Mushrooms running amok

[Euphoria]

I have pets and am worried about the large number and variety of mushrooms springing up in the grasses. Any way to get rid of them?
I'm out every morning pulling out what i can; does removing the top end the growth? Help!

 

[Chuck]

Mushrooms, toadstools etc. are a byproduct of healthy soil. They are the fruiting mechanisms of fungi. The fungi is beneficial to the soil because it breaks down the organic matter in the soil into a form which plants can uptake as nutrients. I am 77 years old and have had dogs my entire life and have never seen a dog swallow a toadstool. I have had one or two that put one in their mouth but then immediately spit it out as they apparently they don't taste good. Consider yourself lucky that you have them. You can kill them though. Just sterilize your soil so nothing can grow and you won't have them, nor will you have any grass either.

Toadstools, mushrooms are spread by the way of spores. A spore is a very tiny particulate that moves with the wind, lands and "hatches like an egg" thus forming the object you are trying to get rid of. You are probably spreading more spores by removing the top or cap than otherwise would have happened.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I don't know about the US varieties, but the spores are so small and light, and produced in such huge quantities, I think most are universal. I have never heard of an animal poisoning themselves. Over here the ones that grow on grass are not poisonous, though there can be buried wood. Pets all originate from wild animals, and, be they anything from dogs to tortoises, I can't imagine them eating anything naturally occurring that would be harmful to them, that's a human sort of trait.
The spores produce a mycelium, fine, white strands, which have single sets of DNA. When two mycelia grow alongside each other they can join and produce a new one with two sets of DNA in it, this is what pushes up the fruiting bodies we see as mushrooms or toadstools, not those directly originating from the spores.

 

[Meadowlark]

...I'm out every morning pulling out what i can; does removing the top end the growth? Help!

"The presence of mushrooms often indicates healthy soil. Mushrooms thrive in environments rich in organic matter and moisture"

That's the good news...but the bad news is they can be poisonousness to pets. It is recommended to consider the following steps:

1. "Remove Mushrooms Promptly: Regularly check your garden for mushrooms and remove them as soon as you see them.
2. Train Your Pets: Teach your pets to avoid eating anything from the ground during walks or in the yard.
3. Limit Access: If possible, restrict your pets' access to areas where mushrooms are likely to grow."

Keeping the grass mowed is my recommended solution.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

"Remove Mushrooms Promptly: Regularly check your garden for mushrooms and remove them as soon as you see them.

That would not be easy, some come up so fast you can practically see them growing. They are drawing on the main plant body, not growing in the normal sense, maybe if you went round three or four times a day ... or mowed ...
It might be a good idea to get a means of identifying them. People tend to assume toadstool equals poison, but it could be they are harmless, most are.

 

[Anniekay]

Dogs and cats do not eat toadstools or other fungi in the grass unless they are literally starving to death. Don't bother with them, they aren't a problem.