Anyone have experience with stinkhorn mushrooms?

[Jim R]

I'm hoping that there might be somebody here (even if it's just one person) who has dealt with the noxious, repulsive yard fungus known as the stinkhorn mushroom. Specifically, the variety called Phallus impudicus. They produce a strong-smelling (and I mean FOUL) slimy substance on the top, which contains spores and attracts flies to spread them. Some of the info on the Wikipedia page is misleading- they don't require rotting wood or mulch to thrive, for example.

These were introduced into the flowerbeds in front of our house some time last year, I suspect via some flowers we had purchased from a local nursery. I first noticed one growing right near our front door last October, when I saw flies in the area and then noticed the stench. Before the cooler temperatures of Winter caused them to go dormant, I spent several days each week for a period of about two months trying to get rid of them by digging them up. During that period, I spent a lot of time trying to research them online, and found precious few ideas about how to get rid of them. In fact, most of the info I found suggested that they're nearly impossible to stop. With the advent of Spring, they have returned, and despite my best efforts to carefully remove them (even if I get to them when they're still in the "egg" stage), they seem to be gradually spreading further and further. I've spoken to quite a few people (neighbors, employees at local nurseries, etc), and the majority of people have never heard of them. Those that have sometimes make suggestions (fungicides are one possibility, with some drawbacks), but they often sound like they're guessing. In online gardening forums, the suggestions range from mouthwash to gasoline to... selling the house!

We've had a variety of other mushrooms popping up in both our front and back lawns over the years, and even when they persist, it's never bothered me at all. Stinkhorns, however, are a different matter. They're becoming a nightmare, and really causing me some serious anxiety. I've alerted both of our adjacent neighbors, and I'm praying that they won't spread to our back yard. I'm currently trying to seek expert help from local city and county agencies, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask around here also.

[Big Wheel]

No particular expertise with these, but which part of the Bay are you in? If you are east of the Caldecott in the East Bay maybe a hot dry summer will nuke them without any intervention on your part. Just conjecture though.

[Free For All]

I haven't had any experience with mushrooms since the 70s.

Good luck though!

[David Ayers]

No idea but the boiling water + bleach applied daily method appeals to my need for order in the war against nature.

What was it John Donne said? "Nature, thou shalt die!" Something like that.

[Jim R]

Big Wheel, San Jose. The beds have a western exposure, with white brick behind them, so I hope you're right about the heat factor.

[Jim R]

Bump/update:  I battled these things (pretty much daily during the Spring and Summer) for almost two years.  We also planted some ground cover (aptenia and gazania), which seemed to help keep them down, and I gradually felt like I might be winning the battle.  The last time I had seen one was July 2013.  I had since reflected on how worthwhile all of that effort was.  It's hard for me to explain to people what might have happened (and I've read a few horror stories) if these were allowed to spread unchecked.  That's unthinkable to me, and yet some family and friends (and neighbors) just don't seem to understand what I'm talking about, and look at me like I'm crazy.  Very strange experience, this has been (made all the more strange by the fact that the average person- hell, the majority of people have never even heard of a stinkhorn, let alone seen one).

So, fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, when our next-door neighbor removed a shrub from his flower beds, just on the other side of our driveway.  This was perhaps 30 feet from the closest spot where I had removed any of them from our own flower beds two years ago.  Apparently there were dormant spores released when he did this, and now the bastards are beginning to pop up in that general area (mostly in his lawn, so far).  He never seemed to be very worried about it, and he's still pretty passive, but I'm removing them for him (for his own good, and hopefully to prevent the flies from spreading them further onto his property or back onto our property).  $%&*!!

[JSngry]

A "stinkhorn mushroom" sounds like a Gentillic hygene issue, although either way, when your partner says "I ain't putting THAT in my mouth", you gotta recognize and assent. If you don't hey, get with the times, bucko, this ain't the Frontier Days no more.

[Dave Garrett]

A "stinkhorn mushroom" sounds like a Gentillic hygene issue, although either way, when your partner says "I ain't putting THAT in my mouth", you gotta recognize and assent. If you don't hey, get with the times, bucko, this ain't the Frontier Days no more.

There's a good reason its name conjures such images:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phallus_impudicus

[JSngry]

Eeeewwwwwwwww!

[Jim R]

Eeeewwwwwwwww!

I know, and pray that you never have to smell one (or two, or three...) of these motherfuckers.  Actually, that's like saying "Pray that your kids never learn about Hitler".  You should smell them, but it should be out in the country or on a ranch or a forest or someplace AWAY from home.  If ground zero turns out to be 37 inches from your front door, this is a bad thing (then you might find yourself starting a thread on a jazz discussion board of all places, hoping that somebody, anybody might have even the smallest tidbit of experience or advice).  But I know now that I probably can't be looking for advice at this point.  I can sure as hell give some, though.