August 'shrooms

Heat + rain + humidity = mushrooms

Written/compiled by Lynn Hobbs, photos by Michael Olivere

The month of August in Georgia typically is not a Southerner’s favorite time of year.

Southerners can define the terms humidity, heat index, hot as hades, and scorcher, from the

time they are born. People who relocate to Georgia learn the same vocabulary on their first August day here.

In most of the state, precipitation can be flood or drought levels, depending on where one lives or if a hurricane is passing through. In Middle Georgia’s Lake Country, moisture from the lakes seems to create daily rain showers and high humidity. These conditions result in mushrooms popping up everywhere, according to UGA Extension Agent Ashley Best, of Newton County. “Mushrooms ae fascinating and completely harmless if left alone,” Ashley says in her article, “Fungus Among Us.”

When Lakelife reader Michael Aramini Olivere sent several pictures of mushrooms from around the Great Waters community, I contacted Ashley for assistance in identifying them. As is always the case with the UGA Cooperative Extension, I learned much more than I realized I would.

“First and foremost, we cannot positively identify mushrooms from a picture,” said plant pathologist Jean Williams-Woodard, to whom Ashley had directed me. “Even if we can identify the mushroom in the picture, there is no guarantee that the mushroom growing right next to the one imaged is the same species. So, one may be ok and the other highly toxic. For this reason, I never comment on the edibility of a mushroom from an image.”

Both women shared their favorite saying about mushrooms:

“All mushrooms are edible, just some are only edible once!”

So, people with young children or pets generally want to remove mushrooms from their yard.

According to “Fungus Among Us”:  “Mushrooms usually emerge when rain follows extended dry periods. Dry weather stresses the fungi, and when water becomes available, it triggers the reproductive mechanism and mushrooms pop up. To keep the mushrooms from popping up, irrigate your lawn if it gets too dry. The moisture will keep the fungus underground and it will not produce the mushrooms.

“To rid your lawn of mushrooms, pull them up, kick them over, or run over them with a lawn mower. This will keep them from releasing the spores that spread the fungi. Aerate your lawn to prevent further damage to your turfgrass.”

Ashley writes that “mushrooms are beneficial to the local ecosystems and aid in breaking down dead organic materials to provide nutrients for other plants.

“It is nearly impossible to remove all fungus from your landscape and there is no chemical that will kill them all. You can remove the favorable conditions for fungal growths in your areas. Remove wood and leaf piles, buried wood and dead roots. Be sure to de-thatch and aerate the lawn and don’t mulch more than 2-inches thick.”

For more information or if you have questions, contact your local county Cooperative Extension office (Greene 706-453-2083, Morgan 706-342-2214, Putnam 706-485-4151, Baldwin 478 -445-4394).

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This story appeared in Lakelife magazine, Volume 19, Issue 4 and is the property of Smith Communications, Inc. No portions of the story or photos may be copied or used without written consent from the publisher.