mold/fungus problem in MS

These pictures were taken in my next-door neighbors yard, but I have some of the same growth, just not as large patches. I am guessing this is some kind of mold or fungus. In the full sun it is perhaps 1/8" thick, slightly crusty, and black. In the shade, it is up to 1/4" think, slimy, and very dark green to black. It grows mainly in sparce areas of the yard and there the grass is really thick, it does not grow. Apparently it has to have dirt to grow on. My neighbors yard is St. Augustine and my yard is Bermuda. These globs/patches don't seem to harm the grass but I am thinking that grass will not grow where this stuff is. The last picture shows the patch disturbed with a stick.

What is it and more importantly, how do I get rid of it?

This was in answer to questions/solutions about my problem from another forum.

"The lawn that is involved is actually on a slope and there is practically no top-soil. I have never added anything organic to my yard on the slope. I might have perhaps 1" of topsoil and there is nothing but clay beneath that. The clay is many feet deep. There is really nothing above my slope that would feed this part of the yard with anything - organic or moisture. This area actually is about the driest part of all my lawn. The slime mold also grows mostly in full sun. It just seems that every criteria that fits slime mode appearance does not fit my conditions. Go figure.

The lawn expert at Mississippi State University (he has a PhD in lawn and turf management) says the only way to control this stuff (and he is pretty much positive it is slime mold) is to have a healthy lawn. He further said there is really nothing else that controls slime mold and there is nothing out there that will do much to kill it. How about that. With all our knowledge about high-tech stuff, we don't have a control for slime mold! I have always believed that lawns needed fertilizer in the spring, after greening-up and after mowing once or twice and then again in late summer, a "winterizing" fertilizer. The expert says Bermuda grass is an extremely heavy feeder and I should be fertilizing my (dormant) grass now with Scott's Turf Builder Plus Bonus S and then applying a high nitrogen fertilizer every month during the spring and summer. In all my years of lawn care, I have never heard or read this application schedule. Live and learn, huh?"

Ken

Slime mold is opportunistic and will grow more readily where clippings are mulched. I'm not sure what you mean by the notion it needs dirt to grow in/on. It needs decaying vegetative matter. If you have 1" of topsoil you are doing well.

We used to put a lot of time and money into lawn management including having a landscape architect co. maintain the green, organic chicken litter sprays trucks and the seed, feed and weed crew at it all summer. I am so over grass.

One inch of topsoil is absolutely no topsoil. Bermuda grass roots can penetrate 5-6" easily, but in my yard, they won't go 2". When clay dries out, and it is dry 50% of the time, it is literally like concrete. Tree roots can penetrate it but grass - no way. There is no air in clay and certainly no organic matter. It is practically sterile. I simply said there was the topsoil since I don't (actively) mulch it. Since the mold is growing directly on the soil, and not on blades of grass as many university research sites show, that is what I said it was growing on. I have no clue whether it grows on compost, on mulch, or on anything else highly organic. In my yard it grows on soil.

I love my grass and my landscape. My wife (jokingly?) says: "Just concrete it all in and be done with it." I never wanted to live in the "big" city, with nature found mainly in public parks. I like to play in dirt!

Ken