What kind of mushroom is this???

[pomtzu]

ICK - and slimy too??? - double ICK! I don't know what they are, but I'd continue to destroy them. We get all kinds of different looking ones growing here. Some are tiny, and some are huge! Now that we had some rain off and on for the past couple of weeks, they are popping up all over the place. I just step on them and smush them real good so that the dogs don't mess with them. I don't know which ones are poisonous and which aren't.

[Alysser]

Looks to me like a red stinkhorn or some type of stinkhorn fungi...is the slime or mushroom foul smelling? They're supposed to smell bad to attract flies or something that'll spread their spores.

Not 100% sure it is, but Stinkhorn can look REALLY odd. From pictures I've seen they can look like starfish, or mushrooms with crab claws or just like yours looks.

[chocolatepuppy]

Thanks Alyssa, that's what they are! Now that I have a name, I could Google them! MushroomExpert.Com says [No, they won't hurt you (or your children, or your pets);] Didn't notice a smell, was pulling them out fast with a paper towel. They creep me out!

[cassiesmom]

Yecch! Stinkhorns! I've read that you can pour a weak solution of bleach in boiling water to kill them, but I don't know if you'd want to be putting bleach into the soil of your flower bed. Maybe better just to dig them out before they start smelling. Hopefully the soil dries out fast.

[Freedom]

Never heard of it. So used Google and put in stinkhorn pictures, yep that's it!

Here is where to find how to control them:
https://www.google.com/search?q=stin...ient=firefox-a

[chocolatepuppy]

Thanks for the link Sandie. Just great, it says [Apparently stinkhorns like a substrate of rotting wood] and I have mulch in the flowerbed!

[Alysser]

I've never read that they were poisonous but I am pretty sure they're REALLY hard to get rid of. A friend of mine had this issue in her mom's garden and asked me what to do about it since I am a "nature" person. I told her "I can probably identify it but that doesn't mean I know what to do about it"...LOL. Sorry I am virtually useless in that realm.