What is this on my lawn.

[ryan.s]

We recently put in new sod about a month ago and just started noticing these spots throughout the lawn. I can't figure out what it is for the life of me. It looks like it grows only on top of the grass and isn't rooted into the ground. It looks like the top of a cauliflower with the consistency of a tomato. Logic tells me it's some sort of fungus. What causes this, how do we get rid of it and how do we prevent it! Thanks!

[parnelli]

It does appear as if there is a fungus among us!

I had mushrooms after applying sod a few years back and was told it was due to the frequent heavy watering after applying the sod. They told me that after the sod had rooted and I stopped watering so much that it would go away. It did. At the time I had looked into chemicals- there were only a few that did anything, and they were *very* strong, so I passed.

One thing that I had read though was that mowing can help spread them, so I went around and popped them out of the ground before mowing. Don't know if it helped, but it was easy enough.

That said, this was all for mushrooms and I don't know if it applies to your fungus.

Well, not your's per se but you get the idea!

[moc]

I believe that's a "slime mold."

Not sure what you can do about it (or even if you need to do anything - the one's I've seen just disappear as conditions change).

I would Google "slime mold" and you should find all the info you need (or use A9 instead of Google so you can get your amazon discount )

*moc

[ryan.s]

Thanks so much for the replies guys. I did a search for slime mold and was able to identify it. Apparently it is due to too much watering and it is not harmful to plants or grass. Thanks again, this forum kicks a**!

[Copper]

Yep, definately slime mold. We've had that a few times in our mulch. It turns brown when it dries out. Pretty fun to spray a hose on it (not recommended if you don't want to spread spores). The things basically explode into a cloud of spores. Fun! (but I'm a plant pathologist and simple stuff like that gets me excited)

[Russianwolf]

I thought it was snowman poop........

[scmhogg]

"I thought it was snowman poop........"

Great Mike, I thought the dog was eating drywall again.

Steve