Can you tell me what this growth is?

October 24, 2018 6:36 PM

Can you identify this growth of some sort on a pot plant in Sydney Australia?
posted by unliteral to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

Egg sac of some-sort. Looks like an Ootheca? Unfortunetly I can't tell you what species of bug thing- I don't know what the bugs are like down south. If I saw something like that here I'd think a type of scale insect maybe?
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 6:47 PM on October 24, 2018

I see homo neanderthalensis's egg sac and raise to a slime mold.
posted by mudpuppie at 7:11 PM on October 24, 2018

Easy way to tell. Cut it open and if things crawl out it’s bugs. If it’s just a mass it’s a slime mold. But mudpuppie raises a good point- could definitely be a mold.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 8:10 PM on October 24, 2018

It looks like the egg case of a mantis or stick insect. I think you'd see evidence of pathology in your plant leaves if that were fungal.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:22 PM on October 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Easy way to tell. Cut it open and if things crawl out it’s bugs. If it’s just a mass it’s a slime mold.

Daughter tells me this is going to happen. Video tomorrow.
posted by unliteral at 4:21 AM on October 25, 2018 [5 favorites]

Try to get a clean cut with a sharp knife, avoid crushing if possible.

I’m also leaning toward egg mass.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:13 AM on October 25, 2018

Response by poster: Try to get a clean cut with a sharp knife, avoid crushing if possible.
Advice passed on
posted by unliteral at 5:23 AM on October 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Ahhhh potted plant. I opened the photo thinking it was cannabis and that I might be able to help. Carry on.
posted by terrapin at 1:09 PM on October 25, 2018

I’m in suspense! Note that if it is an egg case, you won’t be guaranteed to see motion. Maybe the eggs dessicated and died. Maybe they were alive but not yet motile. Maybe they are too damaged by the cut to move much.

The more I think about this, the more I want to rule out fungal species and slime mold species: they would generally be wetter, less structured, and less likely to encase a stem in a small region of thick puffiness like that.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:23 PM on October 25, 2018

Response by poster: The cutting. Somewhat inconclusive. No larvae. Dry and crumbly.
posted by unliteral at 4:54 AM on October 26, 2018