There is a fungus among us.

[ddmckee54]

Saw a couple of white blobs on my neighbor’s yard Monday morning, almost looked like grocery sacks. This is what they turned into and there’s 3 of them. Don’t know if they’re toadstools or mushrooms, I’m an engineer – not a botanist.

This is the biggest, that’s a 12 oz. can beside it.

Another look at the biggest, changed the orientation of the can for a better scale reference.

This is the smallest in diameter, but it’s the tallest. (No I didn’t give them a V8, it’s just the best thing I had for a size reference.)

Another view of the tallest.

Just hope those giant mutant fungi don’t start taking over MY lawn. I don’t think we need a slogan like this: Manchester – Home of the Killer mushrooms.

Don

 

[GreenTwin]

Some mushrooms are edible, and some are not.

I have read quite a few stories of someone finding some wild mushrooms, using them to make soup, and then killing multiple people who eat the soup. The toxic ones can be extremely toxic.

I generally avoid mushrooms just because they don't quite seem like meat, or vegetable, or anything else I can relate to.

And in the drug world, some varieties will cause wild halucinations, with the person sometimes randomly attacking strangers.

And I think caves are the best environment for growing them, since they don't need light to grow.
Very odd items for sure.

.

 

[Lloyd-ss]

Saw a couple of white blobs on my neighbor’s yard Monday morning, almost looked like grocery sacks. This is what they turned into and there’s 3 of them. Don’t know if they’re toadstools or mushrooms, I’m an engineer – not a botanist.

This is the biggest, that’s a 12 oz. can beside it.
View attachment 158001

Another look at the biggest, changed the orientation of the can for a better scale reference.
View attachment 158002

This is the smallest in diameter, but it’s the tallest. (No I didn’t give them a V8, it’s just the best thing I had for a size reference.)
View attachment 158003

Another view of the tallest.
View attachment 158004


Just hope those giant mutant fungi don’t start taking over MY lawn. I don’t think we need a slogan like this: Manchester – Home of the Killer mushrooms.

Don

Nice! Do they have gills on the bottom? See how quickly they change shape in the next few days and keep us updated.
We are having a bad drought where I live and definitely no mushrooms. Those a big enough where you only need one per person. I wouldn't care for any, thank you.

 

[TonyM]

Where I live we have a saying. 'All mushrooms are edible - some of them only once'

Just make sure you know which ones you are eating.

 

[Steamchick]

It is a "toadstool". A conical head is not to be eaten - or so I was told as a child. They are the ones the garden gnomes sit on and laugh at the "big people".. so the fungi are not a pest - just the gnomes who move things around the garage/workshop and hide them where you knew they should not be! - They are just having fun. And the gnomes do look nice when you spot them sitting in the sun and chuckling.... Gnomes are harmless. Not what you can say about the toadstools! (Incidentally, no-one has ever reported seeing a Toad using one as a stool... - That is just a myth! - Believe it or not.).
"Pass me some more of that Magic Mushroom soup please..."
K2
P.S. Extracted from Gardeners World...
For most of the year fungi are present as string-like mycelium, which usually lives underground. Usually all we see only the fruiting bodies, known as mushrooms, which cast spores into the air to colonise new spaces. Mushrooms come in a variety of beautiful shapes and sizes.
The British Isles are home to a phenomenal 15,000 species of fungi and wild mushrooms, found in a range of habitats but most often in woodlands, fields and grassland – you may be lucky enough to find some growing in your own garden.
Mushrooms growing in the garden are usually a good thing, living among healthy soil and decomposing wood and other organic matter, such as leaf litter. They are part of a healthy ecosystem and provide food for a range of species including squirrels and beetles. Common types of fungi include fairy ring fungus (Marasmius oreades), which grows in lawns and causes no damage.
The main thing when finding fungi in the garden for the first time, is to not panic. Remember that most fungi is good and a natural, and healthy part of the ecosystem. Take time to identify which species you have and enjoy seeing which species come along to eat it.
Never eat a mushroom that you can't confidently identify.

Field mushroom (Agaricus campestris)​

Field mushroom (Agaricus campestris)
Cap: 4-10cm across, convex, domed, expands slowly, smooth white to start, scales peel as it ages. (Rounded).
Stem: short and white, narrows at base.
Ring: thin.
Gills: pink to start, turning chocolate brown to deep black.
Edibility: edible.

Fairy ring mushroom (Marasmius oreades)​

Fairy ring mushroom (Marasmius oreades)
Cap: 2-5cm across, pale brown convex dome, becoming floppy, with edges wrinkled or grooved.
Stem: narrow.
Gills: whitish. Occurs in large, gradually expanding rings in lawns.
Edibility: edible, but can be confused with other, poisonous, species. Fairies are not know to dance around poisonous varieties... At least I've not read of any sightings...

Honey Fungus - Destructive to gardens.

Honey fungus can wreak havoc in gardens. Named after its honey-coloured mushrooms, which sometimes appear in late summer and autumn, it comprises several species in the Armillaria genus, which spread underground and attack and kill the roots of woody and perennial plants.

Most woody and herbaceous perennials are at risk from honey fungus, including birch, hydrangea, privet, apple, pear, magnolia and beech. Roses, flowering currant, willow and viburnum seem particularly vulnerable.

But this may be your fungus... Note the more conical shape of the head...

Destroying angel (Amanita virosa)​

Beautiful but dangerous. Destroying angel can be found in mixed broadleaf and birch woodland.
Credit: Blickwinkel / Alamy Stock Photo

A pure white, deadly poisonous mushroom. Apparently, just a piece of destroying angel in a soup made from otherwise edible species is enough to kill everyone who eats the soup.
Where: broadleaved and mixed woodland, especially birch woodland. It grows on the ground.
When: July to November.
Symptoms: contains deadly amatoxin poisons. Effects are seen eight to 24 hours after ingestion and include vomiting, diarrhoea, and severe stomach pains. There may be a deceiving period of improvement before the second effects of liver and kidney poisoning occur.

I may be wrong, because I am in no way a mushroom expert!
But don't eat it... I have had these on my lawn, but the domed type, and those may be edible. - But I won't risk it! - The largest I recorded was 12inches across! Usually appear the season after I have been shredding wood on the lawn, so the sawdust is their natural "food". I have also had some lovely fairy rings, but not (yet) spotted the fairies at night dancing in the moonlight...
D.S.

 

[ddmckee54]

Since I've got no clue if they are edible or not, they will most assuredly NOT be on my menu.

As far as how fast they grew:
I think Sunday evening was the first time I saw them. At first I thought they were what we refer to around here as puffballs, those get to golf-ball size or a little larger. Monday morning they were WAY bigger but still not much higher than the grass, and I was thinking those are gonna be some BIG puffballs. Monday evening when I got home from work they looked more like crumpled up plastic bags that had blown onto the yard, but still at grass level. Tuesday morning, the tall one had grown to about its' present height. None of the 3 have gotten much taller or larger in diameter. The neighbors usually mow the lawn mid-week, so I'm not expecting them to survive much longer.

 

[The Ignoble Troll]

The non decomposing mushrooms are often part of the microryzal network, which supplies surrounding plants with nutrients in exchange for other things, making them highly beneficial.

The destroying angel is a microryzal powerhouse supporting near by trees with nutrients.

The reproductive mushroom caps, that you see, grow so fast because they have kilo after kilo of supporting organism.

My personal favorite (to eat) mushroom is the oyster mushroom which is also an active carnivore as well as a decomposer.

 

[Richard Hed]

Saw a couple of white blobs on my neighbor’s yard Monday morning, almost looked like grocery sacks. This is what they turned into and there’s 3 of them. Don’t know if they’re toadstools or mushrooms, I’m an engineer – not a botanist.

This is the biggest, that’s a 12 oz. can beside it.
View attachment 158001

Another look at the biggest, changed the orientation of the can for a better scale reference.
View attachment 158002

This is the smallest in diameter, but it’s the tallest. (No I didn’t give them a V8, it’s just the best thing I had for a size reference.)
View attachment 158003

Another view of the tallest.
View attachment 158004


Just hope those giant mutant fungi don’t start taking over MY lawn. I don’t think we need a slogan like this: Manchester – Home of the Killer mushrooms.

Don

IT looks like a completely edible mushroom. Cannot tell, of course, from a photo. But in US, there is one that looks similarly called a "shaggy mane". I don't believe shaggy has anything to do with the bedroom. The shaggy mane is very expensive. Don't remember if the shaggy has a cone of that shape when it gets mature. It looks more like a rocket shape when it is to be pickt to eat.

For your information, the largest organism in the known world happens to (allegedly) be in Oregon--the mass of a mushroom -- that is, the underground body of the mushroom which is several hundred miles large. It is said that in a forest, half of the mass of biological material is underground and it turns out that most of that is mushroom body. What we see is only the methot of the body to get spores out to reeproduce. It is also, apparently, a disaster when a forest is cut down, not because of the obvious destruction, but rather that it kills the mushroom body which the forest needs to be healthy. The the forest and mushroom are symbiotic.

An instance of stupidity and ignorance is the Philippines where every stick of available wood is used for cooking, but the result is terrible soil because for good soil, there needs to be a balance of micro-organisms which depend of mushroom body which depends on wood sticks for food which depends on micro-organisms and mushroom body . . . . and on and on and on. The lesson to be learned is: leave some wood to rot. This also took place in the Schwartzwald (black forest) in Germany. The people were harvesting every stick--the forest began to die.

my recommendation? Encourage whatever mushroom that is to grow in your yard.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Don't eat it. It will kill you.

 

[RonGinger]

Is there any danger in mowing over an area of mushrooms? Mowing kicks up dust clouds so can some of the mushroom 'bad stuff' be carried in the air?

 

[Brian Rupnow]

The brown dust kicked up into the air will contain "spores". If you inhale the spores, they flourish in your upper lungs---perfect temperature, lots of oxygen being inhaled. Chances of it happening are slim, but it does happen.

 

[Steamchick]

You could wear a COVID mask - They are good for working in dusty areas. But Fungal spores (like the COVID VIRUS!) are so small they will pass through the mask. - or almost any regular monkey filter, etc. You NEED a filter smaller than 4 microns....
BUT if you mash the fungus with a gallon of water, the spores will be in the mash - not dry and able to get into the air. AND grow again next time there is suitable rotten stuff to grow on...
So I would:
1 - Carefully cover the fungus in a large polythene waste bag/bin bag.
2 - Grip the stem to close the bag below the crown with the brown fins beneath - that's where the spores are.
3 - Break-off the stem at earth level.
4 - invert and poke the stem into the bag and close it completely.
5 - Bin-it - or micro-wave it to mush! (Above 65 degrees C. should kill the spores, not the toxins though). The Mush is the toxic stuff, the spores can get in your lungs.
6 - DO NOT get any residue near your mouth at any time!
7 - Wear disposable gloves, dispose of gloves by handling carefully (inside a polythene disposable bag). Wash hands well with a good soap.
Better still, ask a Toxicologist on-line, not an Engineer... it's their job handling Toxic stuff.
Or just don't go near it...
K2

 

[Mark_1984]

If ask on a fungus forum or Facebook group for more reliable info.

However, where did you get the V8 juice. I haven’t seen it in the shops for ages!

 

[ddmckee54]

Like I said, these are in my neighbor's lawn, I'm not gonna mow or eat them.

On a side note:
That neighbor, Bill, passed away over a month ago and the grandkids are getting the property ready for sale. Bill served as a Marine in Korea, the Marine flag still flies below the American flag on his flagpole. Never did get up the nerve to ask if he was among the Chosin Few - too late now. Anyway, one night many years ago while surfing the Interwebb I came across a Marine gnome is dress blues. When I quit laughing, I said "I gotta get this for Bill." When I got the gnome I snuck it over to his house and put it on his porch - at about 2AM. All the time hoping that a cop didn't drive by and hit his lights and siren to wake everybody up. We live close to the swimming pool so the cops DO drive by. Bill harassed just about everybody trying to find out where the gnome came from. A few years later I found a female Marine gnome, also in dress blues - 2nd verse same as the first.

I found out from another neighbor a few weeks ago that Bill had passed, he was at least 93 and in a rest home so it wasn't unexpected. We got to talking about Bill and I asked if he ever figured out who gave him the gnomes. When she said that he never did but he accused many people of doing the deed, I confessed to being the culprit. Last weekend I was talking to one of the grandkids and he said that he had heard I was the "gnome man". He also told me that I "got Bill good" because he never knew how they showed up on his porch. He then asked if I would like them back, my answer - "You betcha".

So last Saturday the Marine gnomes left Bill's property and took up residence guarding my front door. Last Sunday the fungi showed up in Bill's lawn, coincidence - I THINK NOT! The gnomes were guarding Bill's property against the evil fungi, and now they are guarding mine.

 

[The Ignoble Troll]

The brown dust kicked up into the air will contain "spores". If you inhale the spores, they flourish in your upper lungs---perfect temperature, lots of oxygen being inhaled. Chances of it happening are slim, but it does happen.

This is less likely then brain eating amoebas entering your brain via the nose while swimming in a lake.

Some people have allergenic responses to certain fungi and some spores do carry toxins but a toadstool is not going to colonize your lung.

 

[ddmckee54]

Mark_1984:

My local Sam's Club sells V8 by the flat, with 24 cans/flat. I pick up a couple flats a month. Sam's club is in most states, so you might get lucky and be able to get/order some?

Don

 

[Richard Hed]

You could wear a COVID mask - They are good for working in dusty areas. But Fungal spores (like the COVID VIRUS!) are so small they will pass through the mask. - or almost any regular monkey filter, etc. You NEED a filter smaller than 4 microns....
BUT if you mash the fungus with a gallon of water, the spores will be in the mash - not dry and able to get into the air. AND grow again next time there is suitable rotten stuff to grow on...
So I would:
1 - Carefully cover the fungus in a large polythene waste bag/bin bag.
2 - Grip the stem to close the bag below the crown with the brown fins beneath - that's where the spores are.
3 - Break-off the stem at earth level.
4 - invert and poke the stem into the bag and close it completely.
5 - Bin-it - or micro-wave it to mush! (Above 65 degrees C. should kill the spores, not the toxins though). The Mush is the toxic stuff, the spores can get in your lungs.
6 - DO NOT get any residue near your mouth at any time!
7 - Wear disposable gloves, dispose of gloves by handling carefully (inside a polythene disposable bag). Wash hands well with a good soap.
Better still, ask a Toxicologist on-line, not an Engineer... it's their job handling Toxic stuff.
Or just don't go near it...
K2

I disagree completely. My advice: leave it alone and let it do it's thing. The spores are there for a reason. This type of mushroom does NOT have a puffball, it will drop it's spores from the gills at the bottom. Leave it alone.

 

[Gedeon Spilett]

this mushroom seems to be Lepiota cristata, definitively not edible, although not very dangerous.
and by the way Fungi are not animals, nor are they plants: they're a phylum in their own right, they are not autotrophic, no photosynthesis as plant do, they're saprophyte organisms.

 

[Steamchick]

Good to see the engines running! especially the variable speed drive.
AND glad to know I did the right thing by not eating my garden fungus! Mine was flat, white, and 10 - 25cm across - possible a funnel mushroom?
K2

 

[The Ignoble Troll]

Generally dig about the mushrooms base and see if it swells below the ground like a bulb AND has a skirt, if yes to both it's probably deadly. The lack of a bulb doesn't mean it's safe but finding it and a skirt generally mean it is in the destroying angel family. Rumored to be very tasty yet 100% fatal.

Orange peel fungus and lions mane are the safest in my opinion, because they lack any toxic look a likes.