I just spotted something that sounds similar to what you are describing. It is night and I watered my grass this evening before I noticed the mold. I am going to try to "wipe" off the mold like you said tomorrow. Do you have any specific techniques to do this? Do you use a dry towel? I already have patches of dead grass in another part of my yard where I sprinkled laundry detergent thinking that I would kill some mole crickets. I didn't kill anything except for my grass and now I've found this gray/black mold. I'm desperate!!!

Is there anything to spray on the mold? Is it safe for kiddos to be playing on? We have the same thing here in San Antonio...I just noticed it and we have had a ton of rain lately.

yes i have my first home. it came with sod in the frontyard. my grass has brown patches and so i put some lawn ferterlizer down and now i have white stuff growing on some of the grass what can i do

I have something that looks like frost on a small area of my St Augustine grass...Dallas area has had record rains this year following a long drought. Sounds like a fungus from the above postings.

I was working in my yard when I saw this huge area of black about 3 feet by 4 feet. It looked like blacktop with a pebbled affect. When I got closer it has a shiny look and I used a stick to touch it. This "stuff" comes up in pieces so I'm not sure at all what it is. It is on a down hill slope into an area of my backyard and we have had a tremendous amount of rain after a late 12 inch snow storm so the ground has been saturated. We are expecting rain again here in the midwest for the next 6 days. Can anyone identify this by my description ?

Thanks,
Hendrix

I have what I jokingly call messages from aliens in my yard. There is a ring about 6 feet in diameter - the ring is about a foot wide. Near it are other, less defined shapes. The grass is yellowish brown or non-existant. I live in Austin, Texas, and have oak trees in my yard. The areas that have the marks receive the same amount of sun and water as the healthy grass. It's been like this for over a year, but seems worse in the warm and hot months. Any ideas? What can I do?

Hi, when we walk through our yard we have terrible black soot/powder that gets all over the kids shoes or feet, it ruins alot of back yard activities, do you have any idea what it is??? thx

We spotted a semicircle of spots in our yard that look much like others have described...kind of a soot/powder - fungus junk. We are in Ga and have had a severe drought the past few years. It is hard for me to believe this could be cause by heavy rain. Someone else said something about oak trees in the yard. We have a huge oak and this patch sits just off the edge of its spread. Not convinced in ga. Need more info

I too noticed today a circle of about 6 feet wide surrounded by small circles/patches of black soot on the grass, i decided to rinse it off, it looked like brick dust color as it smoked the air, i touched it, but it was black soot on my fingers, i tried sprinkling epsom salt (old home remedy) w/ water to rinse out the what i think is fungus.

I live in Calif. I have a mold or fungus in an area that gets a lot of sunlight. They are fairly large 3-5ft with a gray or white powder in the soil. It killed the grass.
I dug up the soil,put new soil in and new grass but it looks like it is back and the grass in dying again.
It is an area where I also get a lot of mushrooms.

We have a beautiful yard of St. Augustine, but the grass is dying and leaving black mold looking dirt where it dies,
what should I put on the grass to keep it from dying?

We had some trees fall in our backyard. We cleaned them up and behind was just dirt.

I was out the other day and noticed some black stuff in the dirt. It looks like black honeycomb. It is kind of rubbery to the touch and seems to be growing only in the dirt. We live in Minnesota, and the snow just disappeared so we saw it by chance.

I have looked all over the web to find out what this is and I just can't seem to find it. Please help me before it invades what is left of my backyard.

I got up this morning and noticed a perfect circle of black fungus in my front yard. The circle in in broken spots,as it is raining here today the fungus is not powdery. This area is not close to any trees, and we have only recieved 1/2 inch of rain.I was just curious what it is and if i need to take any action to get rid of it. when you wipe it off a blade of grass the grass is still green, its just wierd.. Anyone have any suggestions? I have pictures!!

I have the same problem as mentioned above in the previous post. Almost a perfect ring of black patches..ring is about 6/7 feet in diameter. When I first saw It thought some kid was playing a joke using black spraypaint...etc. Not the case.. We've had aprox 3 to 4 inches of rain the past two day, and its expected to rain the next five days. The yard is not closly surounded by trees, or chemicals. So I think I'm going to take a sample to send to the local university for testing.

I have a fungus or mold patches on grass that i just grew I noticed it on the mature part of the lawn last year. It almost like a blueish grey color and a powdered texture but sticks really well to the blade. However still releases a cloud of spores when touched. I need advice on how to get rid of this stuff. I have two small childern who play in the area. We live in the Lowcountry of SC
Thanks alot!!

we have found several black gray circles in our yard they are about 12 to 13 foot round broken up in spots with a smaller circle in the middle when u rub your foot acrossed it a cloud of black smoke rises when u touch it its like ashes the grass looks purple beaded we first beleived aleins were landing in our yard or someone playing a joke what kind of mold is it an how do u get rid of it

After the snow melted I was very surprised to find our yard wet and grass that looks dead and like hay? We have always had a great lawn that others were jealous of, and we worked hard for this, but I'm not really sure what's going on? It's like there is no green grass under the dead, and takes up the majority of our back yard and alittle in the front yard. Please help us!

I raked the mold on my grass after all the snow is gone and it looks like the grass is all dead. It is brown and dry. Can I throw some grass seed over all of it or do I have to get rid of all the dead grass first?

Need info on this black (hairy) mold stuff that is on the edge of the fence line. It is about 3-4 inches tall. What is it and how to get rid of it and to prevent it.

I live in Minnesota and I have noticed the same thing as what others have said. I noticed it around an area of where our old (cut down) Oak tree was. I have been trying to grow some grass there for a while. We have had some rain, but this is in a sunny location on a hill. The spot looks black from a distance but up close it looks like brown fungus covering the grass and some weeds. I took a stick and brushed over it and it clouded up kind of like the smoke balls that we seem to get once in a while here in MN. We also have some white powdery looking stuff in a smaller area by the black fungus stuff. I'll try and mow over it and see what happens. I'm worried my dog will get into it and get sick.

While digging up an area around my flower beds where it looks like grass had died, I found abt 5-6 inches of white/grey dusty looking stuff in the DIRT under the lawn. I live in se michigan. ANY idea what this is??????

Having the same problem as many have mentioned above with the black circles. Also thought someone was playing a trick on us or spray painting my yard. What is this and what do I do to get rid of it? Is it harmful for pets or children?

In the last two weeks we've had the same problem with this gray mold/fungus. I live in Houston and we are in a record breaking drought, so we've been trying to keep the grass alive by watering every other night. A few weeks ago we turned on the sprinkler and forgot about it and it ran on one area for well over an hour. Two days later we noticed the mold/fungus. When my husband mowed over that spot that weekend it looked like a puff of smoke in the air. Since then we've watered a whole lot less in that area and kept the grass short and it is slowly but surely going away. The spot is now the size of a frisbee. Hope this helps.

My centepede grass has black soot looking fungus in a few areas, it is in some shade during day, and I don't think I am watering too much. How can I get rid of it and what do I need to do to deter a recurrence?

Thanks for you help.
June 22, 2011

I have a 9 week old puppy he eats grass like its puppy chow is it harmfull to dogs

hey my sister has some black/grey slime mole in her yard and she was mowing her yard and ran over it and inhald it and caused her to break out in hives and make it hard for her to breath i was told it does not harm people but hard to believe when my sister almost died because of it i think yall need to researce it a lil bit more thanks paul

Our lawn is mostly brown from extremely hot weather and lack of rain. We don't have any visible signs of black rings or any type of mold. We were out playing with our grandson and when we came in our shoes, socks and legs were black. The grass and ground are both dry. Could you please tell me what type of mold this is and if we should not walk or play on it with children?