# What are these things that showed up in my garden?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 16, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410 "2004-04-16T19:12:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/1 "2004-04-16T19:12:55Z")
Recently I’ve been noticing these tiny little green balls of plant life showing up in the garden areas around my house. I moved into the house over the winter, so I have no clue what the gardens are going to produce this summer. I’ve never seen anything like these buggers.
They’re small, green spheres that appear to be plant matter, but they’re not rooted to anything. They show up around the base of the dried brown stalks of the ornamental plants. The ground is covered in ornamental rocks. They sort of remind me of tiny peas - the big ones are only about the size of 1/2 a popcorn kernel, and they get smaller from there.
I can smoosh 'em and they just turn into leafy plant goo.
[Here’s a picture.](http://www.nemthanatos.com/GREEN.JPG) What the heck are they?
---
### Author:  [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/2 "2004-04-16T19:33:32Z")
What region do you live in. It may help to know where you live. I’ve never seen that before. Maybe Fungus?
---
### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/3 "2004-04-16T19:38:31Z")
> [@Athena](#):
>
> I can smoosh 'em and they just turn into leafy plant goo.
_Aagghh!! The primitive earthling is killing the Children!! Activate the death ray!!_
---
### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/4 "2004-04-16T19:49:31Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#):
>
> What region do you live in. It may help to know where you live. I’ve never seen that before. Maybe Fungus?
I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - somewhere in the midst of zone 4 or 5, depending on what book you read.
---
### Author:  [@Gravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gravity)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/5 "2004-04-16T19:53:02Z")
Wowsers, that’s a lot of little pea-demons. I was expecting maybe one or two.
---
### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/6 "2004-04-16T20:00:47Z")
That’s just one spot, too. There’s 4 or 5 spots full of 'em - mostly at the roots of the plants, but I think there’s at least one spot where they’re just on the rocks.
Pea-Demons. I like it. That’s the new name until we figure out what the REALLY are.
---
### Author:  [@cards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cards)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/7 "2004-04-16T20:06:20Z")
Hmmm, they look like Triffad droppings.
---
### Author:  [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/8 "2004-04-16T20:11:45Z")
They look like butterfly eggs to me, but I am not a biologist!
---
### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/9 "2004-04-16T20:26:09Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#):
>
> They look like butterfly eggs to me, but I am not a biologist!
They don’t quite look like the pics of butterfly eggs I’ve found on the net. First off, it seems that most butterflies lay their eggs on the underside of leaves, or other places that are somewhat protected. These things are right in plain sight on the ground. Second, I would expect an insect egg to be gooier when squooshed. These almost seem hollow. A squooshed one looks like a small piece of a leaf that’s been stepped on.
They’re also quite planty. I guess they _could_ be insectoid, but my money’s on them being a plant or a fungus.
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/10 "2004-04-16T20:32:17Z")
They look like slow-release granular fertiliser to me (although it is usually tan or yellow in colour) - do you tend this garden area yourself, or is anyone else responsible?
Alternatively, they could be seeds or even buds/flowering structures that have dropped off something above - are they associated with a single type of plant?
---
### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/11 "2004-04-16T20:42:27Z")
Ah-ha!
This looks like it could be what I’m looking at : [http://www.landscapemanagement.net/landscape/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=82416](http://www.landscapemanagement.net/landscape/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=82416)
Hard to tell from the small picture though. And they DO seem rather planty in nature, but they’ve been buried under snow all year. They could have gotten wet and weird. I’m not 100% sure it’s fertilizer, but that’s a good bet, and would also account for why they appear around all the plants - the previous owners of the house could have fertilized their garden last fall before the snow showed up.
**Mangetout** , I will be tending the garden myself, but this is a new house for us. We moved in in January, and the gardens have been under snow until last week, when I first noticed the pea demons.
---
### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/12 "2004-04-16T20:59:46Z")
> [@Athena](#):
>
> Ah-ha!
>
> This looks like it could be what I’m looking at : [http://www.landscapemanagement.net/landscape/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=82416](http://www.landscapemanagement.net/landscape/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=82416)
Or maybe these [Martian blueberries](http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20040318a/16-AK-01-shoemaker-A074R1_br.jpg).
---
### Author:  [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/13 "2004-04-16T21:10:00Z")
But why would you use so much fertilizer around rocks? 😕
---
### Author:  [@kp\_72110](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kp_72110)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/14 "2004-04-16T21:12:51Z")
Is it possible it is leftover fertilizer or some other product put down by the previous owner?
---
### Author:  [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/15 "2004-04-16T21:46:44Z")
Try an experiment: drop a few into a glass of hot water and see what happens.
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/16 "2004-04-16T22:56:02Z")
> [@Casey1505](#):
>
> But why would you use so much fertilizer around rocks? 😕
It’s the rocks that are the giveaway; if these things _grew_ there, they would be on the rocks **or** the soil **or** the leaves, but not all three - they have been scattered or dropped - they are on the rocks simply because they are present in great abundance - that there are so many of them might be a result of the same sort of mentality that causes people to double their medication - “If _some_ is good, _more_ must be better!”
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/17 "2004-04-16T22:57:53Z")
Also, bear in mind that this picture is taken in spring after snow melt; there are probably a number of herbaceous plants and bulbs waiting to grow from between the rocks (if they haven’t been poisoned by overdosed fertiliser, that is.
---
### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/18 "2004-04-16T23:46:53Z")
Paintballs, maybe.
---
### Author:  [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/19 "2004-04-17T00:17:18Z")
OMG, they’re pods! Invasion of the peony snatchers!
---
### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410/20 "2004-04-17T00:27:19Z")
Get a sharp knife, a strong light, & a magnifying glass.
Slice one open & examine it.
That’s how **Cecil** would do it.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-that-showed-up-in-my-garden/240410.md?page=2)