Hello all. Yesterday my back-fence neighbor brought this thing over to see if I knew what it is.... Neither of us have ever seen this before -- can anyone tell me what it is? He pulled up an errant mulberry seedling growing in the mulched area of a bed and this is what came up with it. The mulberry roots are darker yellowish in color. These white sort of squishy balls were attached to really thin white roots. We couldn't tell if they were part of the mulberry root system, or growing around it. To me, they looked like a separate system, but it was hard to tell. mulberry with "stuff" in the roots ( photo / image / picture from daisybeans's Garden ) A little closer view. They were about 3-4 inches below the surface of the ground. closer look at the "stuff" ( photo / image / picture from daisybeans's Garden ) So then we squished one of the balls and the skin slipped off of the inside. The outside was dry. The inside was gooey, sort of sticky-like -- like if you imagine a peeled grape. It was about that firm, too. Then we cut it in half and this is what was inside! ( photo / image / picture from daisybeans's Garden ) If you look closely, you can see that the inside of the "skin" is gooey, as well as the covering of the ball, while the inside is sort of dry again. ( photo / image / picture from daisybeans's Garden ) We were fascinated. I can't wait to hear what you all think.
I know, isn't it? Fungus was our most popular thought because it is so self contained. Do you think it is a bad fungus?
I wouldn't dare to guess, daisybeans, but as long as the baby tree looks healthy, it might not do any damage to it at all.
There must not be too much of it, since we have never seen it before. We put it in a pot to see if anything else happens with it.
Do keep us updated, won't you? I'd love to see what happens. And I hope somebody will know what it is and tell us.
I've never seen anything like that before. I'd say it was a type of fungal growth too but haven't a clue as to what kind it could be. Very strange. :-?
A spider egg was my guess also. Looks nasty. :twisted: Now we know, Daisybeans, will go where no one else will go!!
Your comments are priceless. I have been researching but have not yet found a match... I'll keep looking. I'll check the pot this weekend.