Mushroom Fungi have spores that have a range of 2-17 microns. They really like my mulch. Puffballs have spores of about 5 microns.

Ask an Expert is made up of groups and individual experts. Strand RD, Neuhauser EBD, Sornberger CF. There are a bunch of different, small puffballs, and you’d best know which ones you’ve got before you eat them. NY: Pantheon Books. There have been several different types of fungi growing on mulch piles around here the past few years, but no large patches of puffballs. Unfortunately there is no chemical to control mushroom growth. I’m so glad to hear that somebody else has a love of puff balls!

Can you eat these brown ones? Please don't use images on this blog to decide whether a mushroom is edible.

We live in Haslett, MI. Discard any mushrooms. Thanks also for the link, which I’ll tip in to the story now. Tom Volk’s Fungus of the Month for November 2001: Valentina Pavlovna Wasson and R. Gordon Wasson.

Different enough that Kreisel and Krüger have moved our mulch puffballs into the genus Morganella, where they can hang out with closer kin. Not just a couple of little puffballs either, but a massive, tumorous pile of them. But poofing some puffballs right into your nose will do it. Their precautions for working around molds may help you, too. I’m not a very good gardener, despite good intentions. They don’t need water to disperse their spores like normal mushrooms; their spores get puffed out by deer hooves, drops of rain, scampering chipmunks, and the stomping shoes of certain children I know. The giant puffball, Calvatia gigantea (earlier classified as Lycoperdon giganteum), reaches a foot (30 cm) or more in diameter, and is difficult to mistake for any other fungus. Wearing a mask that is used when working around mold may reduce your exposure when working in these garden beds.
[. That name derives from the Greek words for wolf and fart. Basidiomycetes : Agaricales : Lycoperdaceae : Basidiomycetes : Phallales : Geastraceae : Basidiomycetes : Boletales : Sclerodermataceae : This page was last edited on 9 September 2020, at 13:21. More about farts and the names of puffballs in many languages in the famous book, Mushrooms, Russia, and History, which you’ll want to read.

You might know them as members of the genus Lycoperdon (we’ll revisit this later). Lycoperdon pyriforme Schaeff. But alas, my mulch puffballs are no longer Lycoperdons.

Some types of fungus may damage your driveway and the surrounding lawn before their food is exhausted. These ones–Morganella pyriformis–yes, you can eat them. A cover for your lovely rich soil that you have worked so hard to build. Instead, spores are produced internally, in a spheroidal fruitbody called a gasterothecium (gasteroid ('stomach-like') basidiocarp). Welcome Deborah, glad you and your daughter liked my lecture. Stalked puffballs do have a stalk that supports the gleba. .http://epi.publichealth.nc.gov/oee/mold/precautions.html. False puffballs are hard like rock or brittle. Puffballs are funny fungi that seek to offend. Keep mulch 2 inches deep and pulled back from the stems of plants. The spores of puffballs are statismospores rather than ballistospores, meaning they are not forcibly extruded from the basidium. If sprinklers are being used to water the beds, be sure to water early mornings so the mulch has all day to dry out. There aren’t too many documented cases of this, it’s not like you can get it from a single stomp.

I was just Googling around on my lunch hour trying to find out what kind of mushrooms I have popping up in the mulch of one of my flower beds. Here at Cornell we think they're pretty fascinating. We’ve got more about them here. Re-direct your sprinkler heads if they are getting the mulch wet. How I despised it! Several years ago I noticed Puffball Fungus in my mulched area and while raking leaves in the fall, a brown cloud filled the air from these growths. Photo: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2532/4117986627_7c0c1626b6_b.jpg.

They might well be either true Lycoperdons like Lycoperdon perlatum, or Morganella pyriformis. I did hear once about how an inhaled tomato seed actually did sprout inside someone’s lungs. I can’t tell which is more finely honed, your sense of humor or your teaching ability. A puffball is a member of any of a number of groups of fungus in the division Basidiomycota. Some may also be stalked like the Podaxis pistillaris which is also called the "false shaggy mane". Proposing Morganella subgen. The distinguished doctors recommend that “In the interest of preventative medicine it is suggested that the puffballs be gathered while young and, thinly sliced, sauteed in butter with a touch of garlic and a pinch of thyme.”. You can rake the mulch, turning and mixing it, to help it dry out. Hmmm. Young puffballs in the edible stage, before maturation of the gleba, have undifferentiated white flesh within; whereas the gills of immature Amanita mushrooms can be seen if they are closely examined. Clinical Microbiology Newsletter 19(3): 17-21 . These puffballs turn out to be genetically distant cousins of the true Lycoperdon species (like L. perlatum). Puffballs and similar forms are thought to have evolved convergently (that is, in numerous independent events) from Hymenomycetes by gasteromycetation, through secotioid stages. Stomping is fun; hold your breath.

When watering, put down enough water to last several days so you don’t water every day. Two Fungi as One!

Lycoperdon might be one of the coolest fungus names ever (cast your vote here!). All false puffballs are inedible, as they are tough and bitter to taste.

Although collectively huge, these aren’t giant puffballs, they’re just “ordinary” puffballs. The puffballs are your friends. Lycoperdonosis. 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. - Stump Puffball. Lost time from work the next day. nov. for the puffball Lycoperdon pyriforme. 1957. [1] True puffballs do not have a visible stalk or stem. It has been estimated that a large specimen of this fungus when mature will produce around 7 × 10¹² spores. Very weird! Krüger, D, Kreisel H. 2003. It kept even her interest. Snorting them leads to lycoperdonosis, which I suppose is a misnomer if we’re Morganella now. [in this scanned version, look for puffballs in Vol. Munson EL, Panko DM, Fink JG. The National Institute for Occupational safety and health ( NIOSH )website has information on different masks available. Valentina Pavlovna Wasson and R. Gordon Wasson. 1, beginning on page 97] As the spores mature, they form a mass called a gleba in the centre of the fruitbody that is often of a distinctive color and texture.
They are taking over my side yard. Apioperdon pyriforme (until recently known as Lycoperdon pyriforme), the Stump Puffball, is one of the most gregarious of all fungi.