The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Identification => Topic started by: doganjo on July 03, 2015, 09:01:21 pm
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A friend has just called me, concerned about jelly blobs that have appeared in her next door neighbour's garden. They range from about a quarter inch on slabs to groups in a patch of a few inches.
They've tried googling and have found reference to them elsewhere but no-one seems to know where they come from, or have a name for them.
They are clear, and when she accidentally stood on one it was sticky on her shoe.
They are worried they may spread and also about the effect on wildlife, and would like to get rid of them.
I've told them to contact environmental health - but it's the weekend and guess what, no-one is available!
Going to PM Rosemary on FB to see if she knows.
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There are internet threads saying that container compost often has added beads of water retaining gel, and that if it gets really wet for a prolonged time they can expand into jelly blobs like you describe.
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That's what we thought too, but she hasn't added any new plants or bought any compost since last year. Could they last that long? ???
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photos
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I don't know, but it sounds to me like the kind of thing that could last indefinitely. Here's (http://c8.alamy.com/comp/A35M2F/gardener-holding-compost-mixed-with-water-retaining-gel-A35M2F.jpg) a photo of compost with gel, it does look rather like your photos.
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The top one appears like frogspawn, even down to tadpole-like things inside. I think it was on Chris Packhams show about the weirdest things in nature, that this was discussed. The only thing I can remember was that they thought it might be the jelly that female frogs produce when they spawn, without any eggs in. I think they wondered about other options but I can't remember what they were ::)
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Aliens I tell ya !???? :excited: Mamas come back to me !!!
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You wouldn't believe the number of times THAT answer has come up :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
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I would guess at gel from compost but the other similar things you see are when a fox/badger/heron/ otter eats a frog and what would eventually be the food part for the tadpole is expelled from the carcass it hydrates in rain to that type of jelly. The other is what some call starshot I believe it is a fungus jelly more often seen in the uplands where high rainfall
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Yep, we get loads of this stuff on the moorlands. I was told it was slime mold, but it isn't.
I've just been doing a bit of googling ('jelly blobs') and didn't realise that it was thought to be so rare. It isn't, it's common, so common that those of us who live where it is often found don't report it. Now that I know it's still a mystery (I thought it was accepted that it was to do with frogs or newts spawning, but it seems that isn't so), I shall have to find myself a scientist to take some to next time I come across some!
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Way too late for frog spawn surely!
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I think it's thought to be the stuff the female frog secretes as the 'white' of her eggs. No eggs now of course, but the thinking is that the jelly is still there. A predator would probably not like to eat it so spits that bit out. It must surely be somehow compressed, as the volume of the average spawn dollop is bigger than the lady frog. I've no idea if it's true, but that is the suggestion.
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Curiouser and curiouser ??? ???
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Just heard that the blobs are still there despite heavy rain yesterday and now glorious hot warm sun! Not thought to be water retaining gel as she hasn't bought any plants fro months, nor compost. And not near enough a water course for frogs or toads to come into the garden. I'm going to see them today or tomorrow.
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Algae? A farmer had similar last year completely blocking a large pipe. You could try putting the pics on I-spot.
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I visited my friend today whose next door neighbour had teh blobs. She was out but Liz took me round to look at teh blobs - not one left! No idea where they've gone. When hosed they just rolled around, didn't wash away, they didn't melt in the sun, and they were sort of square rather than blobby or round.
So still a mystery. :thinking: