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Garden

Olfactory assault

Peeeee-yew! If you have to hold your nose when you walk into your yard, a stinkhorn fungus may be lurking in your mulch.

By YVONNE SWANSON
Published December 10, 2005

If the smell in your yard is overpowering - and it will be - you can dig up and dispose of the stinkhorn spores. Their threadlike strands will still be funneling through the mulch, so this won't be the last you'll see of them. There are no chemicals to combat their growth, Volk says, and they can enter your garden in bagged, bulk or recycled mulch. If you are overwatering your mulched beds, you could be contributing to their growth. Experts recommend no more than 1 inch of water per week (from all sources, including rain, irrigated water and hand watering).

If your garden is smelling less than rosy, you could have a serious case of stinkhorn fungus. It's nothing to be ashamed of; in fact, some people are intrigued by the fungi and say it's unusually beautiful.

There are many types of stinkhorn fungus, including the orange squid or octopus stinkhorn (Clathrus columnatus) that has branched fingers and secretes a brown gooey-looking substance that smells worse than it looks. Another common offender is the long, slender dog stinkhorn. What they all have in common is their fetid odor.

The stench from a single stinkhorn fungus can overpower an area as large as 50 feet. The smell is described as rotting flesh, and speaking from firsthand experience in my own garden, it's a smell you won't soon forget. It will clear a garden party faster than a thunderstorm. Other than flies and an occasional cat or dog that's lured by the foul aroma, your yard will be a no-man's land if this odoriferous visitor sprouts from mulch.

"The first time I saw the squid stinkhorn, I thought I was on another planet," says fungi expert Tom Volk, professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse.

He notes that stinkhorn fungus can be common in Florida's subtropical climate, which provides just the right conditions for its growth: warmth and moisture. To that combination add dead or decaying material, bacteria and micro-organisms - which are the ingredients of mulch - and fungus spores can sprout like wildfire.

If you find spores with long white strands, you've probably got a fungus - and there is no way of removing it short of hauling all the mulch out of your yard or paving over it, Volk says. Don't cover it with more mulch; you'll only infect the new top dressing with spores.

There are plenty of fungi that don't stink: Mushrooms are a good example. Another is the yellow-orange dog vomit fungus, which resembles its name. In general, fungi aren't harmful to people, pets or plants, although animals that ingest them may vomit, Volk says.

The stinkhorn varieties are known to make people gag, but other than assaulting your nasal passages, they are harmless. In fact, stinkhorn fungus is considered an aphrodisiac delicacy in China and is eaten with delight.

Your best bet is learning to live with the smelly garden visitors, suggests Volk. "You can show it off. It's a very good conversation piece," Volk said.

If you want to know more about fungi, check out Volk Web site, http://tomvolkfungi.net which is loaded with photos and trivia. There's even a fungus of the month. December's is the Asterophora mushroom with star-shaped spores, which is related to the wolf-fart puffball fungus. I'm happy to report I haven't found any in my yard yet!

- Yvonne Swanson is a freelance writer in St. Petersburg and a master gardener for Pinellas County.

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 08:25:05]