Almost 68, and this is a new one on me !!!!

docachna 5/24/2020, 5:07 pm

Watered my SFG through my grid - and up pops a spooky golden colored material, the consistency of salt !

I do think it's related to salt - this hose contains softened water; another hose, which I also used to water on other beds, did not result in this material.

I've been watering from that faucet for years, and NEVER saw anything like this.

Any SWAG guesses what the heck this is ?

EDIT: trying to upload pix.

Almost 68, and this is a new one on me !!!! Img_0410

Almost 68, and this is a new one on me !!!! Img_0412

Almost 68, and this is a new one on me !!!! Img_0411

yolos 5/24/2020, 5:23 pm

gross but no help here

plantoid 5/24/2020, 5:52 pm

Looks like some alga growth in the garden watering pipes that didn't drain down when you turned off the water , stagnant water in such pipes that get bacteria in in can grow blooms of amazing colours . Did it flush out or is it in the domestic cold water taps too ?

docachna 5/24/2020, 6:00 pm

It is NOT showing up inside the house, or in the other outside hose bib. The only difference between the two outside faucets is the one that produced this is softened water.

Plus - softened water run out into a bucket, from the same bib, does not display this stuff, only when it hits Mel's Mix in my garden !

Some reaction of the softened water with an ingredient ???

plantoid 5/24/2020, 6:11 pm

I wonder .. were the things on your hand insect eggs ? Laid in the retained water in the pipe work ?

docachna 5/24/2020, 8:49 pm

plantoid wrote:I wonder .. were the things on your hand insect eggs ? Laid in the retained water in the pipe work ?

Once again - they do not appear unless the water goes into the Mel's Mix. Just running the water itself doesn't result in it.

It has to be some sort of interaction between the water (or the salt!) and the MM. I water other beds from the non-softened side of the house, and no golden salt appears.

The stuff has the consistency of salt itself. Very strange !!!

Dan in Ct 5/25/2020, 9:13 am

Looks like fungal growth called Slime Mold or Dog Vomit. I had it here once in the middle of the lawn after I chopped down a tree in the front yard for a place to garden and a couple of years later it popped up. Here is a link, it is basically harmless although unsightly.

http://www.southernmulch.com/faq-sometimes-i-get-mold-on-top-of-my-mulch.php

docachna 5/25/2020, 1:31 pm

Dan in Ct wrote:Looks like fungal growth called Slime Mold or Dog Vomit. I had it here once in the middle of the lawn after I chopped down a tree in the front yard for a place to garden and a couple of years later it popped up. Here is a link, it is basically harmless although unsightly.

http://www.southernmulch.com/faq-sometimes-i-get-mold-on-top-of-my-mulch.php

Sure looks like the same stuff. Funny - the beds in full sun are the ones where this developed, and the ones in partial sun have nothing.

kootenaybrown 5/26/2020, 10:42 am

docachna wrote:Watered my SFG through my grid - and up pops a spooky golden colored material, the consistency of salt !

I do think it's related to salt - this hose contains softened water; another hose, which I also used to water on other beds, did not result in this material.

I've been watering from that faucet for years, and NEVER saw anything like this.

Any SWAG guesses what the heck this is ?

EDIT: trying to upload pix.

**Scorpio Rising** 5/26/2020, 5:54 pm

Strange! Doesn’t seem to affect anything?

Eddie Willers 5/27/2020, 10:16 pm

So, you can play a little bit of trial and error to see if you can isolate the problem.

You indicated that you have multiple faucets and multiple beds. Do you have multiple grids?

If you water the bed that has the mold with the same faucet that you used, by water the garden direclty WITHOUT the grid, does the mold still appear?

Try watering the same bed with that same grid but with a different water supply. Does the mould appear?

If possible, can you move the whole grid to some other place, (where you wouldn't mind potentially getting the same mold), and run some water with the each of the separate water supplies in turn, moving the grid to a different space for each water source?

Ultimately the purpose here is to narrow down conclusively whether its the water source, the grid, or the reaction when the water hits the ground. Might feel a bit like sherlock holmes by the end, but knowing the precise cause is the only way to be sure of a solution.

**Scorpio Rising** 5/27/2020, 10:51 pm

I do everything by hand...I got nothing! Sorry

lvanderb 5/28/2020, 6:50 am

That definitely looks like dog vomit fungus, I've had it in full sun in my Back to Eden (wood chips) garden. Doesn't hurt anything, but it sure is strange looking!

**Kelejan** 5/28/2020, 8:53 am

kootenaybrown wrote:
docachna wrote:Watered my SFG through my grid - and up pops a spooky golden colored material, the consistency of salt !

I do think it's related to salt - this hose contains softened water; another hose, which I also used to water on other beds, did not result in this material.

I've been watering from that faucet for years, and NEVER saw anything like this.

Any SWAG guesses what the heck this is ?

EDIT: trying to upload pix.

Hello Kootenay Brown, I have had dog vomit appear after I had laid some new wood chips about four or five years ago. It looked nasty but disappeared eventually.

I also notice that this is your first post to the forum, so, as Host for the Canadian Region, a belated $glad you\'re here$ Kootenay Brown happy hi

from Kelejan in British Columbia.

docachna 8/4/2020, 10:44 am

I don't know if this will pop up for anyone to see, but I finally found the answer.

A part in our water softener resin tank failed, probably due to high water pressure, and caused the softener resin beads (that gold material you see in the photos) to flush out into the lines. Most of it seems to have come out the hose that was running to my garden. A bit came out into the house lines, but once we replaced the water pressure reduction valve (PRV), and completely flushed out the water lines into the house, it seems that no damage occurred.

Warning to all: check to make sure that your PRV is installed in line BETWEEN the water meter and the water softener, not AFTER the water softener. The PRV in my house had been installed in the wrong location. If it had been installed in the right location, when the excessive pressure came into the house, it probably would have contained it and I would not have had the problem. If yours is in the wrong location, moving it is a simple matter for a plumber, or for you if you're so skilled.

**Kelejan** 8/4/2020, 1:16 pm

Glad you got it sorted out, docachna. You sure got us all fooled. Very Happy

**sanderson** 8/4/2020, 2:06 pm

Kelejan wrote:Glad you got it sorted out, docachna. You sure got us all fooled.

Yes, glad you found the answer and shared it with us.

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I have found the same thing in my potting mix that I have in an enclosed container. It hasn't caused any problems for me.

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