Snow Mold – Is It Real?

By Richard Dowson, Moose Jaw

Friends told me there was Snow Mold. I didn’t believe them. Well, turns out snow mold is real!

Snow mold is a lawn fungus. It grows on your grass, under heavy snow and loves cold and dampness. In my case it loves the lawn under the snow piles I create with the blower-blower.

Snow mold can be pink and gray. It’s gray on my lawn. It appears when the snow melts. I get little ugly patches of white crap, which is gray snow mold fungus.

From what I read, the best way to deal with it, is to rake the gray patches so the mold is thinned out and air can get in and dry it. If the patch persists you might have to reseed.

Be safe! Wear a mask when you rake the mold because it releases little spores.

Here’s is picture of Snow Mold.

Photo Credit: This Old House

Allergies

As the snow melts and exposes snow mold, it releases nasty spores that effect people with allergies. Individuals get the usual symptoms – congestion, itchy eyes and sneezing.

Ask your Physician or Pharmacists for recommendations on how to deal with the allergic reaction.

Fungal Gnats

Gerry Hukaluk of Moose Jaw lived and worked in the Arctic for decades. He told me he’d seen tiny, little flies eat the snow mold in the Arctic. I checked it out.

From what I read the flies are probably ‘fungal gnats.’ 

Writer Richard Dowson is a retired educator.

He is known for his frequenting local coffee shops and other places seniors gather.

In a previous life he wrote comedy for CHED in Edmonton.