Is a Fungus among us??

[Emrys]

It starts out looking like this


Almost like someone splattered black lacquer on my plants. It's gooey and smears a bit.



And then it dries out and flattens. Like this.



Anyone know what this strange substance is. It's on almost all of my broad leaf plants. Once it's dry and before it fully degrades I can pick it right off without damaging the leaf.

And as fare as I can tell it isn't a form of scale insect.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Any birds roosting above these trees?

 

[Emrys]

Any birds roosting above these trees?

Yes maybe? There is a big sugar maple in my neighbors yard and it does hang over a bit into mine. But it does happen on trees and plants in my yard that aren't directly under a potential bird roost. Why?

 

[coh]

I'm going to go with bug droppings of some type. Too small to be bird poop (and that usually has a lot of white in it). Probably caterpillars or some type of beetle.

Chris

 

[Beng]

So I have hunch/theory about what this strange black goo is. About two weeks ago I found these red cocoon things clustered under a pile of Green Dream that I had applied to the surface of this tree.

View attachment 37655

View attachment 37656

With the help of trusty Bnutter Beng we identified these as fly larvae. Take look:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg0422001920381.html

Ok so Tuesday in an attempt to keep this species of fly from laying its eggs under the Fert. I used tea bags to hold my next dose of slow release organic Fert. On Wed afternoon I went out and checked my trees to find this.

View attachment 37658

View attachment 37657

They were everywhere all over every bag. I have a huge fly problem!!! Anyone else breading flys in there Fert??

I am almost sure the black ooze is related somehow.

See if I can post it from the other page like this....

 

[Beng]

Yep that worked.

I found fungus gnats under my tea bags a few weeks back. I applied gnatrol, then again this past weekend, and i'll do it again this weekend. Hoping this will wipe out any remaining gnats.

I know some people put insecticides in with their fertilizer mix inside the tea bags. Seems like a good idea as long as no dogs or cats can get to them. I may add a bonide pelletized systemic to my bags next time around. Maybe something like this... http://www.amazon.com/Bonide-System...id=1372390270&sr=8-2&keywords=bonide+systemic

I like the idea of bags but my last batch of bags disintegrated and left only cakes on my trees after that heavy 2 week rain we had a couple weeks back. They usually last much much longer before breaking down. I guess it's not a big problem as I can still remove the tea bag shaped globs, but since it's raining daily and looks like it's going to continue to rain daily for the next 7-10 days i figure they're getting their daily fertilizer none the less. I need to find more heavy duty bleach free bags for my next application.

I use one of these on each of my benches constantly during the growing season. They fold up into little triangular cones, i use them yellow side out. http://www.amazon.com/Double-Sided-...372390461&sr=8-4&keywords=yellow+sticky+cards Although I wouldn't say you would wipe out your fly population you'd certainly catch and kill 50-75% of the pesky insects. Mine are usually covered within a week during the summer with flys, gnats, wasps, the occasional beetle, the occasional bee..., it will catch both good and bad bugs. I like them more or less so that I can see if theres an uptick in any harmful populations, it gives me a warning before an infestation can get severe.

 

[billthornton]

i cant understand what that substance is ?
did you find your answer ?
so what is it ?

 

[Emrys]

i cant understand what that substance is ?
did you find your answer ?
so what is it ?

I believe but am not 100% sure that it is something left behind after a fly try's to feed. See the tread I posted titled "Do flys poop? ..... or the quote left by Beng above.

 

[Emrys]

Have any of you had problems with Green Dream or similar poop based organic fertilizers being a maggot/fly magnet? All of my tea bags filled with Green dream are infested with Maggots!!! I took them all off my plants and through them away today. What a waist!!! I think the bags made the problem worse. Anyone have any suggestions? I really like the idea of using a slow release organic fert. Along with a bi-weekly liquid feed but not one that gets infested with maggots .

 

[october]

I have a ton of flies and gnats while using green dream. You could try making a tea out of it. I think they recommend starting with 3 teaspoons of green dream in one gallon of water. You should shake it well and let it sit for maybe a hour or 2 so it breaks down. Then water your trees with it. This will cut down on the smell and probably on the maggots. I should add that I also used/use Saltwater farms fish/seaweed fertilizer. It is a thick brown liquid and smells pretty strong. I think that is adding to the issues.

Rob

 

[iant]

I think you're right it's probably fungal. You can scrape most off with your fingernail right? I have lots of those on my crabapples now. I wonder if it's not this:
http://tomlinsonbomberger.com/your-best-shot-against-artillery-fungus/
Ian

 

[Emrys]

I think you're right it's probably fungal. You can scrape most off with your fingernail right? I have lots of those on my crabapples now. I wonder if it's not this:
http://tomlinsonbomberger.com/your-best-shot-against-artillery-fungus/
Ian

Interesting for sure! Yes you can scrape it with your nail. It also seems quite water soluble.

 

[Beng]

Interesting for sure! Yes you can scrape it with your nail. It also seems quite water soluble.

I wonder if fly poop is high in Nitrogen, kind of like seabird guano or bat guano.