orange fungus?

Hope someone can help... I have something that I think is a fungus on the soil in my garden, bright orange carrot-colored growths about 1/4 inch high. They seem to be spreading. I thought that I heard they were called "witch's broomstick," but I can't seem to find any information about them. Should I leave it alone? Dig it up? Spray it with something (preferably organic)?

Oh oh oh! I love fungus. Can you please post a photo. What you described could be quite a few things. Maybe Witch's Butter (Tremella mesenterica) although that attains heights considerably greater than 1/4" andit is generally found growing on organic matter not directly in a lawn? There is a Witch's Hat (Hygrocybe conica) but that's more of a traditional mushroom shape but it is the color you described. I don't think there is a Witch's Broomstick but I am only familiar with about 1/1000th of all that is out there.

I would just leave it be until you get a proper ID. Many are totally harmless and they do serve a purpose.

I second Equilibrium's request. I too love fungi. It is the second most common thing that I photograph next to insects - and sadly due to drought this year, I am in fungus withdrawl.

Also sadly, despite loving to photograph the fungi, I have no idea what they are. I just love the colors and shapes of them - not very scientific of me, but maybe someday I'll identify them.

How about a Cheeto looking rust on Wild Roses. First year I've ever seen anything like it. It was only on the roses.

Try to get the picture to go this time!

You got me. I can't see the photo well enough but those cheeto looking growths might be uredia. Go online and search for fungus family called Phragmidium. See if that might not be what is at the root of your rose issues?

If what you have is a fungus, be very careful if you choose to use a fungicide. Many are carcinogenic. I hate to admit this but I am afraid of most fungicides.

Since these are the ordinary wild rose and I've never had it before, I'm going to let it go. I see no signs of damage. They bloomed and didn't lose any leaves.

I've heard of milk being used as an organic fungal treatment.

I just read that the other day.

Thanks for all the information so far! Sorry to have taken so long to post a picture, I had to get some help in learning how to do that. The name Witch's Butter sounds familiar, that may be the right term. It is also probably a bit bigger than the 1/4 inch I mentioned. Does anyone know for sure if it is that, and if so, should I do anything about it? I would prefer any method that is totally organic if possible. Thanks again for all your help!

This message was edited Jul 20, 2006 8:52 AM

Here is another picture with a dime to show scale.

I don't think it's Witch's Butter. These images are both of Tremella mesenterica-
http://www.naturamediterraneo.com/Public/data/leo/200518111914_Tremella%20mesenterica%20mod.jpg
http://nrs.ucdavis.edu/stebbins/images/mushrooms/Tremella_mesenterica.jpg

For the more traditional shaped growths in the first photo as well as in the second photo in the lower left hand corner, check out Scarlet Wax Cap (Hygrocybe coccinea) maybe? You got me. Any chance you could try for some more photos and a photo of the gills under the cap would be nice too.

Here's a photo of a Witch's Hat (Hygrocybe conica) looks like, close but no bananas I guess because the upper portion of the mushroom really looks like a hat worn by a wicked witch-
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hygrocybe_conica.html

I agree, it doesn't look much like Witch's Butter or Witch's Hat. I'll try for a closer picture, they are pretty small, though, to get a pict ure of the gills. I'll see what I can do. For now, I continue beWitched!

I forgot to mention that what you have probably isn't a "foe".

Equi,
Yesterday near my Amethyst hydrangea I saw a semicircle of what looked like bright salmon-colored mini mushrroms, very small and very smooth, growing right on the mulch (and not where the plant food was put down months ago either). After a few hours the pretty salmon color (so pretty and perfect, my husbnad thought I put it down as decoration) turned to a nice mocha tan. Now my DH, who is a yeast geneticist, is sure they are fungi but he can't identify them (he works on Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the baking yeast). Do I worry? Do I rake them into the mulch? Do I replace the mulch? Do I burn the mulch? I have never seen these; the common mushroom I see is mushroom color and the size of a button mushroom. Thanks.

Thanks, Equilibrium, I'm glad that it isn't a "foe". I guess it would be alright then to just leave it alone and try to appreciate its beauty? I am going to get some better pictures today, will try to get under the gill. I don't know whether you can tell from the pictures that are already posted, but it is a much oranger color than the Witch's Butter, a very carroty color.

The sad reality is that I don't see all that well. I take my photos on auto 100% of the time and have my husband give them the "once over" before I post them. Often times I have to photograph what I am trying to identify to load it to my hard drive to enlarge it and even then I have to whip out a magnifying glass. I also keep a magnifying glass in my purse these days as well as in my car and by plants that I grow. Needless to say, photos posted on line have to be very crisp for me. Sorry about that.

Hey bbinnj, I'm with your husband the yeast geneticist in that I find them very attractive too. I'd leave yours be unless you get a postivie ID on them that would indicate other action should be taken. These life forms are an integral portion of our ecosystems.

So-
Would I worry? not unless there is something to worry about
Would I rake them into the mulch? no
Would I replace the mulch? no
Would I burn the mulch? no

Some of the most beautiful shrooms I have ever seen emerged from piles that were once the contents of mucked out horse stalls. I wish I could find a few photos I took last year but (sigh) I'd have to go through about 10,000 images and I'm too lazy.

Hey Marzar, I caught that color. Very attractive. The color in and of itself can be one of the characteristics used to get an ID but most unfortunately as with anything else it seems there is going to be variability from shroom to shroom.

DK has a book out there that you all who have this new found love of shrooms might like-
http://davesgarden.com/gbw/c/500/

I am particularly fond of this book-
Smithsonian Handbooks (DK) : Mushrooms by Thomas Laessoe and Gary Lincoff

I have an extra copy of this publication somewhere laying around and since you two (Marzar and bbinnj) seem to have acquired a taste for native shrooms (not literally of course as many are highly poisonous)...
you two can flip a cyber coin and I will send my old copy to who ever wants it. Rats, that means I'm going to have to dig through piles of books scattered throughout the house.

Hi Equi,
thanks for the info. Update: they may be slime molds. DH investigated further and found that the pretty bright colored phase is filled with ooze while the mocha colored phase is solid. Sound like anything you know about?

Ohhhhhhhhh, slime molds. Try the Dog Vomit slime mold. No kidding, there really is a slime mold called the Dog Vomit slime mold and while you're at it, my girlfriend who is here with me while I am typing says to check out a Deer Vomit slime mold. I'm not familiar with the Deer Vomit slime mold.

Oh, yeah!! We got the Dog Vomit on some wood chips we put down a couple of years ago. Found out what it was and just left it there. It's does look pretty awful up close, just like it's name. It didn't come back once it faded away ...now we just get those little buttons that come up in the lawn now and then.

Uck gross. Of course to DH, they are neat- he couldn't wait to bring one inside to show me, oozing all its glory.
Thanks (gulp).
BB

It's wolf's milk slime mold, Lycogalus epidendrum and it's still gross, albeit harmless 9maybe not to my nerves or sense of aesthetics).
http://gardenobsession.blogspot.com/2006/04/wolfs-milk-slime.html
BB

Oh lucky you! Way cool!

Don't know about luck; think these things grow whenever the wood chip mulch gets wet enough! But at least they won't kill my new hyds planted this spring (or us either).

I've never gotten to see a Wolf's Milk Slime Mold up close and personal. It sort of looks as if a giant raspberry exploded on the ground. I like it. It's awesome and you have to admit it certainly adds a dash of bold tropical color to an otherwise drab pile of wood chips.

Oh yes, the color is great but only lasts a few hours until it becomes that mocha tan, then a taupey-grey. Wonder if it breaks down the wood chips at all.

The slime is all knowing.

Just kidding but it will "suck" out a few nutrients from the wood chips.

Equilibrium and Night_Bloom, I took pics of a couple that I thought were pretty but I have no idea what they're called. The ones below are growing on a rotton part of the trunk of a Yucca in my yard.

-- Vickjy

A couple of weeks ago these fellows were growing in a pot of passion flower after we'd had gobs of daily rain. I loved the color.

-- Vicky

The first one maybe some sort of a Polypore? If you break one in half, does the inside look like somebodye seasoned it with salt and pepper? If not, what does the inside look like to you? Also too, what do the undersides look like?

On the second one, do you by any chance have a photo of what they look like after the caps open up? They look to me as if they aren't fully opened yet but what do I know. They sure are pretty. Can you get a photo of the undersides of those too. The undersides of mushroom caps are usually a big help for trying to identify shrooms.

Start at this site-
http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/volk/fungi3/index.htm

Oh cool, vcb1. Thanks for the pictures. I'd listen to Equilibrium though, because I may like to take pictures of fungi, but I can't identify them - well beyond that the first one looks like a shelf fungi anyway - heh.

*Sigh* I've missed taking pictures of fungi this year, but today we had rain - yay! - so maybe there will be fungi in my future.

Night_Bloom: you can have ours, even if DH finds them neat. My kids are screaming mad about the salmon-pink slime mold (well, not really fungus among us).

Ha, don't listen to me! I am shooting in the dark with fungi! But! I have fun.

No, I got rid of the yellow ones and haven't had any more for a while. I had those when we had lots of rain every afternoon. Our rains are funny in the summer -- we usually get storms moving west to east across the FL peninsula every afternoon but you can be where I am and get missed and 1/2 mile up the road it pours. Lately we've been missed a lot so it's been a bit dry.

I haven't opened up the white one but I'll do it when I go out to the garden this afternoon. I like the different fungus types and what I call toadstools too. They come in some really nice colors. I haven't tried to identify them though so any feedback on names is great.

-- Vicky

I like fungi very much. I do get a kick out of it popping up here there and everywhere. What did you think of that Volk site?

That was a very interesting site. It's clean and well presented too -- thanks for the link!

-- Vicky

Equi, when it rained on the wolf's milk slime molds Friday, the rain turned to steam with a HISS!! Quite a show. Is the slime mold turning the mulch into compost?

Aah, but should I worry that the slime molds are cooking the hyds' roots? Hyd roots are deep, right? Not shallow like azalaeas and rhodies? Probably not a good thing to have by the azalaeas and rhodies. Maybe the red cedar mulch over by those bushes will keep the slime molds away.

I don't think you have anything to worry about at all with slime molds and roots. Just think of them as pruning out the bacteria around your plants. Enjoy them. giggle.