When I started this blog over eight months ago, I had a list of topics I would eventually get around to. Slime mold was not on that list.
I guess it goes to show that things sometime take on a life of their own, as this blog has apparently done. The subjects of some of my posts are definitely evidence of this.
For example, wildflowers are prominently featured in my entries, although I didn’t have much knowledge of or interest in wildflowers, when I started this blog. It was because of the blog itself that my fascination with wildflowers developed.
Oops! I got a little off the subject. This post is supposed to be about slime mold. And why slime mold? Well many of the entries are the result of discoveries I make in my own back yard. So when I encounter something new and interesting, I try to find out more about it. And if it seems like it might intrigue others, then I share it.
So back to the slime mold. I found these orange little beauties on a rotten alder trunk just off the wooded trail in my back yard two days ago. From the information I have gathered, this type of slime mold grows and develops on dead, partly de-barked wet or damp deciduous tree trunks found in the shade. This all fits my location with the exception of the moisture content. It has been 51 days since our last rainfall. During the earlier part of this time period the temperatures were lower than average, but the last couple weeks the highs have been from the mid 80s and low 90s. Everything is pretty dry. Even in the woods. So it is a mystery to me why this slime mold, which I have never noticed before, shows up now.
So what exactly are slime molds? They are neither plant nor animal. Slime molds were once regarded as fungi, but are now classified in an entirely different kingdom called Protista which includes algae and protozoans.
In their initial phase of life, they are small amoeba-like single celled organisms which spend their time searching for bacteria and fungi to eat.
When a significant number exist, they join together to form a fruiting body in what is called the plasmodium stage. During this phase they can still move, but only at a pace of approximately 1 mm per hour. When they run out of food, they dry up and release their spores. These spores begin the whole life cycle again.
This particular slime mold is either Lycogala epidendrum or Lycogala terrestre. Microscopic examination of the spores is required for a definite determination. The common name is wolf’s milk. In the photos above, the largest of the fruiting bodies is no more than one quarter of an inch across. The image of the mature slime mold, which is brownish, was taken less than 24 hours after the photo of the orange slime mold, and shows how quickly the transformation takes place.
btweenblinks 
very cool. What part of the world do slime molds grow? I would like to find one!
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Slime mold pollen is pretty much world-wide. However it takes the right conditions to trigger slime mold growth. The microorganisms they feed on must be present. This makes dead plant material such as deciduous logs or wood chip mulch, a popular spot for slime mold to gather. Although there are over 700 species of slime mold, in general, a majority of them do well in cool moist shady conditions.
Late summer, fall and spring are good times to look for them. Many types are fairly small, but usually display bright colors during their early fruiting stage.
Thanks for visiting my site!
Happy hunting 🙂
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Thank you so much. I’ve never commented on anything on the net before but these orange ball things were freaking me out. On my bed of soil. I now know why.. Are they dangerous in any way ? And how will they affect my garden. I just removed the soil underneath the groups and removed them all. But they came back fast in another garden bed close to it
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Wolf’s milk is not edible, however I do not know if it is poisonous or not. It sounds like your organisms are growing directly from the soil. If this is the case, it is possible that you have something entirely different then wolf’s milk. All of the samples I have found were growing from rotten logs.
If it is wolf’s milk, I am not aware of any danger it would pose (unless it was ingested), even though it sounds like something out of a bad horror movie.
Whatever is in your garden, it is likely that it is a spore producing entity. So if you are trying to eradicate it, this may be difficult at an early stage. Many spore bearers have a worldwide distribution, although they may only grow withing a narrow range of environmental conditions. When the conditions are right, they appear.
I have never known wolf’s milk to grow in such numbers as to become a nuance. Typically, they are spotted in small groups in wooded areas, away from human habitation.
Thanks so much for visiting my site!
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I saw this a few months ago and didn’t know what it was, so thank you! And thanks for dropping by my site, Rick. I will be back.
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I’m going to send my parents out on a Slime Mold hunt on their property in Maine. It sounds like they have just the right conditions for it!
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Hi would you be able to try identifying three different types of slime molds if I forwarded images to you? I am based in Ireland
Thank you
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I would be glad to give it a shot, if you like, but I am definitely not an expert on slime molds, and my ID methods are rather crude. You might have better luck snooping around on the internet doing Google photo searches to narrow down the suspects, and then paying careful attention to the species descriptions and how they relate to the specimens you are trying to identify.
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Interesting , I found these in the yard in Florida
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It is surprising to see what diverse climates certain things can grow in. The pacific northwest and Florida have very different climates. Yet spores seem to find their way almost anywhere in the world. It is just a matter of the conditions being right. The moisture from a rainy climate area and a high-heat, high-humidity area, though very different, can trigger the growth of slime molds.
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What purpose do they serve?
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Posting this in hopes it helps someone who is experiencing this also but does not know what it is. WEIRD! Twice in the last 6 months we have shaken out a towel and thousands of these have fallen out. The last one was from a towel that was placed under our humidifier to stop water from getting on the floor. I shut the humidifier off last month but just picked up the towel today. No rodent or bug could get under there. They are much, much smaller then the picture, hard, shiny, no smell. Look like those tiny. tiny beads that you make things with. These are not mice or insect poop, these are not mice gatherings. Our house, we think, is kept clean. We are 99.8 percent sure it is as stated below:
This is black slime mold. There’s a reason they’re turning up in basements, dressers and damp places.. They form when their cells are allowed to group together undisturbed, usually in a damp dark environment, forming a sticky jelly like mass (usually reddish orange in color) you can touch and see (mostly when the surface it is on is painted white is when you can see the “jelly”).
When conditions become unfavorable for them and they start running out of the cells of organic material to feed off of (like wood, paper, grass), they go through a self-sacrificing/self-preserving process where they organize themselves in branches, reaching away from their feeding source, eventually forming a small hardened ball, or spore, to preserve black slime mold cells inside like an escape pod. The cells forming the thin stalk die in the process.
If they’re dry and rolling around, the self preserving process is complete. If they’re still sticking to the wood/material, the spores are in the process of forming.
I’m not sure how to get rid of them, other than regular cleaning, and keeping the areas you find them bone dry and exposing them to sunlight.
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