FlowerGirl wrote:
"Cynthia" wrote in message
...

When transplanting some pot plants I've noticed that there is a fluffy

white

fungus type of material on the decomposing matter in the soil. The plants
themselves haven't been very healthy and I wondered if the white stuff was
in some way responsible for the poor health and very limited growth of the
plant?

I've put the old soil to one side in the hope that I will be able to reuse
it come next spring. I guess I am hoping that the fungus will die off as

it

has no moisture now.

Does anyone know what this might be and if it's a problem, how to remedy

it?

It could be any number of things ... but healthy soils contain fungi and it
can be beneficial as well so unless the plants were showing signs of fungal
attack maybe not??

Also on a side note .... beware white fungi - I learnt the hard way that
sometimes what looks like fungi on first glance is actually Funnel Web web.
(But that was this Qlder on a uni field trip to NSW and having to take
detritious samples and not knowing much about arachnids at the time
Amanda





If the material was mushroom compost its quite likely leftover mushroom
spores.
It could also be too alkaline?
That causes deficiencies in the soil and could cause the symptoms you
write of....
Also there could have been too much artificial (liquid) fertiliser
added, which shows up as salts on the surface mainly.
Plunging the pots into water can remove some the excess. And is also a
quick way of reviving dried out plants....
A soil test kit for testing alkaline or acidity would be part of the
answer. Otherwise repotting the plants in known quality mix would solve
the problem, usually.
If theyre annuals I would get the good stuff in future...