Just been pulling out some roots of 'Geranium' (Hawkesbill) The ground
is infested with a white powdery substance like the white you get when
you use Mushroom Compost. Can anyone tell me what is is and is it
harmful? The area was very dry.

Bookworm wrote:
Just been pulling out some roots of 'Geranium' (Hawkesbill) The ground
is infested with a white powdery substance like the white you get when
you use Mushroom Compost. Can anyone tell me what is is and is it
harmful? The area was very dry.
I'd be interested in the answer to this too.
I came across a lot when preparing some ground for cultivation that was
also quite dry but had only(!)weeds on it for a couple of years.
It will be used for currant bushes various due for delivery this month
so I would like to avoid any potential problems.

Bob

Bookworm wrote:
Just been pulling out some roots of 'Geranium' (Hawkesbill) The ground
is infested with a white powdery substance like the white you get when
you use Mushroom Compost. Can anyone tell me what is is and is it
harmful? The area was very dry.

If it was very dry and did not smell of mushrooms then I would hazard a
guess that it was root mealy bug. I have seen it increasingly in the
garden during hot dry summers. And it is endemic in the greenhouse.
Apply meths to a white nodule and you will see the mealy bug hiding
inside its waxy cotton coat.

It isn't the ground infested it is the roots of plants from garden
centres. It doesn't seem to harm vigorous plants at all.

There is also a chalky white fungus mushroom smelling that ants seem to
cultivate in dry patches of ground. If so you get mycelial threads as
well as white nodules.

Regards,
Martin Brown

"Martin Brown" wrote
Bookworm wrote:
Just been pulling out some roots of 'Geranium' (Hawkesbill) The ground
is infested with a white powdery substance like the white you get when
you use Mushroom Compost. Can anyone tell me what is is and is it
harmful? The area was very dry.

((Snip))
There is also a chalky white fungus mushroom smelling that ants seem to
cultivate in dry patches of ground. If so you get mycelial threads as well
as white nodules.

And that is very difficult to wet IME, water seems to just run off/away and
the white powdery ground stays perfectly dry, washing up liquid in the water
does help but it is still difficult.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London