Yes, that is the approximate fertilizing schedule we follow for our St. Augustine. We lightly feed monthly...like your Weakly Weekly idea for plants. Plus we aerate in the spring. We just had it done, in fact. I gave a dose of iron to the new sod to help it restart. I just planted it last August. If the grass is healthy there is no need for additional chemicals like Weed and Feed. Our lawn is fairly healthy and weeds are few.--- We have terrible soil-borne fungus here in the south. We begin using fungicides in September as the nights cool and the moisture gets trapped in the lawn with the hopes of halting it. It doesn't destroy our lawn. It just looks awful. Brown Patch is one of the names and it makes perfect brown circles in our yards. I have had little success with the products out there. A good chemical, Fungaway hat took care of it was taken off the market about 10 years ago is back. But so far it is hard to find. As soon as I find it, I am going to cure my lawn of fungus. --- Since mold is a fungus I might try using a fungicide to at least keep it from spreading. But I think Slime Mold is not a fungus. Sorry I can't help you.

Dear Ken, the most common slime moulds on lawns are Physarum cinereum, Mucilago crustaceum and Fuligo septica. Fuligo septica has the most unfortunate common name of Dogs vomit fungus.
As you may have found out slime moulds share similarities between a fungus and single celled animals. Although unsightly they do not kill plants at all. They simply obtain there food by obtaining bacteria.
Some moulds live as single cell structures and others become large plasmodium like structures.
Of course they give off millions of spores and some can survive many winters before germinating. Unfortunately there is no control as it is mostly caused by environmental issues!
Some people do say wash it off with a hose if it becomes unsightly. This I believe spreads it, and I have done a lot of greenkeeping in my career. The thing is it appears and then disappears. Best thing to do is keep off it, although it spreads spores anyway!
Regards from England.
Neil.

I'm sure your mind is fine, Ken. That is a real mystery.

Not to doubt the PhD's and all, but could it be a type of moss or algae bloom? Was there snow sitting on that area?

I'd be experimenting (just because I love to experiment anyway) with a watering can and some different concoctions - a baking soda solution comes to mind. Vinegar/water would be another try (works as a weed killer, so not too strong) , and believe it or not, I kill off the dark green moss that grows on my walkway tiles with a double strength solution of MiracleGro!

If you've got a few dry days coming up, have some fun. Probably can't hurt!

According to the experts there is no (poison) help. Apparently no fungicide rids one of the slime mold. I just need to grow healthier grass where the slime mold is growing. It is only in the back yard.

Bermuda and St. Augustine grass are completely different in fertilizing and mowing requirements. Also, many things that attack one does not seem to bother the other. When I lived on the gulf coast, almost everyone grew St. Augustine with a sprinkling of zoysia or Bermuda. Here in NE Mississippi, most grow Bermuda, a few zoysia, and a bit of St. Augustine grasses.

Elaine, we have had no snow here, or at least no accumulation. This stuff doesn't look like any algae or moss I have ever seen, and I have lived in the deep south my entire 71 years. It is BLACK.

Since I have raked up pretty much all of mine I could find (three bags, perhaps 40 lbs per bag), the sizable patches are on my next-door neighbors yard. He has St. Augustine. I will experiment on his slime. LOL Don't tell him!

Thanks for the information, Neil. I will continue trying different concoctions and see if one might turn the tide.

drdawg said:According to the experts there is no (poison) help. Apparently no fungicide rids one of the slime mold. I just need to grow healthier grass where the slime mold is growing. It is only in the back yard.

Bermuda and St. Augustine grass are completely different in fertilizing and mowing requirements. Also, many things that attack one does not seem to bother the other. When I lived on the gulf coast, almost everyone grew St. Augustine with a sprinkling of zoysia or Bermuda. Here in NE Mississippi, most grow Bermuda, a few zoysia, and a bit of St. Augustine grasses.

I know there is a difference and have had experience with both lawns. But you say your neighbor has St. Augustine and has the slime mold as do you growing Bermuda?

None of our fungicides actually kill the soil-borne fungi. They only keep them at bay from making the lawn look ugly. The fungi also never kills the lawn unless you mistake Take All Patch for fungi. Fung-Away is supposed to kill the fungus. That is the item recently allowed back on the market. Good luck.

Here are some links I found from Mississippi State University regarding lawn mold, slime mold etc.

http://msucares.com/newsletter...

http://msucares.com/lawn/garde...

and here: http://msucares.com/pubs/infos...

Wikipedia suggests the opposite of what I thought:

"When food is abundant a slime mold exists as a single-celled organism. When food is in short supply, many of these single-celled organisms will congregate and start moving as a single body."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

Maybe adding compost or otherwise enriching the soil would help keep them small. But how do you enrich soil on a slope?

Another source said that they became crusty and flaky when dry, but it also said they then "disappeared".

It never disappears! I will just keep raking the crappy things up and bagging them. The so-called "experts" don't seem too expert at all. Frustrating.

Yuck!

I just received an email from my local Mississippi Extension Service. The Service director has continued to search for information concerning this (Slime Mold) lawn problem. She has been in contact with a Mississippi Extension Service Plant Pathologist (PhD) and he says he thinks my neighbor and I have Nostoc, an algae, not Slime Mold. He wants to drop by and examine what we have, diagnosis the problem, and kill/control it. He says IF it is indeed Nostoc, there is an experimental chemical that he has access to and he would like to use our two yards as test sites.

I will let you know what happens.

Have you been able to find photos of the algae to compare to what you have in your lawn? That certainly sounds more encouraging than what you'd been told so far!

Yes, I did some research and it appears to be similar to what I have. Of course, Slime Mold looks similar also. One difference is in the growing conditions. Both grow where there is excess, standing water/moisture, but the mold grows in shade (we don't have) and the algae grows in full sun (we do have).

Anyway, when the plant pathologist gets here and makes a determination, I will post the information.