Considering their toxic effects, you probably don\u2019t want death caps growing in your yard, especially if you have pets or young children. Even if you know to avoid the mushrooms, kids and pets are often curious and may accidentally poison themselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nSo, if you\u2019ve got death caps growing in your yard, what can you do about them? Is there anything you can do to get rid of them and keep them from growing back?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, these mushrooms are hardy and invasive. It is possible to get rid of them, but it\u2019s going to take quite a bit of time and effort on your part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s take a look at some things you can do:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Change Yard Conditions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In general, mushrooms prefer shady, moist ground conditions. Death caps are no different, and if the shade in your yard is produced by trees, the mushrooms are even more likely to thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Death caps grow under trees and near tree roots. If you see a lot of them growing near one particular tree, the best way to get rid of them permanently may be to get rid of that tree.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nRemoving trees in general will allow your lawn to get more sunshine. But removing trees alone may leave their roots intact, which will still provide a good environment for death caps to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you can, remove the trees and have their stumps and roots grinded down. This will not only allow more sunshine to reach the ground, but will destroy the symbiotic relationship the mushrooms have with the trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mow Frequently<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Of course, not everyone can afford to have trees removed down to the roots, and not everyone wants to lose the trees in their yard. One way to control the death caps without fully eradicating them is to simply keep them mowed down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Use the lowest blade setting on your mower, and mow over the area every time you see a few death caps starting to appear. This will prevent the mushrooms from being able to produce spores, thus limiting their ability to spread.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nKeeping the mushrooms mowed down will also limit the chances that kids and pets will come in contact with them. Just make sure to rake up and dispose of the mushroom pieces, and keep kids and pets away from freshly mowed areas for a couple of days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Avoid Fertilizers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Contrary to popular belief, adding fertilizer to your yard will not reduce the chance of having mushrooms pop up. Most fertilizers actually make the soil more<\/em> conducive to mushroom growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTo discourage mushrooms from growing in your soil, allow it to dry out as much as possible and skip the fertilizers and composts. <\/strong>Slightly dry patches of soil that receive full sunlight are the most likely to deter mushrooms from growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMake a Vinegar Fungicide<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
White vinegar is sometimes used as a natural fungicide to get rid of mushrooms in the yard. While it\u2019s unclear whether this will effectively kill death caps, vinegar is inexpensive enough that it might be worth a try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mix one part vinegar with two parts water, pour the mixture into a spray bottle, and douse every mushroom you see in your yard. You may have to repeat the process multiple times as new mushrooms sprout. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nPhysically Remove Them<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
As noted above, death caps can be hard to get rid of. If nothing else seems to work, you may have to resort to simply picking them and throwing them away every time you see them popping up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if you\u2019ve tried other methods of getting rid of them, you may want to walk through your yard each day and look for any death caps that may still be growing. If you spot them at any stage of growth, pick them immediately and discard them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nConclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Death cap mushrooms are invasive and spread rapidly. Because they are highly toxic<\/a>, you\u2019ll want to get rid of them if you notice any growing in your yard.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThough it will probably take some time and effort, there are several things you can do to rid your yard of these mushrooms. Removing trees from your yard, allowing the soil to dry out and get plenty of sunshine, mowing over young mushrooms before they can produce spores, and physically removing them are all methods you can try.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You may have heard that death cap mushrooms are responsible for more deaths than any other mushroom. Chances are, if you find them growing in your yard, you\u2019ll want to get rid of them as soon as possible. If you\u2019re wondering how to get rid of death cap mushrooms, you\u2019ve come to the right place. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9540"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9563,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9540\/revisions\/9563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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