It is a fungus. And it is sporulating. It could be several different fungal spp.

Dan

Sounds like the 'dog vomit' fungus I have in my garden...it is much larger though and can completely take in a plant (such as my strawberries). When hit with water it sends out a cloud of reddish brown dust...I figure I have years of the darn stuff waiting to grow in my mulch!

Peggy

That was dust, fungi spores, not smoke.

I wrote about this post on my blog, because I actually witnessed (and filmed) sporulation the day after learning the word.

Isn't the internet fun?

Here is a link that might be useful: my bloggy-blog

I have this happen to me too when I was watering my plants. There was this little red pouch or something of some sort and it would release this red "smoke" whenever I watered it

If you decide to get one of those mushroom kits (expensive but fun and tasty), you will find spores all over the area you keep the kit. Take some outside and see if you can get them to grow in your yard. We do this in our lawn with field mushrooms.

Dan

i think the word would have been wrong if they woulda have said "sporificated" lol

How do you smoke fungus? Do you roll it or smoke it in a pipe? Is it better than banana peel?

I inhaled some of that red smoke fungus. Can that make you sick? My throat and nose feel scratchy and burn a little bit. Should I worry?

Do not get medical advice from a gardening forum.

That said, common sense is that any small dust or particles including spores can cause irritation; but, infrequently, fungus spores can cause more serious illnesses. Proceed appropriately particularly if anything gets worse.

Thank you ;-)