canoeguide
Chumono
This Pieris japonica survived the mild winter just fine mulched in with shredded oak leaves, but it and several other plants have this white fungus-looking stuff on the trunks. Thoughts?
What's this white stuff on the trunk?
- Thread starter canoeguide
- Start date
This Pieris japonica survived the mild winter just fine mulched in with shredded oak leaves, but it and several other plants have this white fungus-looking stuff on the trunks. Thoughts?
Warpig
Chumono
Hard water build-up from where the mulch line was?
canoeguide
Chumono
No, these only got whatever snow and rain that fell on them. It is around where the top of the mulch was though.
Forsoothe!
Imperial Masterpiece
That makes it a fungus. Play your cards right and you could have some fruiting bodies later.
Warpig
Chumono
I try not to have the mulch go above the soil line much if at all. It not about blocking the cold air from above as much as it's about increasing the surface area to the ground (heat sink).
Forsoothe!
Imperial Masterpiece
I wouldn't worry about it. There are billions of fungi that are resident in organic materials and most are beneficial. They are part of the chain of life that uses dead or shed matter for its own purposes and conveys it to the next user. The microbes will consume the mushrooms when they pass. Plants can't use the dead bodies of their brethren unless and until it is processed by fungi, then microbes and other lifeforms too numerous for me to name or know.
The fungi is not harmful by itself, but it is a sign that the environment at the base of that trunk was in a consistently moist condition in winter. Consistently moist is not necessarily too wet, depending upon species. Fungi need approximately the same conditions to live that "plants" do. Not too wet, not too dry. I would be happy to see in in my mulch. I use shredded mixed oak, maple, elm, et al leaves, too.
The fungi is not harmful by itself, but it is a sign that the environment at the base of that trunk was in a consistently moist condition in winter. Consistently moist is not necessarily too wet, depending upon species. Fungi need approximately the same conditions to live that "plants" do. Not too wet, not too dry. I would be happy to see in in my mulch. I use shredded mixed oak, maple, elm, et al leaves, too.
canoeguide
Chumono
Thanks for the reply. It looks a bit like shredded wet paper (or, what kids used to call a spitball) smeared on the trunks. If you go into the woods and kick or rake up some fallen decomposing leaves, I've definitely seen similar fungus there. All of my plants are back out in the sun with good airflow (and some are going in the ground for a few years), which I hope resolves the issue!
Forsoothe!
Imperial Masterpiece
Let me add that fungi do not flourish in compacted anything, not soil and not compacted leaves. They are almost always found in rich, moist but not waterlogged, well-aerated substrates, the description of a good place for plants. "Roots are colonized by fungi, bacteria and archaea. Because they are multicellular, fungi can extend hyphae from nutrient exchange organs within host cells into the surrounding rhizosphere and bulk soil. ... In some ecosystems, up to 80% of plant nitrogen and 90% of plant phosphorus is acquired by mycorrhizal fungi." (Wikimedia)
