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WTH is This?

februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
in Problem solving
So, doing some clearing ready for bulb planting and found this underneath a flopped over nicotiana. 



I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's some kind of fungus but is it friendly or do I need to take a flamethrower to it? 
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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Whatever sort of fungus it is I’d just leave it to rot down and contribute to the ‘natural compost’ that forms over the seasons in our garden. 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
    The slight problem is that the epimediums I'm giving away are also there and have a bit on them. Even if it's harmless I don't really want to be spreading it around someone else's garden as they may not appreciate it!

    As long as it's not something highly toxic and/or likely to gain sentience and kill us all in our sleep, I shall leave it to its own devices. 
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited October 2022
    A friend of mine, outside the then Woolworths in Cornmarket Oxford, was bombed by a swan taking a short-cut between branches of the river.  Not a direct hit, worse, it coated all his lefthand side.

    This pic brings back that memory.  If we had left him unwashed for a week, it would have looked like this.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Not sure about them being sentient beings … we could try developing replacements for the current Cabinet I suppose 🤔 … but no fungi are toxic unless you eat them … and at this time of year the air is full of fungal spores so they’re just as likely to arrive in someone else’s garden that way as by any other method. 

    I really wouldn’t be bothered at all if you gave me plants from a garden with fungus in it. 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I agree with Dove - it looks like a slime mould.
    Quite harmless and just doing its thing - breaking down dead organic matter.
    You could wipe or spray it off if you like, but it'll be gone in a few days anyway.
    It's not going to spread anywhere - enjoy the wonder of nature while it lasts.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    februarysgirl said:
     is it friendly or do I need to take a flamethrower to it? 
    As a girl, you are probably happy to clean up after babies.  Me. I'm a boy; I would flood it with high pressure water.  But keep schtum; you don't want to pass on any angst.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited October 2022
    😶 🤯 🤐

    Checking calendar … we are living in the 21st century aren’t we??? 😵‍💫

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Crikey @bede, is that what you would do if you ever had to change a nappy?😱
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
      bédé said:
    As a girl, you are probably happy to clean up after babies.  Me. I'm a boy; I would flood it with high pressure water.  But keep schtum; you don't want to pass on any angst.
    Flood fungi/slime mold with high pressure water ??  How ridiculous (not to mention wasteful ) can you get ?  
    Nowt to do with human faeces, babies or adults - whatever gender you are why not simply accept that things growing naturally are a part of nature ?  Don't eat anything you are unsure of, wash your hands every time you touch something ( children, pets, plants, foreign objects ) if so inclined.  No wonder so many people new to gardening are petrified by anything quite natural.  
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    I am slowly coming to the conclusion that Bédé is something of a WUM.
    Quite a few of his posts have really irritated me recently. I realise that statement probably makes him laugh his sad little socks off but - life's too short - the handy Ignore button may come into play soon. 

    Apologies for that minor rant @februarysgirl. I have no idea what your fungus is - but there are so many different ones growing in and around my garden that I've learned to live with / ignore them. Most cause no problems at all except for the dreaded honey fungus which (every so often) kills off another shrub.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
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