Hollie: I don't know about the foam.

To post photos you need to store them first onto a site like photobucket, that's the one I use. It's very easy, even for a computer idiot like me. You can get a free account or pay for an upgraded one. There are many file storage/sharing sites on the internet.

Karen

Hi twothousand...maybe you watered with Bud light instead of water...Franklin

Oh har-de-har-har Franklin (NOT)! yeah I wasn't watering with beer, or with anything besides plain ol' water. Just to be sure, I watered a nice little dirt patch one my nice doggies left after diggiing (bad doggie!!!). The dirt patch was just our regular yard dirt as opposed to the topsoil we added to the garden. When I watered the dirt patch--no foam. So that's how I know the water itself was not the issue.

And also, I do have a photo host, I just didn't see an option to add a photo. But I'll just try to use the code I know and see if it works--well no, I previewed it and sorry I can't get it to work. So if someone can tell me the code to use to show a photo, then I'll add it in here.

Thanks! And no more comic replies, thank you very much :) :)

Something like this should work:

<img src="http://hostingsite.com/directorystructure/imagename.jpeg"; />

Of course, you need to substitute your values for hostingsite, directorystructure, imagename. Please note that this needs to be the image file, not html that displays it.

Thanks for the code info! I'm horrible with that stuff, and it seems like it varies from board to board, so that just makes it worse!

So here's my foam--now you can see it!!

{{gwi:299530}}

I wonder if the soil is highly alkaline. Are you using well or city water?
Gumby_CT

It is city water

Hi twothousand...sorry about the beer remark...I just got carried away...:-)
It might be a good idea to call in a lab to do some testing for you. Your garden might be situated right over a toxic land fill...or perhaps there was an alka seltzer factory located there...or maybe a soap factory. Most likely a secret government facility testing material found during moon walks...:-) Call your local county agent and have your area inspected...I'm sure they will find the answer for you...Franklin

Most likely this is the start of some slime mold commonly known as Dog Vomit Fungus. It does appear in many forms and is not harmful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dog Vomit Fungus

That is probably the best link anyone's given me in the last year and I'm promptly going to waste the better part of my productive day reading all of the articles.

what can I say, I'm fascinated by all things mycological. ;-p

It looks chemical (not biological) to me.

Re: Dog vomit fingus: We had social amoebas (no longer called slime molds in the scientific community, apparently) in our gardens earlier this year. I don't believe they foam up as an immediate result of spraying (that would indicate incredibly rapid growth or mobility). In our experience they began to swarm together just under the surface of the soil, a day after watering. They formed a large (bright yellow, in our case) mass on the surface of the ground the following day, and had sporulated to a dry brown spore case by two days following that, which "exploded" to release spores when it was struck forcefully.

I seem to recall seeing foam like yours in the past, and I think it was something chemical, like a type of fertiliser. But I can't recall detainls - it just seems vaguely familiar.

Hi twothousand...I think your putting us on twothousand...alittle soap on the ground...then sprinkle it alittle with the hose and...viola...suds. Now you wouldn't try to put one over on us would you? Anyway...thats just what I think after seeing your photo...Franklin

Thanks for the input everyone--well, except Franklin. Is there an ignore button for posters here?? What a shame someone is so silly. Oh well. I least I got some comic relief!

Anyhow, I'll have to call the place where we bought the soil and ask them if they know whether or not there is chemical fertilizer in it. I know the place where we bought gets the soil from a third party so it may be difficult to determine. BUT I also know that they do listen to customers and have switched their soil supplier before due to customer complaints.

If I figure this out, I'll let you know:)

Oh yes, and I also wanted to say that teh foam was pretty yellow-ish and I'd suspect soap would make a very white foam with just the yelllow or brown around the edges (colored from the soil. But the foam itself seemed yellow. I've never seen soap make yellow foam, but who knows, right? It could be some type of soap in the soil, but I can assure you, I did not put it there myself:)

And Diggity, I tested the water from the hose on a patch of soil that was just from the yard, and didn't get the foam, so I (rather unscientifically) ruled out the foam coming from the hose.

It occured to me that protein will foam when it is whipped around (it gets denatured, and starts to stick to itself, and makes bubbles.). Like egg whites.

Maybe there is some sort of protein source (blood meal or some such) in your product.

Easy on Franklin... he has feelin's ya know!!
He is a straight shooter and WILL keep you honest.

Let us know if you ever find the cause.

Good Luck,
Gumby_CT

Hi! I dont think this is a big deal. I used to get foam like that at my Dad's house and never worried about it. We used ALOT of bone meal, manure, peat moss, it was clay soil to begin with. Im sure the dog peed on the soil in that spot (and other things) and it was pretty swampy at some point, so Im sure alot of stuff when on in there biologically. Oh yeah, and a septic tank too.

There are alot of waterfalls in wisconsin that have that protein foamy stuff floating around in the bottom and Ive read signs on it and dont remember exactly the details just that I realized it was nothing to worry about.

is that there is chemical fertilizer present. Bummer. We called the nursery where we bought the soil and they said all **they** do to the soil is sift it. But right now they are getting topsoil from developers who need to clear the top layer of soil before construction. Around here, almost all the land sold to developers was previously farmed so most likely, the soil contains fertilizer from that.

Also, I did notice that once we added the topsoil, my plants basically took off!!! I mean started to grow like crazy, whereas they were reeeeeeaaallly struggling before. I ws really happy they were finally growing, but I didn't think too much about it at first. Now, along with the new info, it seems that would most likely be the case. But unfortunately, I just can't know for certain. It's always possible this soil is just more nutrient rich and that made my plants grow.

I have never seen such foaming in my yard. I have had dog vomit fungus, but it never foamed. I used to use chemicals, but they never foamed. I now use organic stuff, they don't foam. Dog pee never foamed. My soil is mostly clay, and my clay doesn't foam.

And I've gardened in this house for almost 25 years.

Karen

THANK YOU FOR THE COMMENT ABOUT A NEW HOSE diggity_ma. That was EXACTLY what happened!

I had the same thing happen to me. I even started wondering if someone put some weird chemicals or weed killer in my front yard watermelon container. I have about an inch of wood chips as mulch in my container so when I saw the foam/bubbles/suds it was a real head scratcher.

Thought I would share.

Thank you for sharing about the NEW WATER HOSE. i have had the same exact thing and feeling happen. but, what did you do?

clean the hose? with what? or get rid of the hose?

or is it okfor the plants?