Fungi help

[timtree81]

I have been approached by a company looking for advise on a fungi called death caps that's needs it removed from a garden of a client , the reason for asking me is the fungi is growing out of wood chip and thought I may have come a cross this before , any info would be great

[David Humphries]

any shot of the gills?

 

 

 

 

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[sloth]

If it even is Amanita phalloides, as far as I know it is mycorhizzal. So it will be present on tree roots, most often oak but others too.

If it is present feeding solely on the woodchip, the only option I see is to remove all the chip and add fresh, but it's not guaranteed to work.

Why does the client want it gone? The worry classic worry is kids or animals, which can be educated or taught to leave them. Or remove the mushrooms once or twice a year as they appear...

[Paul Melarange]

I'm not entirely convinced that these are Amanita phalloides (Death cap). There are lots of other fungi that these could be: Tricholoma sp. for example. Hopefully David Humphries or Tony Croft will give you a more definitive id.

 

However, regardless of whatever they are, they are breaking down the mulch and releasing all the nutrients back into the soil (recycling). The mushrooms/toadstalls are just the fruiting body, a very small part of the fungus. If the client is worried about children eating them, simply get them to tell them not to!

 

The only way you could get rid of the whole fungus would be to sterilise the area using armillatox or some other banned substance, which would also kill off all the other beneficial organisms in that area! There is absolutely no point!

[Paul Melarange]

oops, sent at the same time, and said pretty much the same as Sloth, sorry.

[David Humphries]

any shot of the gills?

 

also signs of the top of the volva under the cap would help with the Id.

 

Here's a couple of images of A. phalloides from earlier this year showing a couple more features that would be helpful to see from the the OP.

 

 

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[timtree81]

Thanks for the help , I will get the actual pictures and post them tomorrow , it a little worrying reading that these little things can cause the liver to fail not good to have kids playing around them

[sloth]

Not good to have kids playing round lots of things. Bleach, knives, stairs, full baths, nuts, roads, cat and dog poo, rusty nails, greenhouses etc. Children have a remarkable ability to learn what not to eat or do!

[timtree81]

Very true indeed ,