I have recently had Wolfs milk start growing in the soil in my vegetable garden and was wondering if I would have to get rid of the soil and start over or if the food is still safe to eat. I tried to search what would happen if accidentally ingesting the slime mold but could not find any answers online.
A search highlighted a couple of things:
The fruit bodies are non-toxic, though not recommended to consume as it can cause gastrointestinal distress.
The fruit bodies will dry and dissappear on their own, or you can scoop, bag, and trash them if you like.
The amoeba likes dead wood, so maybe get rid of the mulch in your garden if you don’t want to see it return next year.
Do with that what you will, but it doesn’t sound like your food is at risk to me.
Awesome I will probably scoop them up in a bag till they dry out and then compost them. Where did you find out about them being non toxic may I ask? They seem really interesting since they started as little orange balls and turned brownish with age.
For that, I searched if wolf’s milk was edible. There were multiple sources indicating non-toxic, though inedible.
A caveat about the identification, everything I saw about wolf’s milk indicated it was pink, then brown. If the identification is off, that might not be correct. In any case, if it’s turned brown, it’s in the spore stage, so definitely wear a mask before handling.
It does start out pink but goes orange before going brown. Mine have already gone brown but this is an image online of what it looks like when it is orange.
I will definitely have to wear a mask before handling them.