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peace66

Yellow fungus on my peace lily

peace66
10 years ago

Hello everyone,

I'm fairly new to this forum - hope someone can answer my query. I got a peace lily houseplant for my living room (I keep it by the window) about a year ago. It was thriving pretty well, sprouting a new leaf every month, until 2 months ago when I started noticing yellow colored fungus in the soil of the pot, which I have been cutting out as they grow.

Yesterday, I noticed a new kind of fungus from the bottom of the pot (from the drain holes). I also noticed that the leaves are drooping in a very inorderly fashion(unlike when they droop when it's thirsty).

Does this mean that my peace lily is a goner? Have anyone of you noticed this in your plants?

I'm in Seattle, and I water my plant only when it goes droopy.

Please see the attached pics.

Comments (6)

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    10 years ago

    Not certain that the fungus is a dangerous sort(but honestly I'm not really sure),but if it were me,..to be on the safe side,..I'd take it out and wash off all the old soil and pot it over again in fresh mix.

    Others will comment shortly. :)

    This post was edited by asleep_in_the_garden on Sat, Jun 29, 13 at 8:13

  • pelargonium_gw
    10 years ago

    This looks funny, lol! To be serious however, I will advice you to give the plant new soil, and see what happens. It seems like your watering scedule is fine, sometimes too heavy watering can encourage fungus to grow. But you water when the plant is droopy, that doesn't seem to be too much. Maybe the pot is overcrowded, and the plant needs to be split up and repotted in two or more pots? I wish you luck!

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    10 years ago

    Peace, it would be very helpful if you would let us see the whole plant and also the potting mix.

    Is it drooping all of the time? Are the leaves a healthy color?

    There have been many discussions in this forum about yellow mushrooqms in potting mix...it's very common and not usually indicative of a problem, at least for a while. The fungal body will continue to work and grow, feeding on and breaking down the substance of your potting medium. That's certainly not good in the long run.

  • peace66
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hey everyone,

    Thanks a lot for your suggestions! After I posted my query on this forum, I cut out the fungus, watered the peace lily and woke up next morning to find it all back to life,lol! I'm attaching a new picture of the plant which I just took.

    Rhizo - I think your questions will be answered if you take a look at the picture of my plant. As for the potting mix, I use Miracle gro. Also, what do you mean regarding the outcome of this in the long run? Why does this fungus grow anyway? Is it something to do with humidity. We have had a very humid summer this year.

    Pelargonium - I certainly don't think it's overcrowded since I repotted it a few months ago into a bigger pot.

    Asleep - don't you think that the new potting mix will have more food for the fungus to thrive? Also, I have very recently repotted it.

    Thanks!

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    10 years ago

    The mushrooms come from the potting soil. They are somewhat ubiquitous to peat based media. MiracleGro is primarily composed of rather finely processed peat moss, just exactly what this mushroom likes.

    I'd like to ask you about your watering habits. When it's time to water, do you really drench the whole soil volume? The reason I ask is because peat heavy mixes can become hydrophobic, developing dry pockets that are very difficult to re-wet. In my opinion, that makes MiracleGro a challenge to work with.

    Spaths are sensitive. They like to have moisture at the roots, but will develop root/crown rot very quickly if overly saturated. A porous, fast draining potting medium allows us to water frequently and freely with very little fear of root rot.

    Since this fungus feeds on the organic content (peat), it (the peat) will slowly decompose into smaller and smaller particles. Before too long, the roots won't be able access oxygen at all.

    You should know that those little mushrooms are merely the temporary fruiting bodies of the real fungus....a network of threadlike hyphae and mycellium that grow and feed in the potting medium 24/7. Removing the mushrooms means nothing in the life of the fungus.....much like picking a flower doesn't hurt a plant. That's what I mean about the long run.

  • peace66
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hi Rhizo,

    Thanks for following up. As for my watering habits - I wait for my plant to tell me if its thirsty - once the leaves droop, I water it until it starts draining from the drain holes. I also make sure to water it from all the sides of the pot. So I guess I do drench the whole of the pot soil.

    So what do you suggest I do with this situation? Should I re-pot it with a new potting soil this time? What kind of a pot do you think works best for drainage - one with holes at the bottom or the sides?

    P.S - this mushroom drama never happened when the drain holes were at the sides, i.e. in the previous pot. It only started when I repotted it and replaced the pot with a bigger one, albeit this time with drain holes at the bottom.

    Thanks!