Dave's mold colonies

Four tiles with Dave's mold colonies on them

Dave's mold colonies are green chunks of mold in Plants vs. Zombies 2 that appear on certain tiles. They only appear in levels where one of the requirements is to survive without planting on them. They are environment modifiers. Since the objective description change from "Don't plant on Dave's mold colonies" to "Survive without planting on Dave's mold colonies" in the 1.9 update, it is impossible to plant on them at all, which means their associated objective cannot be failed leading to the loss of a level thus acting like lawn obstacles such as tombstones where trying to plant into them will display the prompt "You can't plant on the mold colonies". However, before the 1.9 update, they could be planted on, but the player would not earn a star if they planted on them until 1.6 update and cause them to fail the objective and lose the level from 1.7 to 1.8 updates.

In Arena and Penny's Pursuit levels, as well as in Backyard Big Top - Level 30, they are often used at the last three columns to denote the "dead-zone" that Dr. Zomboss occupies.

Appearances

Ancient Egypt

• Day 13
• Day 19
• Day 22

Pirate Seas

• Day 27

Wild West

• Day 31

Far Future

• Day 29
• Day 34

Big Wave Beach

• Day 9

Lost City

• Day 30
• Aloe, Salut! Step 6

Jurassic Marsh

• Day 26
• Day 38

Modern Day

• Day 36

Appearances before the 1.7 update

Ancient Egypt

• Day 1, Star 2
• Day 4, Star 1
• Day 6, Star 2
• Day 9, Star 2

Pirate Seas

• Day 1, Star 1
• Day 3, Star 2
• Day 6, Star 3

Wild West

• Day 1, Star 2
• Day 3, Star 3
• Day 4, Star 1
• Day 7, Star 2
• Day 9, Star 3

Gallery

Mold colonies celebrating after the player has successfully completed the level

Mold colonies when a plant is about to be planted on them (highlighted tiles means they used to be plantable from 1.0 to 1.8 updates)

HD mold colonies

HD mold

A glitch in earlier versions when the player uses Plant Food on a Chili Bean or Potato Mine, where if one lands on the mold, the mold will not disappear

Mold colonies in a Piñata Party

Sprites of mold colonies alongside various environmental modifiers

Mold colonies on an aura tile emitted by Moonflower

Mold colonies on a Gold Tile (Only in Piñata Party)

Mold colonies on evil potions (Only in Piñata Party)

Mold colonies on shallow puddle (Possible with SeaFlora as of 11.5.1)

Trivia

• In earlier versions, plants which multiply themselves under Plant Food (such as Potato Mine and Chili Bean) could land on a mold colony and not disable the objective.
  • In newer versions, it is impossible for them to land on a mold colony. If there is no room left on the lawn other than on mold colonies, they simply will not spawn.
• When the player completes a level with them, the mold colonies will start jumping. The player will hear a squishing sound while the mold colonies are doing so.
• The mold colonies will hide if the player hovers a plant above them.
• From 1.0 to 1.8 updates, planting on mold colonies would make them splat.
• In some Lost City levels with Turquoise Skull Zombies, the game may have used the mold colonies as a trap to make the player plant closer to the zombies, so when Turquoise Skull Zombies appear, it will make it easier for them to burn the player's plants.
• Before the objective description change from "Don't plant on Dave's mold colonies" to "Survive without planting on Dave's mold colonies" on 1.9 update, it was possible to lose in levels (including Piñata Parties) with these by directly planting into them (after the 1.7 update). It would display "Don't plant on Dave's mold colonies" in green text when the player fails the objective and loses the level. A brain would still appear when this happens, despite the zombies not eating the player's brains.
  • However, before the 1.7 update, the same message would display, but in red text instead of green text (except for the objective description change) and the player would still allow to continue but not get the star.
  • This is the only time (along with other level-specific objectives) in which a game over message is in a different font (the objective description font).
• There are seven molds on each tile.
• The plant will be kicked out of the lawn if a Mecha-Football Zombie and an Ankylosaurus pushes, or Excavator Zombie shovels a plant before and after the mold colonies.