Mushrooms in Potted Plants: Why it Happens and How to Fix.

What Causes Mushrooms to Grow?

In order to grow in the potting mix around your plant’s soil, several environmental conditions must be met.

What can I do to prevent mushrooms from growing?

In the previous section, I explained that moisture, fertile, moist soil, and the spores are needed for mushrooms to grow. This means all you have to do is remove one of these things, and the chances of them appearing drastically reduces.

You are watching: Mushrooms in Potted Plants: Why it Happens and How to Fix.

But realistically, these are not things you can stop or prevent. Your plants will need moisture to survive and even if you’re careful not to overwater the potting medium, sometimes just a little moisture is enough to get the mushrooms growing.

Your plant also needs fertile soil to grow, so restricting or not ever feeding your plants isn’t an option either. Finally, the spores can’t be seen with the human eye, so how can you possibly prevent these microscopic spores from ending up in your potting mix?

Answer – You can’t.

Read more : How to Prevent Frozen Pipes

Yellow Mushrooms in potted plant like leucocoprinus birnbaumii (lepiota lutea) are fairly common. This is also why they’re sometimes called by the common name of flowerpot parasol or plantpot dapperling. – Photo by James Niland

Earlier I’ve explained that wild mushrooms springing up are the occasional, but normal, part of indoor gardening and ultimately as they cause few issues for you or your plant, they’re a low concern problem. So in most cases your time is better spent just removing them (which I’ll cover in the next section).

However there are a few occasions when you might want to change things up to try and prevent them from growing.

Should I remove mushrooms from my plants?

Generally, the mushrooms will grow in lower light areas around the base of your houseplant. You might not even spot them initially (if at all). There is no compelling reason I can give you that would make me tell you to pull them out right now (or leave them alone).

Theoretically, this is fine to do. However, if the visible mushroom you’re pulling out has reached maturity, the spores could be formed and ready to go. So all you’ll be doing is creating a potential situation where more mushrooms could grow in the soil of your houseplants.

Pot plants can provide favorable conditions and space for mushroom growth to occur. They are usually harmless, but they can create a mess with the tiny spores they release as you can see here.

Read more : Outdoor Activities Bucket List: 75+ Fun Things to do Outside

Below are a few occasions when I’d suggest removing mushrooms from your potted plants.

Let’s Sum Up

Mushrooms grow when the right conditions of moisture, fertile potting mixes and spores exist on the soil surface. This can be at any time of the year, but Spring and Fall are most common as they like warm conditions.

They’re not generally harmful, but in certain circumstances, it’s probably worthwhile removing them, or in extreme cases trying to prevent them altogether.

They’re not directly providing a significant benefit to your houseplants, but neither are they causing a serious problem. So you can continue to let them rent out a space in the pot if you want to (or if you just can’t be bothered to remove them).

Your houseplants aren’t in trouble or suffering if mushrooms appear around your houseplants and you’re probably not doing anything wrong.

Hopefully, this fully answers why mushrooms are growing in your plants’ soil and has helped put your mind at ease. Maybe you didn’t like mushrooms at first, but… Now they’re growing on you (awful pun, I know!). Let me know in the comments (or share a better joke!).

Also on Ourhouseplants.com

Comments

Source: https://gardencourte.com
Categories: Outdoor