Fungus

Q. A very strange dark-green circle has appeared on my front lawn. It's about 3 feet in diameter. We don't fertilize our lawn, so it's not from spilled fertilizer. What would cause something like this?A. You have a fairy ring. A fungus has taken up residence in your soil. You may even see mushrooms pop up next to the ring.This is what causes the fairy ring to appear: The fungus lives on organic matter in the soil. Nitrogen is released from the breakdown of the organic matter that the fungus lives on. The nitrogen causes the dark-green circle.

An Eastern Shore legislator held a news conference yesterday to call attention to a scientific study that questions whether the lesions found on dying fish on the lower Eastern Shore in 1997 were primarily caused by blooms of the toxic microbe Pfiesteria piscicida or by a fungus now attacking fish in the Eastern Pacific.A team led by Vicky S. Blazer of the U.S. Geological Survey argues in a paper scheduled for publication that the deep, bloody sores on schools of menhaden were triggered by infection with a fungus called Aphanomyces.

It practically killed off the elm tree, caused the Irish potato famine and has been labeled the world's largest living organism.Fungus -- a life form that attacks athletes' feet and sprouts as mushrooms -- is nowhere more abundant than in the National Fungus Collections stored at Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.The collections, put together and owned jointly by the U.S. Agricultural Research Service and the Smithsonian Institution, make up the largest storehouse of fungus in the world, serving as a repository for about 1 million specimens of mushrooms, toadstools and other organisms plucked by government and private scientists over the past century.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- The device that makes driving bearable during hot weather can also be a breeding ground for fungi.Condensation in a vehicle's air conditioner makes it a home for nasty spores that feed on insect parts trapped inside.Before long, the vents are spewing fungi and a "dirty-sock odor" along with cool air."The first thing people get are the classic allergy symptoms. Your eyes get itchy, your nose starts running and you start to sneeze," said Robert Simmons, a microbiologist at Georgia State University who has studied the problem.

A recent newspaper article said that Bob Dylan, my favorite singer, was just released from the hospital after treatment for a dangerous fungal infection called histoplasmosis. I would like to know more about histoplasmosis. How does the infection start? How is it diagnosed and treated?Infection begins when tiny spores of the histoplasmosis fungus are inhaled into the lungs. The fungus grows best on the surface of moist soils, containing bird and bat droppings. Although infection is found worldwide, in this country most cases are in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys.

James Locke and John Bowers think they might have found a pesticide for the future.Pepper.A pepper extract they began experimenting with last year shows promise as a pesticide to treat soils and help grow nursery plants, according to the two plant pathologists at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.Bowers began experimenting with a pepper extract that also contains mustard in the summer of 1996, when he found some left over in his lab from a previous experiment."It was a shot in the dark.

PHILADELPHIA -- They toiled in labs for nearly a century and spent inestimable millions. They tested an arsenal of pesticides, parasites, predators and viruses. But the best brains in bug science couldn't produce the silver bullet that would bring down the gypsy moth.Through it all, the voracious insect chewed its way across the Northeast, stripping vast swaths of forest.Now, faster than you can say "Mother Nature," researchers appear to have found the solution growing right under their noses.

LANDISVILLE, Pa. -- A fungus is threatening to wipe out the tobacco crop in Lancaster County, where 95 percent of Pennsylvania's harvest is grown, perhaps as much as half by Amish farmers."

Vinegar is one of the greatest home remedies of all time. It's cheap, versatile and readily available in almost every household.Most people use vinegar for pickling, marinating and making salad dressing. But readers of this column have pointed out that vinegar is helpful for any number of common problems.Fungus infections don't seem to flourish in an acid environment, and doctors sometimes recommend acetic acid to discourage fungus. One ear-nose-and-throat specialist recommends a solution made from one part white vinegar to five parts tepid water for itching caused by fungus in the ear canal.

Each autumn, my lawn vanishes beneath a blanket of white. The change seems to come overnight. One day the yard is green; the next, it's the color of snow. What gives? It's only October. Perhaps a freak blizzard blew in. Alas, the white stuff that covers my yard doesn't fall from the sky. It rises up from the soil.It's not snow that lies on the lawn. It's mushrooms.Come fall, my yard spawns hundreds of wild mushrooms, in all shapes and sizes. There are Laurel mushrooms and Hardy ones; mushrooms that grow singly and in gangs; mushrooms with tiny parasol-like caps and large ones that, in a rainstorm, would shelter the Brady Bunch.

Cool, wet summer promotes fungus growth Maryland agriculture officials say the cool, wet summer is leaving the state's grain crops vulnerable to fungus damage. Agriculture Department spokeswoman Sue DuPont says farmers noticed a problem with the crops about a month ago. The University of Maryland agriculture extension office says the state chemist's office has been distributing test kits to farmers across Maryland. Testing has found increased levels of a fungus known as vomitoxin across the state with the bulk reported in Southern Maryland.

White-nose syndrome, a deadly fungal infection that has devastated bat populations in New York and New England in the past two years, has now spread to three states on Maryland's borders - and seems poised to strike here next, biologists say. "We are surrounded on all sides," said Aimee Haskew, a faculty research assistant at the University of Maryland's Appalachian Lab in Frostburg. "It's like a guillotine hanging above your neck." An outbreak here could destroy one of the largest hibernating populations surviving in the East of the globally rare Eastern small-footed myotis and gradually wipe out larger bat populations that help to control Maryland's insect pests.

A gang of caterpillars is taking out the leaves on one branch of my oak tree. It's too late for gypsy moths, and there's no tent or web, so what are they? Orangestriped oakworms are extremely gregarious. These caterpillars of a native moth start out as pale-yellow larvae and eventually become black and yellow-orange striped. They have two short black spines, like antennae, behind their heads. Typically, they feed on one branch at a time and don't do enough damage to merit chemical control.

When should I prune, fertilize and transplant? I have flowers, fruits and, this year, vegetables. I get really confused! Our free newsletter features a monthly gardening calendar that should prove helpful. Call or e-mail us to subscribe. We also offer turf-care schedules based on University of Maryland recommendations and fertilizing schedules for just about all plant categories. I'm losing a blue spruce a year. Branches start dying at the base and this continues to the top. What can I do?

Our old red maple fell in a storm. When we had it removed, we were told it had root fungus and we should not plant a replacement tree on the same spot. I planned to replace this tree with a tulip poplar. How close to the original spot can I safely plant a sapling? Because you are planting a different species, you can plant in the same spot, but do move the plant a few feet away from the ground-up stump. Chips from the stump mix with the soil and bind up nitrogen as they decompose. Your new tree will need soil nitrogen for growth.

Asian soybean rust, a contagious fungal disease that has devastated soybean crops in other parts of the world, has come dangerously close to making its way to Maryland for the first time. The fungus, which can reduce a soybean field's yield by as much as 80 percent if left untreated, was recently spotted as far north as Virginia, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. While an infestation can have a serious economic impact on farming, it poses no threat to humans. The USDA has been tracking the spread of the plant-killing disease since it was discovered in Japan in 1902.

The mycologists are merry. The sun is shining, and they've snagged the van from the roundworm lab downstairs. Behind them lie the fortresslike walls of Beltsville's U.S. National Fungus Collections; ahead, the open road, winding toward Catoctin Mountain in Western Maryland, and acre upon acre of rust fungus. The leader of this collecting trip is Cathie Aime; she's the one at the wheel. For someone who creeps through forests as slowly as slime mold (mushroom-hunting in the jungles of Guyana, she covers just 50 square meters a day)

A devastating fungus is sweeping the planet, wiping out entire populations of amphibians at such a rate that biologists are helping pull together a huge "Noah's Ark" project to capture frogs, toads and salamanders and put them in safe places. Various factors already have combined to cause more than 120 amphibian species to vanish since 1980, in what one biologist has called "one of the largest extinction spasms for vertebrates in history." A third of the world's nearly 6,000 amphibian species are threatened - their populations weak and susceptible to disease.

The rabbit population in my neighborhood grows and grows. They decimated my vegetables last year. Trapping, mothballs and hot peppers failed. Any suggestions? Your best deterrent may be a rabbit fence such as chicken wire, 3 feet high with the bottom secured tightly to the ground or buried 6 inches below ground level. Some people have success using repellents such as dried blood, human hair, predator urines and other commercial repellants. Repellants need to be rotated and reapplied after rain.

Maryland farmers are on the lookout for a contagious fungal disease that could devastate future harvests across the state. The disease, called soybean rust, or Asian soybean rust, has been steadily creeping toward Maryland from the Deep South since it was discovered in Louisiana a little more than a year ago. In other parts of the world, including southern Africa and South America, it has reduced soybean yields by as much as 80 percent when left untreated....