Hello,

I have a gardenia plant indoors. It's about a year and a half old.
It started to get yellow leaves so I repotted with fresh potting soil
it into a larger terracotta pot.(I think my husband was overwatering
it). Now the leaves are drooping but are green. i went to take a
look today and noticed several very large round spherical eggs in the
soil!!! I don't think they're soil gnats or anything because each egg
is almost as big as a pencil eraser and whiteish yellow! My husband
popped one with a pen and it was semi hard and filled with liquid. We
don't know what to do and can't figure out what these things are!
Thank you very very much for your help!

Where do you live? Gardenias need an acid soil and acid fertilizer. Here in
SC you throw them in the soil with a little acid fertilizer and you've got a
bush. More than likely, the "eggs" are Osmocote or some other time-release
fertilizer, that swells with water and releases ferilizer with each watering
over a period of months depending on the manufacturer. These capsules will
provide your plant with the fertilizer it needs to stay healthy and should
be left in place. You might need to acidify the soil. A simple pH test would
tell you.
Gary

"Jen" wrote in message
m...
Hello,

I have a gardenia plant indoors. It's about a year and a half old.
It started to get yellow leaves so I repotted with fresh potting soil
it into a larger terracotta pot.(I think my husband was overwatering
it). Now the leaves are drooping but are green. i went to take a
look today and noticed several very large round spherical eggs in the
soil!!! I don't think they're soil gnats or anything because each egg
is almost as big as a pencil eraser and whiteish yellow! My husband
popped one with a pen and it was semi hard and filled with liquid. We
don't know what to do and can't figure out what these things are!
Thank you very very much for your help!

I have a gardenia plant indoors. It's about a year and a half old.
It started to get yellow leaves so I repotted with fresh potting soil
it into a larger terracotta pot.(I think my husband was overwatering
it). Now the leaves are drooping but are green. i went to take a
look today and noticed several very large round spherical eggs in the
soil!!! I don't think they're soil gnats or anything because each egg
is almost as big as a pencil eraser and whiteish yellow! My husband
popped one with a pen and it was semi hard and filled with liquid. We
don't know what to do and can't figure out what these things are!

I doubt that they are "eggs", potting soil is usually sterile, but rather
something added to the soil such as perlite, to help hold water for the plant.
sed5555

Slow release fertilizer capsules? Any chance you can send a picture?

Those are fertilizer prills which slowly release nutrients into the otherwise
bland potting mix.


On 8 May 2004 15:50:13 -0700, (Jen) opined:

Hello,

I have a gardenia plant indoors. It's about a year and a half old.
It started to get yellow leaves so I repotted with fresh potting soil
it into a larger terracotta pot.(I think my husband was overwatering
it). Now the leaves are drooping but are green. i went to take a
look today and noticed several very large round spherical eggs in the
soil!!! I don't think they're soil gnats or anything because each egg
is almost as big as a pencil eraser and whiteish yellow! My husband
popped one with a pen and it was semi hard and filled with liquid. We
don't know what to do and can't figure out what these things are!
Thank you very very much for your help!

escapee in
:

Those are fertilizer prills which slowly release nutrients into the
otherwise bland potting mix.


almost size of eraser? do prills come that large?

I thought it was a typo for pill, but apparently not. I gather from the
internet that a prill is a spherical pellet of fertilizer, sulfur, whatever.
Original meaning, the button of metal from an assay.

" wrote in message
...
escapee in
:

Those are fertilizer prills which slowly release nutrients into the
otherwise bland potting mix.


almost size of eraser? do prills come that large?