General Category > Questions and Answers

Dog vomit fungus

(1/1)

NightHawk:
I believe I've correctly identified a fungal growth I discovered in our front garden this morning.

Its nicknames are "dog vomit fungus" and "scrambled egg fungus", seemingly due to the appearance of both items, but its scientific name is Fuligo septicai.

This is the first time it has appeared in our garden.  Although research shows it doesn't pose any harmful effects to humans or pets I'd rather not risk our dog eating any of it.  Also, because of its spore nature the research states that hosing it off your grass doesn't seem to eradicate it completely, so has anyone had experience of this particular fungus and how to deal with it?

A photo below is how it looked this morning (pale yellow in colour).

Eric Hardy:
What an amazing looking fungus, Laurie. I can't say that the non scientific name is very attractive though :o. Never having heard of it I have no helpful advice on how to get rid of it, sorry.

Eric H.

ideasguy:
Looks 'orrible Laurie!
I have lots of unpleasant things in the garden but not that one fortunately :D

NightHawk:
I have to say it is a new one on me too, so when I 'Googled' the phrase "fungus on lawns" the photos of the results I got matched the one in our garden, which is how I came up with an ID.

I think the best thing to do is to remove by gloved hand as much as I can then hose it down with water.  I'll keep an eye out for it reforming and repeat the process.  One report I read said you can't completely eliminate it as the spores get dispered and then grow again under the appropriate conditions.

As you say George, it does look 'orrible.  The spores must have blown in from elsewhere as this is the first time it has appeared here.  The conditions that make it thrive are not unusual either for this time of year, so I would have expected to have seen it before now.

The research I read states it also doesn't do any harm to other plantlife, which is some good news, but it just looks unsightly and very off-putting.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that one with you.

Navigation

[0] Message Index