Just a bit of observation...

  This afternoon, a short hike was in order.  Son and I worked all day in the yard ripping out yet more fencing and arbors.  In fact, the place looks quite different now.  Once we completed our tasks for the day, I headed down to the pier.  Along the way, a pungent odor stopped me in my tracks.  Always alert for sounds and smells, I needed to find what was the source.  Critters and plants all have distinctive odors and it is best to know what lies in the path ahead.  It is my habit to never fully depend on sight since my eyesight has been waning somewhat in recent years.  This was more of a stench than the flowery aroma of most plants.  Watch the step!  Once the source was found, it caused a fit of giggles.  Under a tall pine tree, two mushrooms grew side by side.  One was a a red-capped beauty and the other was a type of stinkhorn.  That stinkhorn, of course, was the culprit that was making the lower yard a stinky place.  It is surprising just how large of an area can be affected by such a small thing.  

  This is a Column Stinkhorn meaning it burst out of its egg-like sac with columns or fingers.  Some folks call them Devil's Toadstools while others refer to them as Devil's Fingers.  Both names seem accurate especially due to the color and smell.  The Column Stinkhorns are usually red, pink or orange and the smell is akin to a mountain of smelly socks combined with rotting flesh.  I was fortunate that only one of the mushrooms had "hatched".  

  There is one thing that confuses me with these mushrooms.  Granted, the stinkhorn "eggs" (before they burst out with their orange "fingers") resemble some sort of critter egg, it surprises me just how many folks confuse the two.  Countless times, I have been asked "Are these snake eggs or duck eggs?"  Neither!  Critter eggs are not attached to the ground by root like structures called mycelium.  It takes a good bit of talk to convince some folks that their "find" is going to hatch into stinky mushrooms and not a bundle of fluffy ducklings or a clutch of highly venomous snakes.  Oh, people.  Observe!  Notice things!  Investigate!  Be aware!  Whatever...whatever.

Siege of the Stinkhorns!

As I was out walking the hill above the Bayou, I came across something that did not make me overly happy. Normally, it is hard for me to find anything out in nature that irritates me but this nearly did just that. Our mulch guy is still dumping truckloads of mulch in the back of the house. There are huge mounds that Son goes out and spreads about in thick layers. Then when we need any for the gardens or pathways, he takes the wheelbarrow out to the heaps. The stuff is carted about the hillside to help with the landscaping projects. These mountains of mulch normally make me smile as I consider it all good for the earth. Today, however, the area did not bring smiles..it was more of ...EWWWWW! Yuck! Something smelled horrible! The stench in the area rivaled a thousand and one dirty socks! Nasty! The closer I got to the mulch piles, the stronger the stench. It smelled of rotting carrion or perhaps some massive dung pile! Ugh! Not again!

Holding my breath as I neared the mulch mountains, I could not believe what I saw. Thousands upon thousands of Stinkhorns! Devil's Toadstools! Those nasty, nasty, stinky mushrooms that smell up the place! Everywhere I looked, I saw red, gooey blobs of rotting stinkhorns, fresh perky stinkhorns and round, stinkhorn "eggs". Yep..eggs! I have a couple of little "grand-nephews" that labeled the the rounded sacks containing the new fungi as eggs. The "unhatched" stinkhorns look a lot like some strange alien egg pod that is erupting from the mulch pile so Ashton and Darius were not too far off in their descriptions. These two spend hours helping their "Mimi" (aka my sister) dig out the Devil's Toadstools and "mushroom eggs". It has become some sort of odd entertainment for the kids and sure helps my sister get her place stinkhorn free! I think those kids need to spend about the next two months digging these from my mulch mountains! The egg is sort of a dirty white blob that within a day or two will split open to reveal a new stinkhorn that will smell up the entire place. There were hundred and hundreds of eggs so I am sure that my stinkhorn days are far from over.

These stinkhorns are covered with a gooey slime that the bugs love. The stench draws the bugs near and once on the fungi, the spores stick to their legs. This spreads the spores far and wide creating "stinkhorn gardens" wherever the bug travels. I am supposing that no matter how many I pull up, I will never eradicate them completely. I am surrounded! Stinkhorns are taking over the Bayou area! Ashton! Darius! Bring your shovels and rescue me from the Stinkhorn Siege!