Although mushrooms are primarily found in meadows and forest floors, under the right conditions the spore plants often appear in vegetable patches. In principle, they do not affect the growth or he alth value of vegetables, but they still bother some gardeners. Read below how you can counteract unwanted fungal growth in your garden.
How can you remove and prevent fungus in the vegetable patch?
To combat fungi in the vegetable bed, loosen the substrate, install drainage, sprinkle stone dust or fine sand, supplement nutrients, enrich acidic soil with lime and remove pieces of wood or tree stumps near the bed. Carefully remove the fungus and its spores from the soil.
Removing mushrooms?
Of course you have to remove mold from the vegetable patch. However, if it is a normal spore fungus that can also be found in the forest or in meadows, combating it is only necessary for visual reasons. Its appearance has no effect on the yield of your vegetables. However, these mushrooms are definitely not suitable for consumption. It is particularly advisable to remove the fungus if children or pets often move around the garden unattended.
Fighting fungi
Mushrooms in the vegetable patch indicate an ecological imbalance. In this case, you are providing the fungus with a harmonious habitat through care errors. Since fungi are also part of a biotope, you should never use chemical agents to combat them.
Note: It is hardly possible to completely remove a mushroom from the garden. Rain and insects cause the pores to spread and become lodged in the ground.
What conditions promote fungal growth?
- Using traditional potting soil
- Waterlogging after rainy summer months
- shady locations
- heavy, nutrient-poor soils
- dead pieces of wood in the earth
Measures
- loosen the substrate in the bed (to avoid damaging the vegetable plants, we recommend using a fork)
- Install drainage to prevent waterlogging
- Sprinkle stone dust or fine sand onto the bed
- Check the nutrient content of the soil using a test strip (€25.00 on Amazon) and supplement the missing minerals with a fertilizer
- enrich acidic soil (pH value below 5) with lime
- remove coarse pieces from the bed
- Do not plant the vegetable bed in the immediate vicinity of tree stumps
- Don't cut off the mushroom, but carefully dig it out of the ground together with the spores
