Yesterday I was emptying soil out of a grow bag and noticed some mushrooms about to come to the surface. I'm pretty sure they were stinkhorns. Last year I foolishly filled the bottom of some large grow bags with hardwood mulch and had an impressive crop of stinkhorns. While I found them fascinating, I really don't want a bunch of these in my garden. Let me show them to you.
First, here are the stinkhorns when they first showed up in 2020. At the beginning, they were were cute little round balls that looked like river stones. I was initially hopeful that they would be yummy puffballs but it was not to be.
In the next phase, the cute little balls got flaky surfaces and something began to emerge. I awaited the baby dinosaurs that were certain to appear.
Then, these crazy red mushrooms grew from the balls. They had brown slimy tops, were covered with ants, and smelled horrible.
Ah, I said, this is NO PUFFBALL. Then I learned a bit about stinkhorns. They are appropriately named.
In the end, the brown slime disappeared and they mushrooms collapsed. The whole saga only took a couple days from when the first horns appeared out of the little balls.
While I am generally a fan of native species and volunteers in the garden, I decided my hospitality does not extend to stinkhorns. The whole bag went away with the garbage - as did the one I discovered yesterday.
Want to know more about stinkhorns? here's a good link. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/fungus-lichen/removing-stinkhorn-fungi.htm If you visit that page you'll see a very ugly fungi. It makes mine look quite attractive.
I think I have averted Stinkhorn Saga Phase 2. If not, you'll be sure to hear about it.