Hi all, I'm pretty new to gardening (have to learn new skills during a pandemic, right?) so I'm not quite sure what am I looking at in my pictures. I got a small columnar cherry tree which I'd like to have on my terrace once it gets warmer outside. So for now I keep the tree inside as it is still freezing during the night. Today I noticed these yellow things in the soil and I was wondering if you could help me out to identify them and possibly get rid of them if they're dangerous? They look like mini mushrooms and you can see in the first picture that there is also this hair-looking thing growing out. I have some plants planted outside and although they have the same soil as the tree, they don't have these yellow thingies. Thanks a lot for your help
Pretty little things! In both cases some substrate specifics may help. While potting soil / plant pot fungi can be a specific group, it may also help to confirm whether these are growing on soil, on buried woody bits, on fertilizer/dung bits. Photo #2 shows cup fungi, ascomycetes, but not sure which kind, as these don't look like the regular potting soil visitors in my region (PNW of NA). Photo #1 similar is also not familiar, but yellow heads on long filamentous stipes should make an ID possible. Took a quick flip through Vol. 1 (Ascos) of Fungi of Switzerland - assuming this is directly on soil - but nothing leaping out so far. Re your other question: Very unlikely to be dangerous, very likely to be beneficial. I avoid being too specific without a positive ID, but these are probably saprobes, helpfully breaking down things in the soil for easier uptake by plants/trees.
