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What are they

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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It'll disappear by itself  :)
    Many of these things appear when conditions suit - wet, dry etc, but they're rarely a problem to your site.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited November 2022
    I read a while ago that there was some evidence that Nostoc was increasing partially due to the use of Glyphosate ... I'm a bit rushed this morning, but a quick Googe came up with this ...

    "...It has been proven that the presence of pure glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] had a stimulating effect on the growth of several cyanobacteria including Nostoc muscorum (Drzyzga and Lipok, 2018)...."
    https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.661634/full 


    I'm not a scientist and don't pretend to understand it, but I thought it interesting and perhaps someone with more relevant knowledge than I have, might care to have a read.    It might explain why Nostoc always seems to turn up on the edges of driveways ...

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





  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    huw:  Thank you for your yhanks to all the contributors.  Few are polite enough to bother.
     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."
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Palustris said:
    The Wikipedia entry on Nostoc makes fascinating reading. Some kinds are edible.
    Honey fungus is also claimed to be edible.  But I wouldn/t encouage it.
     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."
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    surely NaClO, @bede?
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    If something is edible, it doesn't necessarily mean you'd want to eat it - just that it's unlikely to poison you.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    punkdoc said:
    surely NaClO, @bede?
    If you like.  Doctors may write it that way, I don't know.  I'm also not sure about punks.  
    I have always written the chemical formula of sodium hypochlorite as NaOCl.  And will continue this way.

    Neither should be an issue with the poster.  I just wanted to make it clear(ish) what the active ingredient is.
     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."
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Fairygirl said:
    It'll disappear by itself 
    My invasion didn't.  It dried up (very slowly) in dry weather, then swelled again when the rains came.  Having in the meantime spored itself much more widely.
     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."
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited November 2022
    I read a while ago that there was some evidence that Nostoc was increasing partially due to the use of Glyphosate ... 

    It might explain why Nostoc always seems to turn up on the edges of driveways 
    It si especially fond of limestone - high pH.  Mine is on a flat roof, a long way from any Glyphosate contamination.

    It also reported to be susceptible to fatty acid herbicides.  Caprylic (C8), capric (C10) and nonanoic (C9) are all quoted as being effecting anti-nostocs.  I found a commercial RFU spray that contained perlagonic acid (aka nonanoic).  I tried that but I didn't think is was effective. (That was before I found that the gel structure was maintained evn after the organism itself was probably dead. )

    Anything that unravels Proteins (DNA) will kill anything living.  Heat above 60ºC, alcohol, caustic soda.  But I would repeat: be extremely careful if you handle NaOH.  Better not to.  

    I am not trying to blind posters with science; more trying to open their eyes.
     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."
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    I've seen this substance before of course but not known what it was called. I've said lots of times on this forum, we live and learn and no doubt I'll say it again. 
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
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