Getting rid of toadstools in pasture

[TheHeimer]

I have toadstools spreading all over my pasture like crazy... what are the best tried-and-true methods for getting rid of them and keeping the horses healthy?

Thanks!

[atlatl]

Is the ground mostly wet? If you're watering or irrigating, cut back on the water.

[ddb]

We had a lot of rain in August and mushrooms sprouted. I pick my pastures so get them as I go too. I've heard that just kicking them over to kill them will spread them for next season so I just pick them and toss with the manure.

[sickofcollege]

"I've heard that just kicking them over to kill them will spread them for next season so I just pick them and toss with the manure."

So, I guess stomping each and every one of them is a bad idea? :winkgrin: I've been doing it all wrong :lol:

[bird4416]

I like to punt them across the pasture. :D

[goodhors]

I turn my chain harrow upside down, just drag over them. When the season is very wet, I get a lot of toadstools that grow from the sawdust bedding spread on fields. You find the same toadstools growing on wet shredded wood mulch in gardens. They LIKE wood fiber! In the garden I do nothing, toadstools are just doing what they are made to do, create dirt and reproduce.

So out in the field, you break them any way you want to. Kicking, stomping, picking and bagging, dragging over them, seems to work best if done before the toadstools mature to reproduce the spores for the next crop. I see less or none if dragged at the right time.

For mine, look of mature toadstools will have flattened tops out like an open table umbrella. This opens the fins underneath to drop the spores. Immature is umbrella shape partially open. That reproducing, open umbrella shape is how Fairy Rings get going. Spores dropping out, spreading outward each growth cycle, making a larger and larger ring of new toadstools.

Horses really don't seem to bother the toadstools, but because they are so OBVIOUS, I feel something must be done to remove them! So pastures always need mowing and dragging, toadstools are a good excuse to do that.

[trickridermiko]

I like to punt them across the pasture. :D

Agreed. While this may not lead to future prevention/eradication of mushroom sprouting, it certainly has therapeutic advantages.:yes:

[sk_pacer]

I like to punt them across the pasture. :D

While that IS gratifying, it cannot come close to the satisfaction of punting a puffball and watching it explode!!!LOL

Anyway, if you have the right conditions and proper mix of horse poop and rain, you get toadstools, and if you are REALLY lucky, you get edible mushrooms, great huge things that look vaguely like beige rocks. I am one of the lucky ones, and do get the odd feed of mushrooms from the manure pile or the far end of the pasture and have even found them growing in the barn - those are best, no bugs to cut out :)

[Tom King]

When I see mushrooms in a pasture, I look for scratches to be not far behind. Caught early, they are easy to get rid of-scratches that is-I don't know about the mushrooms.

[bird4416]

I get giant mushrooms that look like loaves of bread. They are the best for kicking.

[Foxtrot's]

I found some Destroying Angels or some Death Cups (by looking them up in my book) on my manure pile after the first rains in September. Whatever - I took no chances so picked them carefully and burned them.