So I live in Kansas and we had rain on and off for the past few days and when I went out to check on my garden I noticed these orange little pearls growing around my lettuce. I have no ideal what they are and how to take care to get rid of them from my garden or if they're harmful at all. I'd appreciate any information anyone can provide me with!
Might be Lycogala epidendrum, 'wolf's milk' slime mold. (How says't thou, Frog...?) Try puncturing one of these...see if 'pink toothpaste' emerges.
Its covered a pretty decent patch of the garden so far. I have no clue if the area will spread of if it'll just contain itself in this patch. One thing I'm worried about is that it'll effect the lettuce that is growing since its growing in and around them.
It will likely provide some additional nutrition for the lettuces after some of it is incorporated into the soil, including potentially useful levels of nitrogen: There was some research years ago, which I wish I'd saved at the time, in Scandinavia on the feasibility of using myxomycetes as a protein source, on growing them commercially. I don't know which ones they were exploring for this, but if I find the original material I'll post an excerpt or link. cheers, frog
Definitely beneficial - it is converting the compost in the bed into nutrients that the lettuce can take up.
