Mystery Photo
Today’s Mystery Photo was submitted by Phyllis Katz, of Norwich, Vermont. Do you know what the whitish part of the photograph is? It appeared overnight in her garden and it measures roughly 12” by 6”. Identification will be revealed tomorrow. All guesses welcome!
Cedar Apple Rust? Or another fungus
August 30, 2012 at 12:47 pm
It looks like a slime mold, which is not actually a fungus but a protist.
August 30, 2012 at 12:48 pm
scrambled egg slime fuligo septica
August 30, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Slime Mold?
August 30, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Looks like mashed potatoes, but probably a slime mold.
August 30, 2012 at 1:21 pm
Greetings, I don’t know what it is but I would think it is a fungus of some sort. I had a couple of patches of something that looks like this appear about 3 days ago on top of a pile of wood chips. By today they have turned brown, almost black on top. I look forward to the answer!
Audrey
August 30, 2012 at 1:28 pm
I’ve had that vomitty looking stuff in my yard several times this summer. I’ve assumed it’s a slime mold.
August 30, 2012 at 2:35 pm
It is a fungus called, appropriately enough, “Dog Barf Fungus”. This is phase two — phase one was smaller and bright yellow. It should be scooped up in a plastic bag and tied off and discarded. The next step, in a day or two, will be for it to turn into a brown powder. That powder is it’s spores and that’s how it spreads. Grab it now
August 30, 2012 at 2:57 pm
Dog sick slime mold?
August 30, 2012 at 3:39 pm
I guess that it’s a slime mold, though I have no idea what kind.
August 30, 2012 at 3:55 pm
It’s the so-called “dog vomit slime”, which is especially likely to grow on wood chips. She will have fun watching it go thru its stages from white to yellow, and then brown, when “poof!” it will release its spores and return to dust.
August 30, 2012 at 4:29 pm
My guess is that this is a slime mold, possibly Fuligo septica, which I’ve seen on wood chips here in Ottawa, Ontario.
August 30, 2012 at 6:09 pm
looks like mushroom or mold
August 30, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Yep. Around here, Martha’s Vineyard, that is, it’s what we call dogbarf fungus.
August 30, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Slime mold? Chele Miller
August 30, 2012 at 9:09 pm
Hi Mary,
Very nice photo of Fuliga septica which is a slime mold commonly known as dog barf mold, etc. My mushroom guide was Mushrooms of Northeast North America by G. Barron. He also mentions it can be” white, yellowish, ochre, or red-brown… often in rich soil of well-manured gardens.” Since fungi are essential for making more room on this planet in that they make carbonaceous material rot, I wouldn’t be too concerned about exterminating it!
August 30, 2012 at 9:25 pm
I put in wood chips around my garden this year, and the same fungus appeared in multiple places. I’ve seen it before in another pile of wood chips (other years). It doesn’t appear to spread outside of the woodchips, or cause any problems for my garden, so I just enjoy watching it!
August 31, 2012 at 12:28 am
it’s as slime mold! I had one the other day spreading over bark mulch in the perennial bed. It was gone the next day.
August 31, 2012 at 10:29 am