- Author: Gayle Nelson
By Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
Occasionally you may see things sprouting around your garden that you know you did not plant. Are they mushrooms or toadstools, or is there perhaps another fungus among us?
Mushrooms and toadstools are all fungi and come from spores growing on decaying materials in your soil. They are working for you by breaking down decaying materials and adding to the health of your soil.
In the distant past, people believed that toads lived on toadstools, hence the name. People used the word “mushrooms” for edible types and “toadstools” for the types thought to be toxic. Scientifically, they are much alike. The mushroom is the fruiting body of the fungus, and the frilly gills underneath produce the spores. Unless you are very knowledgeable, do not eat any wild mushrooms; some are edible but many are poisonous.
Dr. Gordon Walker is a fungus expert. In a recent Zoom talk for Napa County Master Gardeners, he explained how fungi grow, their many benefits and the problems they can cause. On his Facebook page, Fascinated by Fungi, he explains where mushrooms grow, what types they are and if they can be eaten. He shows a lot of images of fungi growing right here in Napa County.
I have spread a lot of compost and bark in my yard over the years, and a variety of fungi have appeared. These decomposers are breaking down the mulch. Some fungi, such as Armillaria, grow on living trees. This fungus grows in wet soil and affects oak trees and other woody plants; it is also known as oak root fungus. If the roots or bark have been damaged from tilling or other injury, the fungus can take hold. By digging out the area around the trunk to let it dry, you can often stop the fungus infection. If not stopped, it can kill an oak tree. I live in a flood zone and this fungus also killed my birch trees within a few years. Flood waters carried it in and left it in the soil.
If you want to get rid of mushrooms and toadstools in a lawn, first clean up the area. Remove grass or leaf litter, add nitrogen to the soil and dispose of the mushrooms and toadstools. Do not put them in your compost pile. Move out any grass that may be left and move the soil around with a rake to expose and dry out any spores left behind.
Other fungi can attack the heartwood of an oak tree and kill the tree. Some attack the dead wood. There is nothing you can do once the fungus is inside the tree and has spread to the trunk. But to prevent it from spreading further, prune back all affected branches close to the branch collar. Once you see fungi on the trunk, they are inside the tree.
Mycorrhizae are beneficial fungi that grow on the roots of oaks and other trees. The fungi contribute to soil health. Mycorrhizae help with water uptake and the general health of the tree. It is a good practice to leave leaf litter around an oak to encourage mycorrhizae. It is important not to till near oak roots and disturb this fungus in the soil.
Slime mold is not a fungus, but it often appears during cool wet spring weather. It was once considered a fungus, but after more research it has been reclassified. There are more than 900 species of slime mold, and they grow on decaying material. While they are single-cell organisms, when food is scarce and conditions advantageous, they often converge and create a patch. These patches can be bright yellow, orange, brown or grey. Once they gather and create spores, they seem to dissolve and disappear within a few days. Slime molds, too, are part of healthy garden soil and reflect a living garden in springtime.
Food Growing Forum: Second Sunday of the month through November. Sunday, May 9, 3 pm to 4 pm: “Beans and Summer Pruning of Fruit Trees.” Register to get Zoom link: https://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=33586
Workshop: On Saturday, May 1, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County will hold a virtual workshop on “Flowers & Foliage for the House” from 10:00 am to noon. Learn about growing your own annuals and perennials for cutting and get tips on creating arrangements. Register to get the Zoom link: http://ucanr.edu/2021Flowers&FoliageMay
Library Talk: On Thursday, May 6, from 7 pm to 8 pm, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County will hold a virtual talk on “Right Tree, Right Place: Making Smart Tree Choices for Your Landscape.” Register to get the Zoom link: http://ucanr.edu/2021MayRtTreeRtPlace
Tree Walk: On Tuesday, May 11, from 10 am to noon, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County will host a docent-guided tree walk in Fuller Park in Napa. Group size is limited to seven. To register: https://bit.ly/2Qg3tib
Got Garden Questions? Contact our Help Desk. The team is working remotely so please submit your questions through our diagnosis form, sending any photos to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org or leave a detailed message at 707- 253-4143. A Master Gardener will get back to you by phone or email.
For more information visit http://napamg.ucanr.edu or find us on Facebook or Instagram, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk and for sending those good photos of the little white things on your soil. As I said in our conversation earlier today, they look like a type of slime mold and are not harmful to your garden. They eat bacteria and fungal spores, as well as organic debris and are not harmful to your garden They come in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes.
Slime molds are pretty interesting organisms. They start out as individual cells and join together into a moving, sometimes pulsating mass. I found a couple of articles and videos about slime molds you might find of interest:
From KQED Science: https://www.kqed.org/science/635319/this-pulsating-slime-mold-comes-in-peace
From Bay Nature magazine: https://baynature.org/article/ask-naturalist-mysterious-tiny-eggs/
Happy gardening! Please let us know if you have further questions.
Don't miss our 2019 Great Tomato Plant Sale - Walnut Creek 3/30, Richmond 4/6, Antioch 4/13. Click link for more info: http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/tomato/ |
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)
Note: UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog.
/table>Advice for Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Master Gardener Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County about the strange fungus looking things growing on your mulch. Your photos were very helpful.
What you have is called a slime mold--not really a fungus, but similar to one. The most common one in our area is aptly called the 'dog vomit fungus' or 'scrambled egg slime' since it sort of looks like that when it's fresh. It is common to see this on recently-applied wood chips in landscaped areas, especially in spring. I have seen quite a few of these in my yard recently on chips that were spread last fall. The common ones start out a shocking yellow color, but as they dry, they turn brown and gray, and become quite dusty when disturbed.
Slime molds are not harmful to landscapes or people or animals, although if it appears on a lawn, it could cause a little damage underneath from shading and suffocation. Undisturbed, slime molds usually disappear within a week, but you can easily remove them by raking, or spraying them with a stream of water from a hose although that could spread the mold.
Slime molds are pretty interesting. They start out as individual cells and then coalesce into a single entity. They then start to move, although not very far (maybe a few inches) before they die. You can sometimes see their tracks in the morning.
You mentioned that you have begun using non-potable water in your garden. I don't believe that the non-potable water is cause of the slime molds your seeing. However, if you see any changes in the health of your plants which are being watered with non-potable water, feel free to contact us.
Please let us know if you have more questions.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (MPL)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, although we will be moving this spring. We will notify you if/when that occurs. We can also be reached via telephone: (925)646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/)
/span>- Author: Ben Faber
Avocado growers have been ecstatic at fruit prices and are walking their groves more avidly, checking things out and seeing lots of things they don't normally see. A recent grower find has been a blob of Fulgio septica - ‘Dog Vomit' or ‘Dog Fungus'. It's not vomit, it's not a fungus, but a slime mold that lives off the organic matter littering orchards and in mulched gardens. After the rains and when it starts to warm up, the spores of these non-animal, non-plants germinate and start moving around. They aggregate into a mass, called a plasmodium, a super individual that starts out as a yellowish, spongy mass that can move in a slow, amoeboid-like fashion. It gradually hardens and can take on the brownish-tan coloring seen in the image below. As it dries, it breaks up and blows away. It won't do harm to living plants, simply feeding on dead material. It will gradually disappear. So, as you walk your orchard or your backyard, enjoy the unusual appearance of a rainy year member of the web of nature.