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In this post I mentioned that the soil in my schefflera plant's pot had been host to some yellowish fungus, but I somehow managed to misidentify some discolored perlite as the fungus in question.

However, I rediscovered the fungus yesterday; here a small growth can be seen about an inch in front of the base of the schefflera: schefflera soil fungus And here is a closeup of the same: schefflera soil fungus closeup

Then, when I was watering my philodendron, I discovered what appears to me to be a very similar, fuzzy yellow fungus on the surface of its soil as well: philodendron soil fungus 1 And: philodendron soil fungus 2

It doesn't really look quite like the dog vomit slime mold discussed here.

I removed the schefflera soil's strange cylindrical growth with a toothpick easily enough; but is this fungus something about which I should be concerned, or will simply scraping it off whenever it appears keep the problem at bay? Should I repot the schefflera and philodendron in new soil? Water less often? Or is it beneficial, and OK to leave as is?

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Colin Eagle
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2 Answers2

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Fungus are decay agents and can find a home where there is food (organic matter) and enough moisture to start. They will not cause any harm to the plant.

Solutions:

  • leave them be
  • or take a trowel or similar tool and stir up the top inch or two of soil

Generally speaking fungus and mould will not continue to do well in a pot where proper watering practices are followed: water thoroughly and let at least the top inch or two of soil dry out.

kevinskio
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Additional to the (good) answer you've already been given, you might be interested to read the link below - yellow mushrooms occurring in houseplant soil are not uncommon, and I'd suggest the yellow cylindrical object you removed was, in fact, a burgeoning, not quite developed mushroom similar to those shown in the link

http://houseplantscare.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/yellow-houseplant-mushroom.html

Bamboo
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