Slime mold, on a certain scientific sort of level, is absolutely fascinating. However, on another level, the practical, day-to-day living in your home, garden or lawn level, the interest is pretty firmly centered on how to get rid of it.
What makes slime mold so interesting on a scientific level is the way it blurs the line between plant and animal. Once classified as a fungus, slime mold has a life cycle that moves through a phase in which it is more animal like – that’s when it is growing and eating – before moving to the phase in which it reproduces. During the reproductive phase, it is more akin to a plant.
However, intellectual interest in this fascinating organism can wane when it is invading your lawn, garden, or – in some cases – your home. Then the matter becomes one of how to get rid of it. Slime mold flourishes in moist, damp, shady areas, and comes in a variety of colors, some startlingly bright, others a bit less dramatic.
Fortunately, for the most part, there’s no need to break out the strong, harsh chemicals to deal with a slime mold outbreak. Eliminating slime mold is a fairly simple process. It wants to be where it is wet, so all you really have to do is change to conditions – dry it out.
Scraping or shoveling up the slime mold, allowing it to dry out and then disposing of it will take care of the immediate slime mold problem. To prevent further outbreaks, you’ll have to investigate the possibilities involved in drying out the area that the slime mold appeared in, such as better drainage.
Slime mold is a fairly simple problem to deal with in most cases, one that doesn’t usually require the use of harsh chemicals to resolve. If it’s the result of an unusual amount of rain, then just drying up and disposing of the slime mold will probably be all you need to do. If the slime mold is a more frequent issue, then making the area it grows in a bit drier and free of decomposing plant matter will most likely resolve the matter.
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