After a particularly wet winter, you often notice small mushrooms growing on the top of the soil in plant pots. Most people want to know if they are poisonous and more importantly, how to get rid of them. Read on to find out why mushrooms are growing in your plant pot and some suggestions to banish them for good!
Mushrooms are the above-ground, visible section of the mycelium root strand, which is a long, thin, underground string that mushrooms use to grow. In the wild, mushrooms thrive in damp environments like fields and woodland. The wet soil in a plant pot provides near-perfect conditions for fungi to grow.
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The fungus may have arrived because the wind blew the spores there but it may also have been introduced by contaminated soil. Using animal manure is a common reason for the appearance of fungi. Occasionally, spores can be introduced after a day in the countryside when a spore attaches itself to your clothing and falls into a pot in the garden. Contaminated soilless mixtures can sometimes contain the spore of fungi.
Once the fungus is introduced, a mushroom may appear in damp conditions if there are enough nutrients for it to grow. The spores are produced in the underside of the cap of the mushroom and they can be blown far away from the pot they are in. So understanding what these mushrooms are like can help you to banish them forever.
Some mushrooms that grow in plant pots may be toxic if consumed. Here’s a list of poisonous and inedible mushrooms that are commonly found in the UK:
Yellow mushrooms
These bright mushrooms are probably Leucocoprinus birnbaumii and they are poisonous. They have yellow coneheads and yellow stalks, which become increasingly dense in colour as they age. Do not eat these! They can cause diarrhoea, vomiting and fever, and in extreme cases death. Make sure you remove and discard any that you find.
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Brown mushrooms
Panaeolina foenisecii or the brown mottlegill mushroom is very common in Kent, where I live. These mushrooms are inedible.
Grey mushrooms
Panaeolus semiovatus, also known as the egghead mottlegill mushroom is inedible and can cause digestive upset.
It is a commonly held belief that fungi remove all the nutrients in the pot in which they are growing. Generally, fungi improve the soil by breaking down other plant materials. They are not bad for the soil. In fact, they probably improve the quality of the soil overall. Mushrooms enjoy moist environments with plenty of rotting plant material, like fallen leaves or decaying wood.
If you want to keep mushrooms out of your pot, remove any rotting leaves, do not water them too frequently, and change the soil every few years.
If you’re a proud houseplant parent, you may well have noticed some rogue mushrooms appearing in the soil from time to time. These are some of the most common culprits:
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These small, pale yellow mushrooms are the most likely to be spotted growing amongst your indoor potted plants. They begin as small round balls which grow to between one and three inches tall. These are saprotrophic mushrooms which feed on dead organic matter, they won’t harm your plant.
Although these mushrooms aren’t parasitic, they will spread and they can cause digestive problems if ingested. Mushrooms can be tricky to eradicate so it’s best to change the potting soil and wash the pot thoroughly before repotting the plant.
These mushrooms are very common in potted plants and greenhouses. Also known as pleated ink cap mushrooms, they feed on dead organic matter and won’t harm your houseplants.
These pretty, grey mushrooms grow to 5-6cm in height and are usually found growing outside in short grass, a batch of infected compost is the usual reason for them cropping up next to your houseplants.
Mushrooms can grow in plant pots for several reasons; the most common one is an infected batch of compost. Mushroom spores can survive for many months, waiting until the conditions are right for them to grow. Overwatering and warm temperatures are perfect conditions for mushrooms to thrive and they’re also more likely to sprout in areas with little natural light and poor airflow.
The mushrooms you’ll find growing in your houseplant compost are unlikely to harm the plant, however, they are likely to spread. Whether you remove them or not is up to you! You might want to remove the mushrooms if you have young children or pets who could accidentally ingest them.
Since mushrooms that grow in houseplant pots are harmless, you can simply leave them alone. If you’d prefer to remove the mushrooms, try to do as soon as they appear before the gills open and they’ve had chance to spore. If this doesn’t work, the best way to remove mushrooms for good is to repot the plant, completely replacing the compost. You may need to do this more than once.
You can also spray a fungicide treatment onto the soil, although you will need to repeat the process.
Source: https://gardencourte.com
Categories: Outdoor
This post was last modified on 13/10/2023 02:35
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