Carolina Smoke Bombs??

On the ground - overnight it seems - these masses of bright yellow/green 'stuff' appear on the ground. At first I thought deer vomit! But after seeing more than three .... I knew differently. After searching, I located several more and --- and another different appearing mass. Two primary looks: bright bright yellow/green and 'foamy' appearing (but not foam) and a creme/beige/greyish mass that looks a tad more solid but also like something that could have been vomited up. (I work in a hospital so....hence the description) - I could say a mass of hypertufa!! I hit the beige one (on the mulched mound under a cedar tree) with a spray from the hose and it went up in a HUGE puff of dark brown smoke/dust - IT JUST FLEW! I was not downwind but you can be sure I held my breath on that one! What IS this stuff? Anybody know? It looks dangerous to the lungs. The yellow/green masses are small (about 3 -5 inches across) but the beige colored masses can be wide - 6-8-15 inches across.

A very apt description of Dog Vomit Slime Mold. LOL

http://www.personal.psu.edu/sam21/dogvomit.htm

The man who wrote the descriptions has a great sense of humor!

Poor guy, can you imagine telling folks you were studying Dog Vomit Slime Mold. Can't you just see the title on his thesis? LOL

I found some of the yucky stuff in my garden today. I have read where the best thing to do is just flip it over and let it dry up. It is much harder than it looks when fresh.

That is it!

It does look like dog vomit! Thank you Ardesia! However, I am going to be quite careful around this stuff because my lungs are nice and dark and humid inside and quite checkered with folds, pockets, and bumps. Next spring...I don't want my internal 'mulch' to give birth.

I have seen the impact of inhaled organisms. Micobacterial and Fungal lung diseases are very debilitating and scary and hard to treat.

Thanks again -- I thought I had a herd of deer that found a moonshine operation in the woods and were stumbling onto the property every evening these past few weeks.

This message was edited Jun 7, 2008 9:09 AM