Fungi

Symptoms

Individual fungi or clusters of toadstools appear in the garden, often after a spell of warm, wet weather.

Find it on: lawns, trees, just about anywhere around the garden

Time to act: all year round

Problem categories

Overview

Don't panic the moment you find fungi in the garden. They thrive in moist, warm conditions and many are harmless. The two most damaging are the honey-coloured honey fungus and fairy rings. The former is a killer and spreads through the soil between diseased and healthy plants via tough, leathery, bootlace-like rhizomorphs. Fairy rings attack grass roots and produce brown toadstools in summer.

Solution

Individual fungi or clusters of toadstools appear in the garden, often after a spell of warm, wet weather.

Organic

With honey fungus, remove and destroy the entire root system, as well as the stump of the affected plants and any adjacent planting to at least 1.2m either side. You'll also need to remove the surrounding soil and replace it with fresh. With fairy rings, remove the affected turf and soil, and replace.

Discuss this problem

Talkback: Fungi

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Python15 24/11/2011 at 15:28

I have a type of fungus growing on my lawn that I'm unable to identify. It is of a dark grey colour on the upper surgace and ceamy white underneath and growns very close to the surface of the lawn. It has small "leaves" if you like, that look similar to curly kale leaves. What is this invader and how do I get rid of it? I was told once that it was called dog's wort but can't find any reference to this.

Doran 24/11/2011 at 15:28

I too have the same fungi asPython15 who wrote on 15/6/09. Can you tell me how to get rid of it.

Eve2702 24/11/2011 at 15:28

We have a siniar problem in our lawn. Nobody seems to know what it is. Can you help please or did Python 15 or Doran ever discover what this pest is?

neil0968 24/11/2011 at 15:28

We had the same, took ages to identify. None of the local garden centres knew what we had. We found it eventually on the net and was called dog lichen. Treatment is the same as for moss, scarification, aeration and feed and weed.

P.Watts 24/11/2011 at 15:29

How to get rid of clover which is taking over our lawn

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