Garden Detective: Slime mold is harmless but preventable
Pink slime mold growing on mulch in reader Nick Mazzaferro's Stony Brook garden. Credit: Handout, 2013
It's harmless and will go away on its own, but if you want to eliminate it, just turn over the mulch or scoop up the blobs, bag them and toss them in the trash.
There are pesticide sprays available, but I don't recommend using them around edibles. Better to wait until dark and flood the bees' holes with water from a garden hose.
When black locusts are cut down, they go into automatic propagation mode in a desperate attempt to reproduce and preserve their species. The town has tried to eliminate the tree, but it's not going down without a fight. Still, you have a few options.
Continually mowing over the sprouts will weaken the roots by depleting their starch reserves until, eventually, they don't have enough energy to send up more shoots. This could take a few years but should be quite effective in the long run. You can speed the process by hand digging the sprouts and roots as they appear, although you'll likely need an ax and muscle power to do so effectively.
You also can treat the shoots with glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup (take care not to allow overspray to contact surrounding plants), but you'll have to repeat this as new sprouts continue to grow from the stump over the next few years.
If the tree was cut down within the past year, you can target the source of the shoots by re-cutting the top surface of the stump and applying a triclopyr herbicide to the freshly cut surface. Good luck!
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Vincent Profera may not have the biggest tomatoes, but he certainly has the most unusual planting spot: The Wantagh resident is growing a crop in the inch-wide gap between two pieces of concrete in his yard. I love that he's even managed to squeeze a stake in there. Profera, 85, reports the plant is 4 feet tall and producing fruit.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS. This year's contest will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 23 at Newsday headquarters (235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville). Bring your heaviest ripe tomato to the event, and I'll weigh it and crown the 2013 Tomato King or Queen. In the meantime, send a photo of yourself with your tomato plants, along with details about your growing strategy, to jessica.damiano@newsday.com.
