BY SKEETER
We have found humidity once again in my Georgia Gardens. My sinus tells me a front is coming and soon the humidity will be gone again. Hopefully, for the remainder of the year. But I am not holding my breath on that one. I am however, going to enjoy the rain this front brings with it.
Above you can see the Butterfly Bush Island still giving us color. The Butterfly Bushes are the best early summer to late fall bloomer in the yard for me. You also see Volunteer Perwinkle and Susan's giving me color. If this photo went higher up, you could see Angel Trumpets in bloom. So we do have some blooms hanging around for the Hummingbirds, bees and butterflies to enjoy.
I walk out onto the front porch and find a strange thing happening under the Ferns. Can you see the mess on the railing and the floor of the porch?
Zooming into the railing, you see the tiny round balls of dirt/mud or something else. I just don't know what is causing this mess. I have not really taken the time to try and squash them or investigate as I see the mess at the wrong time and just grab the broom and sweep it off the porch.
This mess is occurring under each of the 4 hanging Ferns. I had a posting titled "Vinca Poop" back in 2008. (Click HERE to see) That posting had me on my hands and knees looking for a critter as I knew I had found its poop. The end of that Story had me discovering little tiny black seeds rather then animal poop. Since I have not had time to really get to the bottom of this matter, I am just going to ask you bloggers if you have ever seen this before and what it could be. How ironic, I don't have time to investigate the mess on my porch but have time to write about it. Oh, gee, I think I may need to rethink my priorities. Ha, So What say you? Do I have FERN POOP, In the Garden....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
I just researched this for you, and apparently some ferns produce bulbils (tiny bulbs) for reproduction. Boston fern appears to be one of them. So really your fern poops are fern "seeds".
ReplyDeleteI have had ferns for years and never seen this. I just found some on my front stoop under my Boston Fern. I wasn't sure what it was when I first found it as they had dried and were hard and didn't really look like droppings. I swept them up and a couple minutes later I found fresh ones! I decided (against my better judgement) to test the feel and they were soft like droppings. I had never seen a dropping like it but thought maybe it was a baby mouse or chipmunk or something. So glad they aren't! Thank you.
DeleteI have ferns hanging on my front porch and am seeing the exact same thing. Sorry but this is not seeds but poop from black caterpillars as I actually found one on one of my ferns. I'm trying some dawn dishwashing liquid mixed with water and spraying my ferns with the mixture. We'll see how that works. My ferns are also turning a pale green due to the caterpillars I'm sure.
DeleteYes! Rethinking priorities indeed. I think that is funny. Looks like Helen researched it for you and what a sweetie to help out! I've never seen this before but it is neat! Your ferns are most happy, maybe they'll make more by the deck area there. I think that would be an ideal location for them to start.
ReplyDeleteI've seen that before too. Some other ferns do it too, but the ones I have seen have been even smaller. I love ferns. I would love to fill my beds with Braken ferns. I think they are beautiful. A friends neighbor keeps digging her's up and throwing them away. She has huge ones and I cringe every time she does it. She's too mean to ask her for themm she's a bitter thing... LOL
ReplyDeleteLove fellow bloggers with answers!! Great!
ReplyDeleteWe love your yard its so beautiful...we also have two butterfly bushes here in iowa...one didn't do well this year at all but the other one is about 3 years old and stand 7 feet tall!
ReplyDeleteStella Rose
I'm glad Helen found the answer for you. I was thinking it would be seed of some kind. Your ferns sure are pretty. They look very happy there. Hoping for babies for you. We are getting some of that storm now. Thunder/lightening, & of course rain.
ReplyDeleteI'd be looking in your ferns for caterpillars, myself. It looks like what's euphemistically called "frass," aka caterpillar poop, to me.
ReplyDeleteBut bulblets from the ferns would be much nicer! Let us know which it is, if you get a chance!
Looks like Florida fern catipillar . Inspect ferns at night for worms.
DeleteRaining in Georgia this morning which is wonderful for my gardens but not so great while feeding and scooping horse poop! Ha, oh well the rain kept me cool.
ReplyDeleteHelen, you are a jewel for solving my mystery today! Since it is raining I had decided to do the research and now I don’t have to. Thank you so much for this information. As Tina mentioned, the planter in the front of this porch is where I have been sweeping the seeds. I hope they decide to sprout and give me some ferns!
Tina, Yes, Ferns in the front planter would be wonderful. I have a ton of Wandering Jew that just keeps going and going in both planters! I have never planted it as it has fallen from baskets over the years. It would be great to have ferns mingling with the jews…
Randy, I would do some serious trash stealing for those ferns! LOL
Janet, Yes, bloggers are the best and so appreciated during times such as this… t
Stella Rose, I know you would enjoy playing with Zip (neighbors dog) in our yard. He loves rolling in the grass. I usually trim the Butterfly Bushes but let a few of them stay natural this year. I wanted to see how they faired along side the pruned ones. I love my butterfly bushes…
Lola, Do be safe during this storm. We are only seeing rain thus far and think it may stay that way although, there is still a chance for some high winds. High winds knock down trees and we don’t want that. Enjoying the ½ inch of rain we have so far though….
Gaia, I do hope for seeds verses poo from Cats. I have had issues with caterpillars on the ferns in the past so you may be on to something. I shall investigate a bit more soon and let ya know. Thanks for the tip....
ReplyDeleteThat's a cool fact...so glad to learn something new, and glad Helen solved it for ya:) I wouldn't notice if my ferns produced those brown things as there is so much brown mulch around everything in my garden. But now I will be more aware of the possibility.
ReplyDeleteWow....the photos look exactly what I've been finding under both my ferns on my white railing. I also found two small catapillars I just moved here from CA so all this NC outdoor gardening is new to me. Is this seasonal? I bought these in March and just started noticing it. The droppings are soft...smashed one by mistake?
DeleteWow....the photos look exactly what I've been finding under both my ferns on my white railing. I also found two small catapillars I just moved here from CA so all this NC outdoor gardening is new to me. Is this seasonal? I bought these in March and just started noticing it. The droppings are soft...smashed one by mistake?
DeleteYes indeed caterpillar poop! The best organic way to rid the ferns of caterpillars is to pluck them off and dispose of them or move them somewhere they can munch on something you don't mind them destroying. Or you can take the invasive approach and spray them with an insect deterrent. I was recently in TN and my mother had a fern destroyed by these little munchers. Thanks for dropping by to visit our blog...
DeleteThat is really funny! The ferns look gorgeous - the humidity may not be so fun for you but the ferns are sure happy about it, eh?
ReplyDeleteThat a new one to me. In any case, my porch specialized in bird poop this summer. Especially the barns swallows....;)
ReplyDeleteSkeeter,
ReplyDeleteLooks like frass to me. Better fell them, if squishy, then frass, if hard them maybe fern seeds.
What exactly is frass??
DeleteWhat exactly is frass
DeleteInsect poop.
Deletevery cute fern poop....as I have read the comments it is solved but I would suspect that they would have been seeds...
ReplyDeleteLove your shot of the garden with butterfly bushes and the susans. I love Buddleia too -- such reliable bloomers over such a long period of time, and the butterflies just flock to them. Thank you for your kind words about Penny.
ReplyDeleteSo glad someone got to the bottom of this for you! I am going to be looking for my fern to poop - I would love to be able to grow a fern from seed! Your garden is beautiful! Not anything like the giant mess I have at this time of year!
ReplyDeleteI hope they are "fern poo" and they produce many babies. They look so darn happy. I have 3 butterfly bushes and they have really shot up and out and bloomed their pretty hearts out this year. I got a Black Knight Butterfly bush this year and even it had a bunch of blooms. Great year for them here this year.
ReplyDeleteFound the culprit! Black catipillar!
ReplyDeleteIt's caterpillar poop. I had the same thing on my pumpkin vine's leaves, and searched around. Finally, on the underbelly I found a green caterpillar. Eats the greens, but seems pretty harmless. The poops come out more translucent, but I guess the poop's reaction with the air turns it that gross green color.
ReplyDeleteAck! Skeeter- what was YOUR verdict? All the comments had me decided one way, then the other! Help me save my porch beauties!
ReplyDeleteI have read through all these comments and am still not sure if the final answer is seeds or poop???
ReplyDeleteSeeds.
DeleteIf these are seeds can they be planted?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!
DeleteI've had Kimberly ferns for over 18 years, never seen "poop"/caterpillars until this year. Eating my ferns up, found a spray at Tractor Supply, now they are gone, hope my ferns return to normal without the worms. Glad I found out what "it" was
ReplyDelete