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Geez. This has pretty much consumed my life for the past 24 hours.
Took Simon to the vet this morning. He was very puzzled that Simon has come down with it too, as he said it is not something that is usually passed between dogs. He did a little more intensive culture than with Angus, and asked if we had done anything to our yard recently.
Of course I don't use chemicals back there (or anywhere), except for teensy amounts of Roundup. But I told him I had noticed that our mulch this year has been growing an inordinate amount of mushrooms and fungus.
Simon's slide came back "loaded with fungal spores."
It almost has to be the mulch.
That stupid mulch. I should have known. You can tell to look at it that it's fungus-y. WHY did I use this in the backyard???
Well, I guess the good news is, it's not an allergy, which would be a much bigger PITA to figure out. But this is not going to be easy, either. Mom and I are debating how to attack this tomorrow. Our tentative plan is to remove all the mulch, spray with vinegar (hoping that this doesn't hurt the plants), put down landscape fabric and leave everything to bake for a couple of weeks with no mulch. Then, if we replace it, use pine bark which is more acidic and thus a less hospitable environment for fungus.
This is all I've got, so far.
I'm still worried that fungal spores can travel...so would that mean we need to remove all the front yard mulch too? ALL of this mulch sucks. NatureScapes from Home Depot, if you're wondering.
I'm so frustrated...
Took Simon to the vet this morning. He was very puzzled that Simon has come down with it too, as he said it is not something that is usually passed between dogs. He did a little more intensive culture than with Angus, and asked if we had done anything to our yard recently.
Of course I don't use chemicals back there (or anywhere), except for teensy amounts of Roundup. But I told him I had noticed that our mulch this year has been growing an inordinate amount of mushrooms and fungus.
Simon's slide came back "loaded with fungal spores."
It almost has to be the mulch.
That stupid mulch. I should have known. You can tell to look at it that it's fungus-y. WHY did I use this in the backyard???Well, I guess the good news is, it's not an allergy, which would be a much bigger PITA to figure out. But this is not going to be easy, either. Mom and I are debating how to attack this tomorrow. Our tentative plan is to remove all the mulch, spray with vinegar (hoping that this doesn't hurt the plants), put down landscape fabric and leave everything to bake for a couple of weeks with no mulch. Then, if we replace it, use pine bark which is more acidic and thus a less hospitable environment for fungus.
This is all I've got, so far.
I'm still worried that fungal spores can travel...so would that mean we need to remove all the front yard mulch too? ALL of this mulch sucks. NatureScapes from Home Depot, if you're wondering.
I'm so frustrated...
