also hire machines to aerate large lawns.
Removing mushrooms on the surface
Although the main body of fungus is a network under the grass, the visible part or “fruit” – the mushroom cap and stalk – can be removed.
Peter Landschoot, Professor of Turfgrass Science at Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences explained how different sized mushrooms can be destroyed.
He said: “Large mushrooms can be destroyed by mowing.
“Smaller mushrooms can be dislodged by raking or by simply kicking them out of the turf.”
Alternatively, gardeners can pluck mushrooms out by hand if they are wearing gloves and some fungi are poisonous.
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