Cost/Benefit Issues

• No effort or maintenance is required after covering the cultivated fungal base under mounds of contaminated soil and placing shade over the area.  
  
  
• Bioremediation and enhanced bacterial remediation require at least manual monthly turning and reapplication of fertilizer/inoculum.
  
  
• Mycoremediation is a catalyst for an ecosystem.
  
  
• Toxicity tests show that mycoremediated soils have a more beneficial substrate soil for native Washington shrubs than soils that were bio- or bacterially remediated.

Costs

• Mycoremediation costs under 50$ a yard, including bulk fungal spawn, sawdust for inoculation, materials like shade cloth covering, and transportation, labor, and equipment.

• Does not necessarily work in all soils because soils must have climatic conditions and pH that supports the growth of the fungi
  
  
• Field-scale studies have not achieved the same rates of hydrocarbon breakdown as lab tests because of many factors. “These may be because of the inability of the fungi to compete with native microbes in soils and other ecosystems; the concentration and nature of the organopollutant at a given site, inadequate ability to meet the nutrient requirements of the fungus to thrive at the contaminated site, unfavorable conditions, such as pH, temperature, and moisture” (Reddy and Mathew, 70).