Hi all, Im new to the forum and wondered if anyone had any idea of what this sulphur-yellow like fungus is on my houseplants soil? Ive had this plant for 5+years and never seen this before. No new plants in the house other than a flower bouquet which was 4' away. Noticed the fungus 3 days ago b/c I saw that the small new offshoot was dried up and dying. Maintenance: I tend to let it get dry and then give a good shower in the bathtub - last one was 1.5weeks ago. Sometimes gets some good liquid organic fertilizer. Tend to let the dry leaves stay on the topsoil to decompose - maybe this was a bad idea? So any thoughts on what it is, whether it means the end for my beautiful plant or if its just a matter of scraping it off and adding topsoil. Thanks!
Thanks for that! Not sure if its the same fungus, but Ill at least try repotting before starting over with cuttings. Ill keep ya posted
Your pictures are helpful. I am just down the road from you in London and have a Hibscus with the same thing. What did you find out to do? I have repotted and removed what was visible about 2 weeks ago but it is back with a vengance.
Fungus are one of the only organisms in soil that have the capabilaty to draw nutriements down into the soil. This is helpful to outside plants but I'am not sure if you want this inside. The fungus must be feeding on something. Has anybody been dumping their drinks in your plant?
I was (for a short while) taking my left over brewed coffee, mixing it with water and using that to water as I read coffee is a kind of fertalizer. I do sprinkle salt and cinnamon into my coffee grounds before it is brewed. I wondered if that was the culprite and have not used left over brewed coffee for quite some time now.
Original poster here. Today I gloved up and scraped off the yellow fungus. Unlike another thread who discussed something very similar, this fungus did not feel like it had "hard little balls" . While you cna see them in the photo [far right is a big close-up if you click on it] - I didn't feel anything. The soil WAS suprisingly moist and I think that maybe with letting the original leaves fall and stay on the surface combined with the soil being organic...happy host for fungii. No fungus lower down or within the rootball of smaller offshoot that was dead. Decided not to replant yet, doing a wait and see and will keep you posted.
I don't see the picture. Today I decided to cover the entire soil surface with newspaper so hopefully block some light and air for the fungus to grow. I also read somewhere that putting a bit of vinager in the water might help the plant. I have no more shoots for flowers but there appears to be some new leave growth. The ones turning brown seem to be equal though!
I had those fungus in my pots too. I have never seen them before, but after I see it in my pot, I have noticed they are pretty common. In one of my pots, when the condition is right, they turn into a mushroom which is pretty fun and surprising. Seems all that little yellow balls turned into one mushroom, and there's just no more of those yellow balls anymore. I think they are from the potting soil I bought. ^.^
It looks like a slime mould just starting to form sporangium. It doesn't quite look like Fuligo septica somehow, but if you could get a closeup shot of the little balls it may be possible to tell if this is a slime mould (myxomycete) or a fungus. The latter would be more likely to be of concern for the health of the plant.
Thanks everybody for your ideas and suggestions. It's a few months later now and after pulling out my poor little "seedling" (the smallest of the three plants in the planter), scraping off any of the topsoil and visible yellow areas, then adding fresh topsoil from another company... the larger plants are still going and have started to produce new leafs. Interestingly, a completely different type of plants that I used that same topsoil in developed this strange yellow fungus. Unfortunately that little that I just wasn't as lucky - but it did confirm that was the crappy so-called sterilized soil that I bought. So, while I'm not a botanist-I would think that my topsoil was actually infected with some sort of fungus as opposed to a slimeball. I guess only time will tell and hopefully my lovely plants will continue to do well. Thanks again to everyone and I hope this thread is helpful to anyone else that might have the same problem.
The yellow balls of mold are typically slime molds and despite their name are very interesting and quite compatible with plants, feeding off some of the decaying matter in soil or wood (if you have orchids). See the following URL from the Mississippi State University Extension Service: http://msucares.com/pubs/infosheets/is1684.pdf
agree with Bonny....they're not always the most attractive thing to have in u'r plants but believe it or not can be extremely GOOD for them...as their decay can help enrich the soil. If worse comes to worse........depot u'r plant...and hose down thru all the roots.......get a new fresh bag of soil to replant in. Also...once u've replanted u'r fellow...try laying newspaper around the top and add a bit more topsoil on top of THAT....strangely sprouts don't always like to grow UP thru it? just DOWN thru it.....hope this helps a tad
