How to Get Rid of Devil’s Fingers in Your Garden

Removing devil’s fingers from your garden starts with physically digging out the fruiting bodies and the underlying egg-like structures before they open, then addressing the organic matter in the soil that feeds the fungus. Devil’s fingers (Clathrus archeri), also called octopus stinkhorn, is a striking and foul-smelling fungus that alarms gardeners when its red tentacle-like arms emerge from what looks like a pale, rubbery egg on the ground. It is not harmful to plants, pets, or people, but the stench alone is enough to make most gardeners want it gone. The real challenge is that what you see above ground is only the temporary fruiting body of a much larger organism living in the soil, so lasting removal requires more than just pulling up the visible parts.

What Devil’s Fingers Actually Is

Devil’s fingers belongs to the stinkhorn family (Phallaceae), a group of fungi whose reproductive strategy revolves around producing a putrid, rotting-flesh smell to attract flies. The flies land on the slimy, dark spore mass (called the gleba) coating the tentacles, pick up spores on their legs and bodies, and carry them elsewhere. This fly-based spore dispersal is the same strategy used by certain flowers that mimic the scent of carrion or dung to lure pollinating insects.¹ The smell, while revolting, is the fungus doing exactly what it evolved to do.

The organism lives most of its life as a network of thread-like filaments (mycelium) woven through the soil and decaying organic matter. It feeds on dead wood, leaf litter, bark mulch, and other decomposing plant material. The red, tentacled structure that looks like something from a horror film is just the temporary reproductive organ, equivalent to an apple on a tree. Even if you remove every visible fruiting body, the mycelium underground can persist for years if conditions remain favorable.

Why It Showed Up in Your Garden

Devil’s fingers is a saprotroph, meaning it feeds on dead organic material. If your garden has bark mulch, wood chips, composted wood, old tree stumps, buried roots, or heavy leaf litter, you have created an ideal restaurant for this fungus. Newly mulched beds are especially prone because fresh wood-based mulch is rich in the cellulose and lignin that stinkhorns consume. The fungus also thrives in moist, warm conditions. If you have had a stretch of rainy weather followed by warmth, that combination can trigger a flush of fruiting bodies seemingly overnight.

Clathrus archeri is native to Australia and New Zealand but has been spreading across Europe and other temperate regions for decades. Climate modeling suggests that warmer, wetter conditions in previously cooler areas are opening up new territory for the fungus, and researchers expect its range to keep expanding.² Precipitation appears to be a particularly important factor in driving new sightings. In Poland, for example, devil’s fingers was first recorded in 1973 and has shown a significant increase in observations in recent years, with rainfall identified as a key driver.³ So if you are seeing it for the first time, you are not alone. The fungus is turning up in gardens where it has never been seen before, and a wet season can bring a bumper crop.

Step-by-Step Removal

There is no fungicide registered or reliably effective against stinkhorn fungi in garden settings. That leaves physical removal and habitat modification as your main tools. Here is what to do:

Remove the eggs first: Before the tentacles emerge, devil’s fingers starts as a whitish or pinkish “egg” sitting on or just below the soil surface. These eggs are typically about the size of a golf ball or small hen’s egg, sometimes with visible pinkish or purplish tones. Dig them out with a trowel, getting a few centimeters of surrounding soil as well. This is the single most effective intervention because it prevents spore release entirely.
Pick mature fruiting bodies promptly: If the arms have already opened, carefully remove the entire structure, including any slimy spore mass, and bag it in plastic for disposal with household waste. Do not compost it. The goal is to stop flies from spreading spores further around your garden.
Dig out the base: Below each fruiting body, you will often find a cord-like strand of mycelium running through the soil. Follow it as far as practical and remove the surrounding soil and organic debris. You will not get every filament, but removing the densest concentration helps.
Reduce organic mulch: If the fungus is fruiting in a mulched bed, consider removing and replacing the mulch. Switch to inorganic mulch like gravel, pebbles, or landscape fabric if repeated infestations are a problem. If you prefer organic mulch, use finely shredded material rather than large wood chips, because finer mulch decomposes faster and provides less long-term food for the mycelium.
Improve drainage: Persistently damp soil encourages stinkhorn growth. If the affected area stays wet after rain, consider improving drainage by adding grit or sand to heavy soil, regrading the bed, or redirecting downspouts away from the area.

Expect to repeat egg and fruiting body removal over multiple seasons. The underground mycelium can survive for a long time in soil that contains organic matter, so a single cleanup rarely ends the problem permanently. Consistency matters more than any single dramatic intervention. Check your beds regularly during warm, damp weather and remove eggs as soon as you spot them.

Does Soil Solarization Help?

Soil solarization, the technique of covering soil with clear plastic sheeting during hot summer months to heat-kill organisms beneath it, is sometimes suggested for fungal problems in garden beds. The approach works by trapping solar energy and raising soil temperatures well above what many organisms can tolerate. Research on solarization for other soil fungi has shown it can raise average daily soil temperatures by roughly 6 to 10 degrees Celsius and peak temperatures by 10 to 16 degrees at depths down to 20 centimeters.⁴

The catch is that results are not always immediate. In solarization studies on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, infectivity was not reduced right after the solarization period ended but was greatly reduced eight months later.⁴ Whether solarization works equally well on stinkhorn mycelium in a home garden is not well studied, but the principle is sound: sustained high soil temperatures can damage or kill fungal networks. If you want to try it, leave clear plastic tightly anchored over the affected bed for four to six weeks during the hottest part of summer. Be aware that solarization is nonselective. It will also reduce beneficial soil fungi, bacteria, and invertebrates, so it is best reserved for beds where the infestation is severe and you are willing to rebuild soil biology afterward with compost and inoculants.

Why Fungicides Usually Fail

Gardeners often reach for a chemical solution when confronted with devil’s fingers, but no widely available garden fungicide is designed or labeled for stinkhorn control. Most garden fungicides target pathogens on plant surfaces, such as powdery mildew or black spot, and work by inhibiting fungal growth on leaves and stems. Stinkhorn mycelium lives deep in the soil, embedded in chunks of decaying wood and organic debris that physically shield it from topical sprays. Even systemic soil drenches have little documented effect on established stinkhorn networks.

Lime, bleach, baking soda, and vinegar are popular home remedies you will find recommended online. None of these reliably eliminates soil mycelium. Lime raises soil pH, which can slightly discourage some fungi, but devil’s fingers tolerates a range of soil conditions and the effect is marginal at best. Bleach and vinegar can kill surface organisms on contact but do not penetrate deeply enough to reach mycelium running through buried wood. Pouring bleach on garden soil also damages plant roots and kills beneficial organisms indiscriminately. Save your money and effort for physical removal and habitat modification.

Is It Harmful to Plants, Pets, or Children?

Devil’s fingers is not parasitic. It does not attack living plants the way a pathogen would. It feeds exclusively on dead organic matter, so your flowers, vegetables, and shrubs are not at risk. The mycelium might even provide a minor benefit by breaking down woody debris and recycling nutrients back into the soil, though this is a small consolation when your garden smells like roadkill.

The fungus is not considered dangerously toxic. No serious poisoning cases from accidental ingestion of Clathrus archeri appear in the medical literature, and the smell alone is usually enough to deter anyone, including curious pets and toddlers, from putting it in their mouths. That said, eating any wild fungus you have not positively identified is always a bad idea, and the slimy spore mass could cause nausea if swallowed. The practical risk is minimal, but if a child or pet does handle or mouth a piece, wash their hands or muzzle and watch for stomach upset. Serious harm is extremely unlikely.

Preventing Future Outbreaks

Once you understand that devil’s fingers feeds on dead wood and thrives in damp conditions, prevention becomes straightforward even if it requires some patience. The most effective long-term strategy is to remove or reduce the food supply. If you mulch your beds, keep the mulch layer thin, no more than five to eight centimeters. Avoid piling wood chips directly against the base of plants where they stay moist. If you have old tree stumps or buried root systems from removed trees, these are prime habitat. Grinding stumps below grade and removing as much root wood as practical eliminates a persistent food source.

Good air circulation and sunlight also discourage fruiting. Devil’s fingers tends to appear in shaded, sheltered spots where humidity stays high at soil level. Pruning overhanging branches to let in more light and air can shift conditions enough to make the area less hospitable. In raised beds, ensure drainage holes are clear and the bed does not sit in standing water after rain.

If you compost at home, keep your compost bin away from garden beds and make sure it heats up properly. A well-managed hot compost pile breaks down organic matter faster than stinkhorn mycelium can colonize it. Cool, anaerobic compost piles that sit undisturbed for months are a more inviting habitat.

How to Tell Devil’s Fingers Apart from Other Stinkhorns

Several stinkhorn species show up in gardens, and not every strange-looking fungus emerging from the mulch is Clathrus archeri. The most common lookalike confusion is with the common stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus), which looks completely different: a tall, pale, phallic stalk topped with a dark, slimy cap. Another relative, the latticed stinkhorn or red cage fungus (Clathrus ruber), produces a round, lattice-like red structure that looks like a wiffle ball rather than tentacles. The dog stinkhorn (Mutinus caninus) is a smaller, finger-like species that lacks the dramatic spreading arms.

Devil’s fingers is distinctive once you have seen it. Four to seven red or pinkish arms emerge from the egg and arch outward like the fingers of a hand or the tentacles of an octopus, with dark, foul-smelling spore slime on their inner surfaces. In the egg stage, you can often distinguish it from common stinkhorn eggs by cutting one open: devil’s fingers eggs show pinkish-red tissue inside, while common stinkhorn eggs are typically greenish-gray. All stinkhorns share the same basic ecology and management approach, so the removal steps described above apply equally to any of them.

A Fungus That Keeps Spreading

Part of the reason devil’s fingers catches gardeners off guard is that it is still relatively new in many regions outside its native range. First described from specimens in Australia, it was noticed in Europe in the early twentieth century and has been steadily expanding since. In Poland, where detailed tracking has been carried out, sightings have increased significantly over recent decades, with nearly 90 recorded observations since the first in 1973 and a statistically significant upward trend in recent years.³ Genetic analysis of Polish specimens found almost no diversity, suggesting the European population derives from a very narrow introduction event, possibly a single one, that then spread vegetatively and via spores.

Climate projections indicate that the fungus will keep expanding, particularly into northeastern Europe, where warming temperatures and adequate rainfall are creating newly suitable habitat.² For gardeners in regions where devil’s fingers has not yet appeared, its arrival may just be a matter of time. Spores can travel on the feet of flies, in commercially distributed mulch and compost, and on contaminated soil moved between sites. If you buy bulk mulch or topsoil, there is a small but real chance it comes pre-loaded with stinkhorn spores or mycelium fragments. Sourcing mulch from reputable suppliers who compost at high temperatures reduces this risk.

Living with It

Some gardeners, after the initial shock, choose to tolerate devil’s fingers rather than wage a multi-year campaign against it. The fruiting bodies last only a few days before collapsing into a slimy heap that quickly decomposes. If the affected area is a back corner of the garden or a woodland border rather than a patio or play area, you might decide the occasional stench is worth ignoring. The fungus is, after all, doing useful decomposition work, and it provides a genuine conversation piece. Mycologists consider Clathrus archeri one of the more visually spectacular fungi in temperate regions, and citizen-science recording schemes in Europe actively encourage gardeners to photograph and report sightings rather than destroy them. If you do report a sighting to a local biological recording group or a platform like iNaturalist, include a photo and note the substrate (mulch, soil, leaf litter) and any nearby tree species. Researchers tracking the spread of this species find this kind of data surprisingly valuable, especially from private gardens where professional surveyors rarely go.

1
South African Journal of Botany. Convergent evolution of carrion and faecal scent mimicry in fly-pollinated angiosperm flowers and a stinkhorn fungus
2
Mycological Progress. Quo vadis? Historical distribution and impact of climate change on the worldwide distribution of the Australasian fungus Clathrus archeri (Phallales, Basidiomycota)
3
Polish Journal of Environmental Studies. Distribution and Molecular Characterization of an Alien Fungus, Clathrus archeri, in Poland
4
SpringerLink / Mycorrhiza. Soil solarization reduces arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi as a consequence of weed suppression