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Lower end of the inside walls of a redwood cabana - the black discoloration/mold has been there (where the wood gets wet from drips/spray from rain). We had rains a week ago and went to clean the area and found these yellow things. We do have many spiders all around the year. Spider eggs? Yellow mold? something else?

Nelson
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TRR
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2 Answers2

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I think that's not sap but fungus. Because:

Those boards look old, and the black color looks like there's already fungus under the finish. If so, and if the yellow globs actually are new, "coming out after a rain, that's absolutely NOT sap. Sap comes out slowly over a couple years, and won't come out in rain.

If the globs are firm, are sticky/gooey and smell like sap, and aren't really new (you just never noticed them before) it's sap.

But if the globs are "squishy" like you say, or "watery", and really just popped out after a rain, they're not sap but fungus.

KayGee
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They are fungal fruiting bodies.

fungal fruiting bodies

https://www.ediblewildfood.com/blog/2012/10/witchs-butter-edible-fungi/

To my eye it looks like golden jelly fungus or "witch's butter". Your board is rotting. But the good thing is that if it is witch's butter it is edible! Come back and let us know how that goes.

isherwood
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Willk
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    "But the good thing is that if it is witches butter it is edible! Come back and let us know how that goes." In general, it's a bad idea to eat any sort of fungus if you're not 100% sure that it's safe, because sometimes safe fungi and deadly poisonous fungi look almost identical. – nick012000 Oct 30 '21 at 01:39
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    Also eating an edible fungus growing on treated wood is dangerous. Fungi tend to collect many toxic substances. – pabouk - Ukraine stay strong Oct 30 '21 at 09:06
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    Pretty sure that “it is edible! Let us know how that goes” was a joke but agreed that it’s dangerous advice (even if not really advice!) – Josh Oct 30 '21 at 13:12
  • Edible but not healthful – Kris Oct 31 '21 at 14:45
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    I agree with @nick012000 and other responsible adult-type persons that it is a bad idea to eat things if you are not sure what they are. I see my answer has been edited. I take some solace in the fact that the wikipedia link still contains the term "edible". – Willk Oct 31 '21 at 16:55
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    @Kris edible, but only once. – Nelson Nov 01 '21 at 03:28
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    Carrots are edible, but I wouldn't eat any grown in Chernobyl. – isherwood Nov 01 '21 at 12:52