If you step outside one day to find a powerful stink in your freshly-laid mulch or new plants, a stinkhorn mushroom might be to blame. This unobtrusive fungi can pop up in wood chips, grass, or soil and they produce a very strong smell.
These fungi smell so bad because they use flies and other insects to transport their spores to other locations. The smell attracts the insect which lands on the fruiting body and then when it lands somewhere else it disperses the spores on their feet and those that they have ingested.
Stinkhorns generally aren’t troublesome for your garden, except for the smell. They can be hard to get rid of because the spores will persist in the soil or wood chips. They certainly make for an interesting conversation starter….
More Information
Check out the mushroom expert website for more information.
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