Pretty good answer, I can't find anything to disagree with there.

I have a huge tall container that I had to pack plastic bottles , etc at the bottom of it to fill it up before I put soil in it. Guess what kind of soil I used????? You guessed it, Miracle Grow Moisture retaining one. Now yellow mushrooms are growing and my plant is Not over watered. I hope they are correct that those mushrooms will not hurt anything...............I am going to toss out the rest of the bag in the trash. I don't even want to take a change of putting it in my yard anywhere. I think they are just covering their behinds because there has been sooooooooo many complaints about nats coming from the soil and these nasty mushrooms.......................well, now I know what that are talking negatively about!!!!!

I had gotten a big bag of miracle grow poting soil and have been growing various herbs no problem. It has been raining and quite humid in NJ recently and this morning when I was about to water my plants I noticed small white mushrooms growing from my arugula plant as well as my cilantro plant. We are morning into a new house with a garden (I live in a building now) and just starting potting three months ago so they would have been big enough to transfer to garden soil once we move. Is this going to harm my plants? Will we still be able to eat the arugula and cilantro with no problems? Will they transfer once we transfer the plants to garden soil? I have attached pictures for more reference

The mushrooms are harmless to the plants and perfectly normal. They are the fruiting bodies of fungal organisms that are digesting the organic matter in the potting soil - a completely natural and expected occurrence. Potting soils with high concentrations of organic matter - like the Miracle Gro or Hyponex products mentioned - are more inclined to generate these growths than soils with more durable ingredients and less OM, like the 5-1-1 and gritty mixes discussed in depth in the Container Gardening forum.

They can be a sign that your potting soil is staying too moist, which is the primary drawback of a heavily OM-weighted potting mix.

Both Hyponex and Miracle Gro contain peat moss, forest products (probably finely ground bark), sphagnum moss, maybe coir, but no mineral soil. They are container mixes, soilless mixes, and may contain some synthetic fertilizers as well as either perlite or vermiculite to promote drainage. Since they are made of materials that do a good job of supporting these fungal growths (mushrooms) if kept too wet that will happen. Generally that is not a problem except the desired plant may suffer root rot from that too wet mix.

kimmq is kimmsr

It's been raining so much here, today I noticed these tiny little mushrooms popping up in all my planters. Anyone know what kind they are? I've never seen any like these.

Here's another picture to show how small

Possibly Fairy's Parasol, parasola plicatilis.

https://dspace.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/handle/10214/5070

Perhaps I sound like a fungus expert, but I found this in 60 seconds using Google. Go to Google Images, type in a description - 'tiny parasol mushroom'. Scan through the images to find one that looks the same, go to the page and find its name. If you want to do more research, search for 'mushroom information'. Armed with the species, you can probably find a lot more than just its name. This works for anything from antique vases to hood ornaments. And that's how you can look like an expert in 60 seconds. :-)

Anybody have any idea what these are growing out of the soil underneath the tomato plant? They have no stem and just popped up out of no where

if you poke one does something like dust come out of it? could be a puffballs. I personally like having mushrooms in my garden and don't mind them. Others who may have small children/pets or allergies may prefer to remove them to be on the safe side.

The round balls are eggs of the Black backed Chinese Rattle Snake - the mother can't be far away. If that sounds made up ... ... it is.

By now, the 'eggs' would have opened up to reveal probably a type of stinkhorn or cage fungus - some are very attractive, others attractive and very smelly !!

Or they could be as already suggested, a type of puffball - none are harmful to you or your plants. Just think yourself as being very privileged to have these fungi growing.

By the way, the smaller white fungi are a type of short lived Ink Cap fungus but Parasola plicatilis grows on soil with grass so is not this.

Puffballs can be solid flesh inside when they first grow, then as they mature the inside turns hollow and full of dusty spores. A few are edible when you get them in the fleshy stage. (of course I have no idea what yours are so I'm not suggesting they're edible!).

Actually, I doubt very much these are puff balls, more likely to be earth balls (none are edible) or as I previously said a type of stinkhorn or cage fungus which are often smelly. I wish you could get back and let us know. I live in the UK and I'm certain we have nothing like this growing here (except as an alien introduction maybe)

Thank all of you for your suggestions. As it turns out, that was last season and we learned this summer that in Florida, we're much better off planting our veggies in the Fall instead of the Summer. So be it. Thanks again.

Yes, but what happened to those eggs though, surely they developed into a spectacular fungus which would have made a very exciting photo and possibly never recorded in your state before ? (Your natural history museum should keep all records of fungi)

I never realized some of the Stinkhorns do indeed arise from an egg-shaped ball like that. The Elegant Stinkhorn for example. I would think ssg would not have forgotten those. Quite bizarre and memorable.

I'm no expert on Florida fungi, but here in MO (a little farther north but not too far!) we have some puffballs similar to ssg's picture, such as the Giant Puffball.

I grew up with Puff Balls, but was walking our old farm acreage and found the biggest one I'd ever seen. It was about the size of a football, so not anything monstrous. Just far bigger than any I'd ever seen. It's probably still sitting on the path, unless the lawn mower went over it. I thought about bringing it in, but was dressed for work, and knew my mom didn't want a giant dust maker in her house.

Martha

Here in the UK we would have called that the Giant Puffball and football size is about average. We have smaller puffballs but these have tiny soft spikes on them and are more narrow at the bottom.

I'm confident those shown in the (now old) photo were the 'eggs' of a stinkhorn or cage fungus.

Don't buy miracle gro soil anymore. You'll probably still get Shrooms in your pots occasionally with good compost, but still...Try to buy local or organic or just NOT multinational faceless corporate junk. Just my opinion!

Probably good advice, as long as you remember you will end up with more fungi and possibly more weeds growing in the pot because there will be less nasty chemicals to kill them.

If you have fungi growing in your plant pots (those with a stem and a cap or even arising from 'eggs') ... RELAX !! It shows that the soil is 'working' and there is a good amount of organic matter present which the fungi break down and make available for the plant to feed on.

The fungi YOU DO NOT WANT are molds, rusts and smuts and you can help avoid this by not over watering or over crowding.

As for the extra weeds - keep on top of them by pulling them up as they appear, but a good compost should reach sufficient heat in the making process to kill most weed seeds.

I don't think MG potting mix is any more susceptible than any other potting mix to having fungi in it. That's because one of the prime ingredients is shredded wood and bark, to give it some coarse texture for drainage and aeration. There is another post here this week about garden soil or topsoil that sprouted masses of white material - the poster didn't get a good bag of topsoil, they got a lot of shredded wood. Furthermore I don't know of any chemicals in MG that keep fungus and weeds from growing. They add some NPK fertilizer, but...

the reason why you guys are growing mushrooms in your gardens is the ph level........... a great thing to do is add, tea from the packets into the soil. you can reuse your tea packets after your drink by opening them and adding them to the soil... it helps increase your ph soil levels. and produces healthier feeding and growth. also produces better healthy bug feedings, cause healthy bugs create healthy plants

all brands of potting soil can produce mushrooms......... just create healthy ph soil levels and they will die out, you can also buy "fruit and vegetable soil bug killer" to lower the mushroom growth, but the ph is the quickest way to kill them and prevent them from coming back

Mushroom/fungi are typically beneficial for the soil and often for the plant. I know, for example, that spruce trees won't grow well until they have a particular fungi growing in their roots. Fungi are an integral member of the soil food web. Doing harm to any member of the SFW hurts the whole community and diminishes the soil fertility.

Fungi are VERY important to most soil ecosystems and to plant health. I read a whole book on this, which I rarely do (Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets - fascinating stuff). Their growth is related to the availability of what they eat (as mentioned above, potting mix contains shredded wood for which fungi are a primary decomposer) and the right conditions of moisture and temperature. It has little to do with pH, at least, no more than the growth of any other plant.

Also, used tea bags will not increase pH one bit. If anything they are slightly acidic, which means lower pH, but I suspect a lot of that acidity is leached out into the tea, just like it is with coffee. Both are great things to add to soil or compost, don't get me wrong. I would not spend any time worrying about mushrooms in the garden (or pot, which is what this thread was about originally) or trying to treat them with anything. If they get in the way, pluck them and toss them on the ground or on the compost pile, smile and enjoy the day.

BTW what in the world is "fruit and vegetable soil bug killer" and how could something with a name like that possibly be useful for killing mushrooms? And why would you want to kill 'bugs' if you just said that healthy insect populations lead to healthy plants?

I have questions. :-D

Can I plz ask if mushrooms are growing around my fruit plants can I still eat the fruits ? X

Yes, Lisa, you can eat the fruits. Just don't eat the mushrooms. I should ask though, what type of fruit?

Keep in mind that the spores, the seeds, that become those mushrooms fly through the air, they are all around us, and when they land on some soil, whether garden soil or potting soil they can, when conditions become right, germinate and grew.

What are the right conditions? The right soil mixture, a soil with a lot of organic matter (potting soil), adequate moisture levels (mushrooms need a wetter soil than vegetables or flowers) and warmth, a soil temperature of about 70 degrees F.

If the gardener notices, mushrooms germinate and grow in the garden after a good, soaking rain on a warm and humid day.

kimmq is kimmsr

You all are awesome! How many comment sections can one read from beginning to end and stay entertained all the while being educated. Rare indeed.

I have little white shrooms unintentionally growing in a 5 gallon outdoor container with recently sprouting spinach. Happy to hear these are little helpers as opposed to being little a-holes along with the aphids, weird tiny white worms, powdery mold, squirrels, and spider mites that inflicted my newly (since August) 33 container balcony garden I planted.

I won the war with the others with the exception of an ongoing conflict with the squirrels. I've gained the upperhand in "Operation Nuts" by placing bamboo skewers pointy side up wherever I see the squirrels' landmine placements.

No "Operation Cap the Caps" necessary. I'm putting down the Art of War... good reading for another day.

Actually, overwatering can kill the mushroom fungi. That said, mushrooms tell you the soil is healthy AND they contribute to the health of the soil.

I'm surprised Miracle Grow has not responded to this. I was going to just avoid this brand of potting soil, but then I decided to look up "mushroom's effect on soil" on Bing and found this to share: (in part - an excerpt).....

Underground, below the mushrooms, are thread-like networks called hyphae. Some attach to plant roots, creating filaments that reach far into the soil, increasing the surface area of plant roots up to a thousand times. Fungal hyphae and plant roots working together are called mycorrhizae.

A thimbleful of soil can contain miles of mycorrhizal filaments. The mycorrhizal filaments of fungi also produce organic compounds that glue soils together and improve their structure and porosity to enhance root growth.

In addition, mycorrhizae in the soil have been found to suppress soil-borne pathogens and protect plants from root diseases. "It adds up to a fundamental synergistic relationship between fungi and green plants, one that has been evolving for millions of years," Dunham said. "Most plants – from orchids, rhododendrons and madrone trees to most fruit and nut trees, turf grasses, annuals and perennials – depend on some type of fungal activity."

Mycorrhizal fungi are not fertilizers, although a fungal inoculation of roots can improve a plant’s growth rate and tolerance to drought and disease. "Landscapes that have been stripped of topsoil or otherwise degraded can be improved with the addition of mycorrhizae to the soil," Dunham said. "Over-watering, over-fertilization and use of fungicides can eliminate mycorrhizae usefulness or even kill the fungi."

As more is learned about these underground powerhouses, more suppliers are providing mycorrhizae to nurseries and landscapers. Purchased mycorrhizal fungi often are mixed with other beneficial organic matter.

Despite their benefits to soil, you might want to remove mushrooms from your yard if you are worried that they could be poisonous and harmful to children or pets. Simply rake them and bury them in the compost pile. But be ready to see a new crop spring up, as they sprout new fruiting bodies in a day or so. Fungicide chemicals to get rid of mushrooms may be ineffective because the fungus mycelium may be several feet below the soil surface.

After a while, however, the mushrooms will stop sprouting, and the mass of hyphae will live unobtrusively in the soil for another year.

Link to full article from Oregon State University...http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/mushrooms-can-mean-healthy-soil

I recognized the fungi/mushrooms from the pics cws32466 and Kelly Nohe posted; these are the exact same kind I now have had growing in my potted plant(s) since just after using a miracle grow potting soil. The soil is not too wet; in fact, I have been letting in dry out to the point of nearly killing my plants, only to have these little buggers make a comeback soon as I water. I never had this problem until using this potting soil, so I am going to set these plants outside to fare for themselves rather than have spores growing all over the walls sooner or later. Now, however, I am wary of what potting soils are safe to use (?) Maybe just backyard dirt next time, LOL

Just remove the mushrooms from the potting soil if they bother you. They're just the physical evidence of the fungi that are digesting the organic matter in the potting soil - completely natural and totally harmless.

And it is not a matter of the potting soil being 'safe' or 'unsafe' - it just is what it is :-) Because MG potting soil is excessively water retentive compared to better structured, more aerated potting soils, fungal and mushroom development is extremely common.

And you do NOT want to use "backyard dirt' in any kind of container planting!! You will have a far worse situation than a few mushrooms popping up!

A few shrooms growing out of a pot is not going to turn your house into an alien landscape overrun with fungi! Good for a chuckle though.

We just moved from a black mold infested home, so you can understand (I hope) my reluctance to have anything remotely related growing inside. Glad I gave someone a chuckle though. Think I'll stick with the drier soils mixed with potting sand in future anyway.

Don't blame you at all, that's a nightmare! At least you can rest easier knowing that 99% of fungi are not harmful. That black mold is a b!tch though!

I just found these "fun guys" under my planter boxes today. I think they are cute and I get so excited when anything grows! It's nice to know my planter boxes are draining well enough to create this perfect environment! When they get a little bigger I hope to determine what kind they are.

They're cute.

@RachB, I get these (at least similar) in a few places, mostly in a spot near a large dead trunk. They don't really get any bigger in my experience, appear in large numbers, and disappear pretty quickly. Based on location and behaviour, I think they're a type that decomposes fibrous plant matter in soil. What you're seeing is just the fruiting bodies that come out when conditions are right.

Most people in here don' understand the simple science that ANY other life form living off your soil will take away nutrients from it more than it will replenish. Silly, the lifeform needs to survive somehow! It will never return the same or more than it take. This is simple physics but many in here can' even figure that out! Remove the mushrooms! Your plants will do better without then and any other lifeform sharing the soils nutrients. The bigger the lifeform, usually the more it needs to consume. Remove those lifeforms in tgeir early stage. Same with knats, sticky stix works great! Use the yellow sticky loop and use it on the spikes and plant the spike in ground so that the yellow sticky loops are right above the soil touching it. Be very careful not to touch the leaves with the sticky loops, they will damage them. Ggxbdh dvdbdb dvdbdb ffbbf fbdh vdvdev

"Most people in here don' understand the simple science that ANY other life form living off your soil will take away nutrients from it more than it will replenish."

And in that statement you have pretty much negated the theory behind composting, the entire process of decomposition and the symbiotic relationship of mycorrhizae and virtually all the larger plants on the planet. Well done!!

Garden plants are perfectly capable of decomposing dead wood too. ;-]

Nitrogen Deficiency. Finely groundwood chips are sometimes incorporated into soil with a high clay or sand content to improve the soil's organic content. When mixed into avegetable garden's soil, wood chipscan tie up nitrogen that vegetable plants need as they decompose, leading to poor growth.

logicallady, most regular posters here are well aware of that and also how to mitigate :-) However, the issue is with pottng soil, not garden soil, and the growth of mushrooms in potting soil is relatively common and an indication that fungal organisms are alive and active, digesting whatever OM that potting mix contains. And since all container culture requires regular inputs of fertilizers, there is not a big concern about N tie-up or unavailabililty.

I have the same problem. I bought 6 cubic feet of Miracle-Gro soil. I have tomato plants in it and I have these ugly white mushrooms growing up in it. I have tomatoes growing on my plant but I don't know if it's going to hurt me to eat them now or not. Can somebody give me some input? I would really appreciate it. I hate to p that soil out it's so expensive and I hate to waste my plants as well

Fungi are good for the soil and actually HELP your plants digest food - underground with all their filaments.

Me too. Miracle Grow and I just noticed little white mushrooms this morning.

This just popped up on my list, which is strangely delayed. Again, no biggie. If they bother you, pluck them out or turn them under (without disturbing a plant if present!) Otherwise, you can ignore them if you want to.

The only slight warning is that if they're indoors (at this point, likely) keep children and pets away from the mushrooms. Without positive ID, we can't tell if they're toxic or not. And if you're allergic to fungal spores (I sure am), you may not want to allow the mushrooms to remain. Most mushrooms don't bother me, however.

Thank you for your input on this. Even if it is a little late spring is coming. I love my back porch gardening so this is perfect for me. I think I'll just plug them out

Or turn them under and let them rot back in. It's all organic material. :-)