Today, I want to cover a question which I often hear from our clients. "Why are there mushrooms growing in my mulch?"
I'm sure there are many scientific reasons for what is happening and what is causing this issue. However, we are only concerned about what damage it could be producing, and how we can prevent this unsightly mushroom garden from appearing.
First of all, you got to understand the reason mushrooms begin growing in the first place. Mushrooms break down excessive organic material in your soil or mulch. It's a good thing to see mushrooms growing in your soil in most circumstances. However, if you have mushrooms growing in your landscape, the first thing you should check for is poor drainage.
When water sits in the mulch for too long, mushrooms begin to grow. This can mean you are overwatering your landscape, or you could have an excessive amount of clay in your soil.
Landscape in Huntsville, Alabama, or Alabama period often has too much clay content.
To explain, briefly, how clay affects your soil, let me break down what really good soil has in it. If you have good soil in your yard, chances are you have a great combination of sand, organic material, and clay. Sand helps the water escape from your soil, so it doesn't become stagnant, organic material feeds the plants, and the clay assists the water in staying long enough for the plant roots to drink it up.
So you see, clay isn't such a bad thing after all.
But, overwatering, an excessively wet season or poor drainage can all cause your mulch to be overly wet, and if it stays like this for too long, mushrooms appear.
So, what do you do wit the mushroom issue?
The first thing is to figure out which one of the problems is the root source of the issue. You can easily make sure the water is draining good or cut back on the watering schedule for your irrigation system. These are both great things to look at.
If it has been raining a lot, you might want to look into a drainage solution.
In the end, unless there is a plant planted in the mushrooms getting too much water or you hate the look of mushrooms, there is no cause for alarm. You can always reduce the amount of mulch in the area. Landscapers use a mulch to help hold moisture in the soil, so decreasing the mulch layer can help to release some of the excess water content.