Fungus in the Soil
I just got a monstera offshoot gifted but the soil has fungi. What should I do? Also, can it harm the other plants? #Monstera fungusamongus">#fungusamongus
4
To give it the best chance, take it out of the pot, clean and rinse the roots off with water until there’s virtually no dirt left on them. Spray the roots and leaves with a fungicide of choice, I use neem oil and true cinnamon. Then repot in a well draining pot with a fresh chunky soil mix. You can even mix some true cinnamon into the soil or put it on the roots before repotting.
Agree with the recommendation to remove it from the soil, the wilting is a bad sign and the 🍄🟫🍄🟫🍄🟫🍄🟫🍄🟫 in the soil tell you that not only is it too wet but it has been that way for way too long. I would discourage applying neem or cinnamon to the roots, the whole cause of rot is O2 deprivation so adding a smothering layer of irritating oil or cinnamon (which is extremely drying and will irritate delicate roots) runs a high risk of irreparably damaging the already sick/stressed roots and killing the plant. IMO neem has no business coming into contact with epiphytic plants, and the only thing I use cinnamon for is to seal up leaf cuts since it’s so drying (I would not try using it on roots though). I would give it a dip in diluted H2O2 before attempting either of those on roots… and given how caustic and irritating that is I would not try that either unless I was 99% sure of impending black death and simply looking to experiment.
The mushrooms themselves shouldn’t be harmful, but the level of moisture required to have fostered their growth *is*. If you replace the potting medium they will likely recur because… spores (in your pot/home/bonded to the plant)… and it’s clearly nutrient rich since those mushrooms like it so much… so you can just toss the shrooms and gently empty the pot out onto a potting mat or large heavy-duty trash bag.
Use a rooting hook or fork to gently break up the soil around the plant and check for root rot (give the roots a rinse to better assess them). Sterilize sharp scissors or a knife with isopropyl alcohol and cut away anything that is pure black (get rid of anything black/stinky/dark and mushy but don’t cut more green than you have to, and use the sharpest thing you can so the tissue is being sliced cleanly instead of cut by crushing trauma). Let any cut edges air out a bit so the plant can start callousing them over. Spread the soil out to help it air out some moisture (you can prob rest the plant roots on top of the soil and just sprinkle a little bit of the dryer dirt over non-cut parts, or keep the plant off to the side covering non-cut parts with a damp paper towel). Once the cut edges have calloused up a bit, you could try bringing the plant in your bathroom, putting it just outside the shower (somewhere it won’t get wet), and run a super hot shower for 5 mins or so and close the door to trap steam (or take a lengthy hot shower yourself) — the idea is to keep it in an environment with a lot of steam for long enough that it might open its stomata and absorb some moisture from the air that it hasn’t been able to get through its sick roots.
That medium looks really dense, so I would go out at that point and pick up something to mix in for aeration like pumice or perlite (consider also getting a smaller pot, the root ball on your cutting will be so small that it’s easier to overwater it in a pot that size since there is so much soil and so little root ball for one plant). Mix pumice/perlite to be about 30% of the mix and use that to repot your plant once the mix no longer feels wet. If you want to speed the drying process, throw a bunch of the potting soil on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake it at 350 for a while, this should also help kill bacteria that flourished in the rot; when you take it out of the oven fluff it up with a fork until it’s room temp / touchable (if it’s too hot for you, it’s definitely too hot for your plant).
Once repotted, monitor it closely and water sparingly. Ideally it should start to perk up with the rot gone, more aeration, and a hydration boost from steam/humidity (while it’s recovering, you may want to move it to the bathroom before any time someone has to take a shower so the steam bath can help boost its hydration until its roots recover).
In the future, ensure the soil has totally dried out before watering… if the plant is healthy you can usually also tell it’s time to check if the soil is dry because the plant’s turgor pressure drops and it starts to droop slightly.
The mushrooms themselves shouldn’t be harmful, but the level of moisture required to have fostered their growth *is*. If you replace the potting medium they will likely recur because… spores (in your pot/home/bonded to the plant)… and it’s clearly nutrient rich since those mushrooms like it so much… so you can just toss the shrooms and gently empty the pot out onto a potting mat or large heavy-duty trash bag.
Use a rooting hook or fork to gently break up the soil around the plant and check for root rot (give the roots a rinse to better assess them). Sterilize sharp scissors or a knife with isopropyl alcohol and cut away anything that is pure black (get rid of anything black/stinky/dark and mushy but don’t cut more green than you have to, and use the sharpest thing you can so the tissue is being sliced cleanly instead of cut by crushing trauma). Let any cut edges air out a bit so the plant can start callousing them over. Spread the soil out to help it air out some moisture (you can prob rest the plant roots on top of the soil and just sprinkle a little bit of the dryer dirt over non-cut parts, or keep the plant off to the side covering non-cut parts with a damp paper towel). Once the cut edges have calloused up a bit, you could try bringing the plant in your bathroom, putting it just outside the shower (somewhere it won’t get wet), and run a super hot shower for 5 mins or so and close the door to trap steam (or take a lengthy hot shower yourself) — the idea is to keep it in an environment with a lot of steam for long enough that it might open its stomata and absorb some moisture from the air that it hasn’t been able to get through its sick roots.
That medium looks really dense, so I would go out at that point and pick up something to mix in for aeration like pumice or perlite (consider also getting a smaller pot, the root ball on your cutting will be so small that it’s easier to overwater it in a pot that size since there is so much soil and so little root ball for one plant). Mix pumice/perlite to be about 30% of the mix and use that to repot your plant once the mix no longer feels wet. If you want to speed the drying process, throw a bunch of the potting soil on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake it at 350 for a while, this should also help kill bacteria that flourished in the rot; when you take it out of the oven fluff it up with a fork until it’s room temp / touchable (if it’s too hot for you, it’s definitely too hot for your plant).
Once repotted, monitor it closely and water sparingly. Ideally it should start to perk up with the rot gone, more aeration, and a hydration boost from steam/humidity (while it’s recovering, you may want to move it to the bathroom before any time someone has to take a shower so the steam bath can help boost its hydration until its roots recover).
In the future, ensure the soil has totally dried out before watering… if the plant is healthy you can usually also tell it’s time to check if the soil is dry because the plant’s turgor pressure drops and it starts to droop slightly.
Your plants are so beautiful. You’re so good at taking care of them.