Lawn Maintenance: Preventing Mushroom Invasion

Among the many reasons why many homeowners continue to seek more effective lawn maintenance strategies is to prevent mushroom invasion. Like weeds and unwanted grass, mushrooms often grow in lawns and yards along with other types of fungi. In fact, these are commonly considered by experts as a natural part of lawns.

Lawn Maintenance Tips

How mushrooms benefit lawns

Believe it or not, mushrooms and fungi actually benefit lawns. And in many cases, lawn maintenance experts will not suggest removing them, especially if they do not exist in large quantities. These organisms serve an important role in the soil food chain that helps keep your lawn and grass healthy.

What mushrooms do is they feed and break down organic matter that exists in your soil. The organic matter may come from old roots, remnants of buried wood, branches and thatch. As they do this, they recycle the nutrients from the organic matter and bring it back to the soil for your grass and plants.

You will be surprised at how big mushrooms grow. The mushroom cap that you see peeking through your grass and lawn are just small parts of a larger organism that is buried in your lawn. This larger organism is what actually feeds on the dead organic matter in your soil.

Removing mushrooms and fungi

Like what is mentioned earlier, experts will often recommend leaving mushrooms alone on your lawn. In many cases, their presence does not negatively affect your lawn and plants. But if you really want to remove them, you will have to hire a professional. Conner’s Lawn Care Service will work to identify the specific species of mushroom that is growing in your lawn by looking at their size, color and shape. Learning about their species will help professionals determine the appropriate strategy to remove them from your lawn.

The only time lawn care in Myrtle Beach will recommend removing them is when they grow into larger quantities that follow a circular pattern. This is what is often referred to as fairy rings. And the first obvious sign of a fairy ring in your lawn is when you see darker portions of your grass in the lawn.

Fairy rings become a huge lawn problem because the fungi that create fairy rings release unwanted nutrients back into the soil after they feed and decompose organic matter in the soil. One of these nutrients is nitrogen, which can negatively affect your grass and plants. This is what actually causes your grass to become darker in color. If not kept in check, fairy rings can grow bigger and larger until it consumes your entire lawn.

Industry experts will recommend the use of fungicides along with continuous aeration of the lawn to treat and effectively remove fairy rings. Regularly aerating the lawn, especially in the area where the fairy rings exist, will allow more water to penetrate in the soil and this is what will help prevent the growth of the fungi.

Looking for professional lawn maintenance assistance? Call Conner’s Lawn Care Service now.

Conner’s Lawn Care Service
Myrtle Beach, SC
843-504-4901
http://connerslawncare.com/