E-mail - Mushrooms in My Medium

Doc, I have noticed mushrooms growing in my soil, I use a soil mix I got from HTG and I use Fox Farm fertilizer. My buddy said the spores from the mushrooms will get on the leaves and cause mold, is this true and what can I do about the mushrooms?
Thanks for your E-mail. First, you friend is not quite right, while spores are from fungi and can lead to plant diseases, and mushrooms do put out spores, mushrooms are a different species of fungus. This means that their spores won’t cause diseases of the leaf, but other spores will. Mushrooms are like flowers, they are the reproductive part of the fungi, most of rest of the fungus lives underground. These mushrooms could be from beneficials that are in the soil, or they could be from a spore that wandered into your grow area from outside. The mushroom/fungi will break down organic matter in your soil, so it is probably not harming your growth rate and may help the plant, but I don’t know if I’d want mushrooms growing in my house if I don’t know what type they are… but that is me. You can pluck the mushrooms as the grow, and wash your hands afterwards and all should be well.

If you look online, you may be able to find pictures and determine the species of mushroom, many types are edible, but some are poisonous. My degrees are in plant biology, so I have limited mushroom knowledge.

Good Growing,
Dr. E.R. Myers