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Fungal foes in your garden: Fairy ring mushrooms

R. T. V. FOX
School of Plant Sciences, The University of Reading, 2 Earley Gate Reading, RG6 6AU, UK

1.

The Disease

Thought by some to mark the tracks made by dancing fairies

(see Fig. 1), fairy rings can appear on lawns, golf courses or
other areas of turf during spring and summer. All grass species and varieties are equally vulnerable. The usual symptom
is a ring of dormant, dead or dying turf closely encircled by
lush dark green grass. These concentric rings or arcs vary in
diameter from a few centimetres to more than 15 metres,
extending outwards each year by a few centimetres to over
a metre depending on the type of grass, soil and climatic conditions. Multiple rings can form and grow into each other.
Hence fairy rings are more evident in poor soils and are larger
when the turf is suffering from moisture or nutritional stress.
Rings can suddenly disappear without apparent reason.

2.

The Fungus

Although fruiting bodies may or may not be present, fairy

rings are caused by over 50 species of soil-inhabiting basidiomycete fungi, including the fairy ring fungus, Marasmius
oreades (Bolt.: Fr.) Fr., the common field mushroom, Agaricus
campestris L.: Fr.). (Syn. Psalliota campestris (L.: Fr.) Quel.) and
puffballs. In late summer and autumn the light tan-coloured
basidiocarp fruiting bodies of M. oreades can be found between
the bare and outer lush rings particularly after a period of
heavy rainfall or irrigation. In the absence of fruiting bodies,
a reliable diagnostic is to dig a few cm into the area of brown
or dead grass, to reveal the mouldy smelling, dense growth of
white mycelium. The rings start with the germination of basidiospores in the thatch layer. When basidiocarp samples of
M. oreades were studied by DNA amplification fingerprinting
(DAF) from carefully mapped fairy rings in a natural site,
the fungal population was found to contain many genotypes
and about 90 % of the fairy rings represented a separate genet.
This implied that establishment of new individuals generally
was mediated by basidiospore dispersal and not by fragmenting dikaryotic vegetative mycelium, as previously proposed.

However strands of mycelium might still be important inocula

in the garden. Previously considered an obligate saprophyte,
M. oreades is capable of parasitizing roots of grasses such as
Poa pratensis and Festuca rubra and produces hydrogen cyanide, polyacetylene and sesquiterpene metabolites capable
of damaging grass roots. The mycelium from each fairy ring
is a genetically homogenous entity that can be considered discrete individuals as old as 100150 y and possibly 500 y. The
fungus is heterothallic and has a unifactorial mating system
controlled by a multiallelic locus. As the fungus grows outwards in all directions a depth of 25 to 30 cm from a single
point in the thatch layer or on organic matter in the soil.
The first visible evidence of a new fairy ring is a tuft of dark
green grass. The ring of lush green growth is supported by surplus nitrogen released by the fungal metabolism. If the soil
mycelium is abundant it interferes with the penetration of
water. The grass plants then suffer from drought and may
die, leading to the bare rings between the lush rings. As the
fairy ring expands the older part of the mycelium mat dies,
and grass or weeds can regrow in this older or center area.
Fairy ring fungi rarely grow back inside the ring after exhausting the original organic food source. Soil from the outer zone,
ring zone and inner zone of a fairy ring formed by M. oreades
on a garden lawn showed the amounts of soil organic C, total
N, microbial biomass C, and ergosterol were reduced by 46 to
54 % in the ring zone and by 25 to 37 % in the inner zone relative to the non-invaded outer zone. The water-to-soil organic
C ratio was markedly reduced only in the topmost horizon of
the ring zone. Ergosterol and microbial biomass C were very
closely correlated. An enhanced ergosterol-to-biomass C ratio
in the the ring zone clearly reflected the invasive growth of
M. oreades.

3.

Control

Some non-mycologists regard fairy rings as unsightly but

since they are very difficult to control, most gardeners are
resigned to live with the problem. However before planting

0269-915X/$ see front matter 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The British Mycological Society.
doi:10.1016/j.mycol.2005.11.013

Fungal foes in your garden

37

Fig. 1 A Fairy ring caused by Maramius oreades showing the ring of bare soil (Photograph R. T. V. Fox).

a new area of grass or renovating an existing lawn, remove as

much organic matter as possible. Affected soil can be dug out
and replaced with new soil, although this is seldom practical.
Research on chemical drenches and biological control continues, but although fumigation of soil prior to reseeding has
been used with some success and some eradicant products
are already approved, chemicals are short-term solutions at
best. Fungicidal control, however, can be improved if a surfactant is used to increase soil wettability. When fairy rings move
across or overlap each other, they will inhibit each other by
antagonism. This form of biological control can be manipulated if several fairy rings are present occupying the same site by
using a herbicide based on glyphosate to kill the turf over the
entire area, which is rotavated to mix the mycelium. After using a wetting agent to increase water infiltration to 20 cm, the
area is then re-turfed or re-seeded, kept adequately watered
and properly fertilized. Alternatively it has been shown that

the application of some mycorrhiza can be effective in restoring unsightly scars as new grass overgrows the dead zones.
This regenerating biosphere should be well fertilized with organic fertilizer.
Keeping the fertility level of the turf high will also help to
mask the appearance of the rings of stimulated, dark green
growth. Grass should be fertilized with nitrogen several times
a year to help mask symptoms but as the infected soil
becomes virtually impervious to water, punch holes at least
every 30 cm in the yellowing or dying area and pump large
amounts of water into the ground to a depth of 25-60 cm. Repeat frequently. Increasing the soil moisture may also change
the ecological balance enough to retard the growth of the fungi.
Application of a wetting agent to the area may also increase
soil permeability and help to lessen symptoms. Aeration also
reduces the symptom severity. Regular mowing removes the
mushrooms, the other symptom of fairy ring disease.