Soil Fungus.

Discussion in 'Garden Pest Management and Identification' started by conor c, Mar 6, 2006.

  1. conor c

    conor c Member

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    I believe i have some sort of soft gray fuzz growing inside a low bowl planter about 24" in diameter that has mostly sedums and graptopetalums placed next to a west facing bay window. the soil is moist, i stopped watering it about 3 days ago. could improper drainage be a culprit? help!
     
  2. oscar

    oscar Active Member

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    it does sound like an over watering problem........have they been in the bowl a long time?, it could be the compost the plants are in, if its a fine grade peat based compost, its probably time to repot/change the compost.
     
  3. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Low planters need more careful watering than tall pots. Normally there is a perched water table because draining water backs up when it encounters the bottom of the container, doesn't drain out until saturation (field capacity) is reached. This tends to result in the potting medium in the bottom half of the container being on the damp side when regularly watered plants are being grown. Plants with fine roots demanding a large amount of aeration in the rooting medium, such as rhododendrons may be found to have not rooted into the bottom half of the soil column when being knocked out of pots for planting in the ground. More than a few times I have had an entire half of completely unoccupied medium drop out of a pot when unpotting.
     
  4. conor c

    conor c Member

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    thanks, this helps a lot. I think I am going to have to repot them with different strata in the same pat.
     
  5. growest

    growest Active Member 10 Years

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    Hi conor--yes the deeper column of potting mix will reduce the drainage problem.

    Just one point, putting a layer of coarse material under the "regular" mix doesn't really help, tho lots of books and people have recommended this over the years. To avoid the "perched water table" Ron mentions, the water has to be able to travel down thru similar soil unimpeded...so just plant the succulents in a deeper container, but with an overall quite coarse medium, this will drain the best...
     

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