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Vegetable Gardening

white gooey stuff in soil

carlsbadgardener

16 years ago

This morning I'm pulling out winter tomato plants to make room for my summer plantings, and while tilling the soil I've come across this white, gooey stuff. I've seen it before in my raised beds, and figured it was some residue from our landscaping (we recently had work done). But its here again, and I'm wondering if it is some type of organic matter growing in my soil. It has a gooey texture, almost like tofu; it's very white.

Does anyone know what this could be?

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening Journal

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Comments (5)

ligardener
16 years ago
My guess is that it is some kind of fungus. I had something similar happen to me in the past, except that the growth was sulfur-yellow and on the top of the soil, and spreading. I scraped it away carefully, and that took care of it.
carlsbadgardener
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks....do you think it could be harmful? (was yours?)
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ligardener
16 years ago
In my case, no. Once I scraped it away, making sure to get it all, I forgot about it.
hatchjon
16 years ago
hi carlsbadgardener,

I enjoyed your garden journal.
About the onions; Onions come in two types, short day and long day. Both types are triggered to bulb by the increasing number of daylight hours. Long day onions need 14-16 hour days while short day need 12-14 hour days.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Blog: The Wicked Good Garden
Belgianpup
16 years ago
I think it's probably a good bacteria relative, called Actinomycetes (or Actinobacteria), that helps to break down crop residue. It's actually something between a bacteria and a fungus.

If you have a working compost pile and where it's heating up is full of white threads, that's the same stuff.

It's good stuff, just leave it there, as it's part of the microherd.

Sue

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