Recent rainfall and cool weather in many parts of the state are favorable for mushrooms that you may have been seeing in lawns. While they may be a surprising sight, mushroom-producing fungi are generally not considered to be a pest because most do not cause lawn diseases. Armillaria mushrooms indicate the presence of decaying tree roots below ground. Other mushrooms decompose underground organic matter and may be considered beneficial since they make nutrients available to lawns and other plants.

Mushrooms are the visible reproductive structures of some types of fungi. Picking or removing the structures can minimize the spread to a new site, but it won't kill the underground mycelia from which the mushrooms are growing....