Slime Mold Newsletter
Slime Mold
It’s scary looking, but slime mold sounds and looks much worse than it is. It is mostly a cosmetic issue. Slime molds grow on top of soil, on and in mulch and sometimes on plants with a dusty-gray, black, dirty white, red or yellow mass.
Sometimes it looks like tiny round balls scattered over the ground or in organic material. If you rub these balls between your fingers, a sooty-like powder will be released. It often appears in mulched areas and looks like some animal threw up. In turf, slime mold spore masses coat the grass in spots and look like cigarette ash on the surface of the blades.
This growth is the fruiting part of the fungus that is breaking down dead wood or organic mulch
But then there is all of the rest of this: probably not fungus (though it used to be scientifically grouped that way) but now identified as a separate kingdom. This growth that often looks like animal vomit is slime mold. It usually does hurt plants unless it completely covers the foliage.
Slime molds will cover mulch or some above-ground plants with a dusty-gray, black, tan, white, red or dirty yellow mass. There can be tiny round red or black balls scattered over the plant. If you rub these balls between your fingers, a minute sooty-like powder will cover them.
Some slime molds in turf grasses look like black or gray ash and will easily rub off on shoes, socks and pants.
Slime molds tend to develop during wetter weather and feed on decaying organic matter. These fungi rarely hurt plants unless they grow up onto or over small seedlings. Several organic fungicides will kill slime mold. Cornmeal, cornmeal tea, baking soda, potassium bicarbonate and water or garlic will work. I usually just rough up the surface with a cultivating tool, hoe or turning fork. On turf, the spores can be easily wiped off or removed by rinsing with water during dry weather, or by mowing and raking at any time. It’s an interesting fungus, but there are much worse things to worry about.
From Wikipedia:
Slime molds were formerly classified as fungi but are no longer considered part of that kingdom.[2] Although not forming a single monophyletic clade, they are grouped within the paraphyletic group, Protista.
From DifferenceBetween.com, see The difference between fungi and slime molds:
The key difference between slime molds and fungi is their cell wall composition. Slime molds have a cell wall composed of cellulose while fungi have a cell wall composed of chitin.
Slime molds belong to the Kingdom Protista, and they are also called fungus-like protista. In contrast, fungi are true organisms belonging to the Kingdom Fungi. Both these organisms produce sporangia; therefore, most people are unable to identify the difference between slime molds and fungi.
While slime molds are not too common, it is not uncommon to find them growing on Bermuda grass seed heads. There is no chemical control and they usually disappear when the weather becomes drier. They tend to develop during wetter weather.
By the way, use something other than that horrible chemically-dyed mulch. Shredded native cedar is the best choice.
Naturally yours,
Howard Garrett
The Dirt Doctor