Good Fungus, Bad Fungus

Fungi play important roles in a garden, both as hero and villain. I went away for a week-long vacation, and just before I left, I noticed yellow spots on some tomato leaves.

Insect damage, heat stress, or early blight? All of the above?

This looks more like the beginning of early blight.

When I came back on Monday, it was clear that this was early blight, characterized by expanding yellow spots that spread to nearby leaves. I removed all the affected leaves this morning and will spray with copper this evening, when it's less likely to harm beneficial insects like bees. For those of you who are concerned about the march of late blight across the state (last I heard, it had moved as far east as Concord), here's a guide for diagnosing your tomatoes and some clear pictures of early blight.

I also noticed on Monday that a lot of the corn had fallen over. My husband said it was due to the high winds we'd been experiencing. Today, I tried to tie up a lot of the corn with string, and I noticed some sort of infection on the stalks. After some investigation, it looks like it's Gibberella stalk rot.

Gibberella is characterized by pinkish streaks on the stalks, which soften and fall over.

Looks like this stalk is starting to split.

Some stalks have broken off altogether.

I'm going to check with other local farmers to see if my diagnosis is correct. I'm hoping not, because there's basically nothing you can do for Gibberella except try to keep the corn strong with frequent water and fertilizer. I'll have to rotate the corn in a big way next year. And I will likely switch from the heirloom varieties I chose this year to a fungus-resistant hybrid  next year. Thus far, only the Extra Early Golden Bantam pictured above seems to be affected. The Hooker's Sweet Indian corn, a red-kernelled variety, seems to be mostly unaffected. Then again, it's setting ears at only 3 feet tall! Maybe it's outrunning the Gibberella.

So those, along with a light dusting of fungus on my summer squash, are the current fungal villains in the garden. Now for the heroes:

Look carefully. Can you spot the Japanese Umbrella Inky Caps?

Unidentified Mushrooms. Lawnmower's Mushrooms? Dunce Caps? Witch's Hats? Who knows?

Mushrooms can be beneficial in a garden. The Japanese Umbrella Inkys help break down decaying matter, such as these wood chips in the garden paths, and make those nutrients available to the veggies. I often find Alcohol Inkys in the straw, performing the same function, but these mushrooms have such a short lifespan that, by the time I have gotten around to fetching the camera, they have generally deliquesced.

Other mushrooms exist symbiotically with the veggies, making minerals in the soil available in exchange for nutrients. I'm hoping that's what those little tan mystery mushrooms are doing. I haven't been able to positively identify them as yet. I keep loaning out my mushroom reference books and only have Fascinating Fungi of New England available, which is a great beginner's reference but not at all comprehensive. A comprehensive reference would be massive, given that mycologists estimate that there are around 20,000 species of mushrooms in North America alone.

Anyway, those little tan mushrooms are in beds all over the garden, but they seem to particularly like the pumpkins and grow happily in the shade of those broad squash leaves. If there are any mycologists reading this, the cap is bell-shaped, the gills are free, crowded, and a light cinnamon color, and there's a slight bulb at the base but no root. I'm working on a spore print now and will report on the results tomorrow, but I'm guessing they will also be cinnamon-y, like the gills.