I'm not clear from your post, is the slime on the ground at the base of the plant, or is it on the tomatoes of the plant?

There are some tomato maladies that can cause rotting of the fruit while its still on the plant. Of course these are tomato related problems, not WS ones. Some diseases are caused by splash up of pathogens that are in the soil.

If the problem is on the fruit could you please share a picture so I can look it up and see what it is.

Thanks,

Trudi,
The blob is at the base of the plant itself, on the soil, but also surrounding (on) the base of the main stem of the plant. (Sorry,in my excitement-- and "mad dash" to find out something about the mold, I didn't make myself too clear, initially :-).

Linda

I have some of that around the base of our newly planted roses. I have had it in previous years. It was disconcerting the first time I saw it. It doesn't seem to have been a problem at all. Not very pretty though is it. [g] Mine actually gets closer to an orange sometimes.

1black, in your research, was the blob referred to as "dog vomit slime?" If so, it's harmless -- a fungus playing out its role in the decomposition drama. I get it all the time soon after applying mulch. It goes away on its own after a few days, after changing color from brown to creamish or maybe the other way around.

I've had the dog vomit fungus a few times though not on tomatoes. It didn't seem to bother nearby plants.

Kaen

Ooooh. Slime Molds.

Say it in the Homer Simpson Donut Voice: Slime Molds.

I love slime molds, they're simply disgusting looking and perfect for freaking out neighbors and small children.

I have a few that have shown up every now and then, but I haven't seen any in two years, I think it's because my woodchip mulch is aging and many of the spores that make slime molds just aren't there anymore ;-(

The ones I've had have been harmless and have never bothered any plants, even the plants they've oozed around, encircling their stems. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Do take some great photos and have the best one framed to sit on your mantle or entry table...people are always facinated by them and they make great conversation pieces at parties. You could make an album and entitle it "My Favorite Slime Molds".

T

Finally, I am able to get back to you folks :-)
I got a picture of it this morning, and, as I read at one site, it dried up a bit after being exposed to a sunny day. It was a lot puffier and yellower than it is in this picture. Rather fascinating!
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It looks like something from outer space (or that stuff in a can my husband uses to seal cracks).
Thanks so much for all your responses. They were reassuring :-)

Linda

Yuck!

I don't care how natural or normal that goop is, I'd remove it from my plants if it were on them.

Plays_in_dirt,
Yes, one of the sites called it "Dog Vomit" mold..LOL. Love the names for this stuff.
Although I'm not sure if the yellow stuff is exactly the same or what, I've noticed there are different configurations (maybe different types) of the mold. Mine is the puffy kind (looks surreal...like a Souffle gone bad)

Here's one link about it:
http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/june99.html

and another:
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/slime1.htm

(I probably wouldn't look at those pictures right after eating dinner...)

Here is a link that might be useful: More info on Slime Mold

I've had great fun amusing myself with dog vomit slime mold this year. I had several variations and one of them looked just like yours. It hasn't hurt a thing. I'm told it's tied to excessive moisture on the wood mulch. Could be. Last week, it rained twice. Once for four days, the other for three.

Donn,
I could see you now..."Away with it!" (rubbing his hands, devising some scheme to dispose of the visually offending organism)

Seedmama,
Yeah, that's why it made perfect sense to me that I had it (in my yard). We had no rain, then tons of rain, and a few days of little to no sun. The manure was fresh from a neighbor's barn. So, it figured. Bacteria. Moisture. Yellow Blob...lol. And now that i look at pictures of the whitish crusty stuff, I'm pretty sure I've seen that on our lawn in the past. I thought it was...dog vomit. LOL.

Linda

eewwww....... When I had it, it was only on some mulch. It looks worse in your picture, Linda, like it's an alien trying to strangle a plant.

Karen

Dog vomit slime mold shouldn't be attaching itself to living tissue. It's is only one that grows on decaying matter. I've never found it in my mulch, but I have seen it grow on cut back Maximillian stems (cut ends) in the fall rainy season! The stems were dying back for the winter :D

Vera

Linda,
I saw dog vomit for the first time on my compost pile this spring. I took it for racoon vomit. What are the odds that on that very evening someone would post a pic on the SCM forum? I learn so much from GW.

I'm glad my first exposure was small. Over the course of this spring all 11,000 square feet of my new lasagna beds have been covered with it at least once. If I hadn't already identified it, I would have really freaked out. Instead, my husband and I have just had lots of laughs.

And since we've had so much rain and so little sun, the dog vomit has been one of the few things to "bloom" for me this year. I'm counting on really healthy soil for next year. Here's looking at the glass half full!

That doesn't look like slime mold to me.

I would be more inclined to think that's something encasing bug eggs/larvae.

Slime molds are on the ground and come up from spores in the ground, they don't go up on plants and they don't grow over red plastic....you do not have a slime mold. You have, I think, some sort of insect egg case.

It's pretty well dried up now, and I went out today and just scraped it off the stem (scrape is kind of too intense a word...it was basically coming off with only a little help from me, and crumbling to dust).

I think because I have the plastic tray around the base of the tomato plant, the mold started growing around the soil in the center of the tray (moving from the crack in the tray leading up to the center hole).
I guess there are several types of this "slime mold" and this is just one type. Some look watery and goldish yellow, some are puffy and red, some are puffy and yellow (like mine), and some are clear or whitish. Pretty fascinating actually.
The stem of the Tom plant looks fine, the entire plant is very healthy looking, and the mold dried up as I read that this type of slime mold does (once it isn't fed any more moisture).
I read that you could put down lime, but then, it will screw up the PH your plants need. Most sites said applying anything was pretty much unnecessary.
Who knows...maybe it will make my tomatoes taste better? If I keel over from eating one, you can put a Cherokee Tom on my tombstone...lol.

Linda

Looked at your pics and saw your cute little, er, no, BIG Monarch Cat!! Congrats!

Well, I guess my slime mold crept inside last night and read this forum, because something inspired it to wrap itself around an impatiens stem! We seem to have the same type/color of mold. This summer I've had a fair bit, always where I put down a lot of coffee grounds, and I have a feeling that's why seedmama has so much slime mold, too. I think slime is cool, and it's not like it's eating my coneflower petals...or so I think!

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