However, there are mushrooms that require extremely wet conditions for normal growth. While some mushrooms do appear in the spring and some in fall, the majority of mushrooms come during the rainy months of November through February. Unlike green plants, mushrooms lack chlorophyll and are unable to produce their own food. Mushrooms depend upon both living and dead organisms for food. The mushrooms that feed on living organisms are called parasites, and those that feed on dead organisms are called saprophytes.
Most mushrooms are saprophytes.
When feeding on materials, the mushroom through its enzymes breaks down the organic debris and thus replenishes the soil with nutrients. Mycelial threads decay or digest the food they eat with enzymes just as our stomachs digest food we eat. As a mushroom decays, most of its food energy returns to the soil. Ammonia is released by the mycelium and is in turn acted upon by other bacteria which help convert it to usable nitrogen, one of the most important elements used by plants. A great disservice is done if mushrooms are labeled only as destroyers.