Fuligo septica, dog vomit slime mold. It is a fascinating creature. Three days ago, it was trillions of individual amoebas, roving independently through the compost eating bacteria. Their population outgrew the food supply, so a chemical signal arose, and they *merged into a single cell*. It would have crawled around for a few hours, looking for a spot with good airflow, now a small percentage of the amoebas are turning into spores and the rest will die. [In timelapse images, you can see it pulsating,](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aokzK1lZE60) distributing nutrients and chemical signals through the mass.
not_really_cool
You’re reminding me that my bin had a lovely slime mold visitor just like this last spring! Hoping it comes back again 🙂
13 Comments
Dog vomit slime mold
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Im not sure what it is but it looked like expanding spray foam
A dog has vomited slime mold on your pile!
How have you secured the two ends of the chicken wire? You seem to have a great setup for composting, way to go!
it’s working!
It’s a very good snotbubble.
I feel like your first dog vomit slime mold is like the composting version of getting to puberty and seeing your first pair of tiddies.
Dog vomit mold. In some cultures, it is an edible treat. Not in my culture though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuligo_septica?wprov=sfla1
Looks like a fun guy to me.
Fuligo septica, dog vomit slime mold. It is a fascinating creature. Three days ago, it was trillions of individual amoebas, roving independently through the compost eating bacteria. Their population outgrew the food supply, so a chemical signal arose, and they *merged into a single cell*. It would have crawled around for a few hours, looking for a spot with good airflow, now a small percentage of the amoebas are turning into spores and the rest will die. [In timelapse images, you can see it pulsating,](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aokzK1lZE60) distributing nutrients and chemical signals through the mass.
You’re reminding me that my bin had a lovely slime mold visitor just like this last spring! Hoping it comes back again 🙂
[https://www.reddit.com/r/composting/comments/1l37grc/dunno_what_this_yellow_foamy_stuff_oozing_out_of/](https://www.reddit.com/r/composting/comments/1l37grc/dunno_what_this_yellow_foamy_stuff_oozing_out_of/)
I’m jealous