Why Are There Fungus Balls In The Soil? (How To Get Rid Of Them?)

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While on your garden, lawn, or farm, be observant to see any impurities. This will help you counteract the issue fast before it starts destroying your plants, flowers, or grass clippings. Depending on the season, your environment may easily be destroyed by fungus, molds, puffballs, or other impurities.

It is your responsibility to make sure they don’t spread all over and ruin your compound. Fungus balls are also known as puffballs or earth balls. They usually appear as rounded cream-colored balls.

If you don’t take care, they can even grow to the size of a tennis ball if you neglect your environment.

Why Are There Fungus Balls In The Soil?

1. Decaying Organic Matter

If there is vast decaying organic matter in your compound, this will bore fruit to fungus balls. They tend to live there and hide in the roots of nearby trees and shrubs. Hence, they can spread quickly in a particular area if you don’t use a curbing mechanism.

Therefore, you need to be careful to reduce any losses that may occur.

What To Do?

You always need to clean your compound or monitor it for any impurities. It may not seem essential, but you will be putting your soil at risk. Thus, ensure you clean any decaying organic matter that may be harmful to your farm, garden, flowerbed, or yard.

2. Season

Depending on the kind of fungus causing the issue and the regional climate, fungus balls in soil may be more prevalent during particular seasons. For instance, they might be more prevalent in the spring and summer when soil moisture levels are high in places with a lot of rainfall and humidity.

The fall and winter months, when soil moisture levels are low, maybe when fungus balls are more prevalent in areas with dry and hot weather. Consequently, in some countries, you may find them on your lawns in late summer. Thus, whenever it is a new season, you may find that they don’t thrive well.

It’s your responsibility always to be observant when your plants are growing.

What To Do?

If you note a trend, always be careful to mitigate the issue before it exceeds. Regardless of the season, the best way to prevent fungus balls from forming in your soil is to improve soil drainage, reduce watering frequency, and maintain proper soil pH levels.

There is no sure way of getting rid of fungus balls, but you can gradually remove them by hand or by use of a farming tool. If you decide to use your hand, ensure you wash your hands thoroughly, and disinfect the tools used.

If fungus balls do develop, removing the affected soil, using fungicides, or introducing beneficial microorganisms can help to get rid of them.

3. Immature Fruiting Bodies Of Stinkhorn

While digging out your farm produce, you may come across some fungus balls that can quickly destroy your soil. They tend to live in dead organic matter and mulched areas. They normally start as egg-like and then escalate to a golf ball size structure.

Thus it is easy to note them while on the soil. If you don’t take care, the fungus develops typically, and a stalk grows upwards. This type tends to attract flies and other harmful insects.

What To Do?

You need to dig the stinkhorn fungus balls before they spread or even develop a stalk. This will help reduce the chances of it being harmful to the soil and environment. However, the advantage of this is that they are not harmful, and they tend to wither out with time.

However, to reduce competition, it is better to dig them out earlier.

4. Conditions Of Indoor Plants

Suppose you note fungus balls in your indoor plant soil. The indoor conditions might have caused it. This may be caused by the compost that you are using to enrich your indoor plants with nutrients. That’s why it is recommended that you don’t just add any additives to the houseplant soil without proper monitoring.

This will help prevent any harmful substances from getting into the soil.

What To Do?

If this happens, you need to use different compost materials to prevent any further spread on your soil. Also, you can decide to eradicate the fungus by scraping off the loose soil as much as possible. Ensure you also remove the roots of the fungus to prevent them from growing again.

5. Using Non-composted Grass Clipping

The introduction of non-composted grass clipping as mulch can lead to the formation of fungus balls. In such a state, it may not be appropriate for plants, and this is what leads to the formation of the puffballs. They may either be fungus balls or slime molds.

The lay eggs are usually the spore carrying fruiting bodies and come in different shapes. Equally, they also develop on drier areas of the soil to create fruiting bodies.

What To Do?

Monitor your soil well to know whether they are harmful fungus balls or slime molds. This will help you understand the best preventive and eradication measure to take. You can either decide to dig them out or change the soil there.

However, always be careful when adding mulch to any of your plants, because they may be carrying the fungus balls.

6. Existence In Houseplants

You may find that your houseplants have started developing white fungus in patches in the soil. Since some plants are more prone to fungal infections than others, the type of plants in the area can also have an impact on how quickly fungus balls growth in soil.

For instance, fungus infections may be more common in plants with dense canopies or near the surface roots compared to those with deeper roots and more open canopies. If you note this, ensure you don’t transplant such a plant to your yard, garden, lawn, or farm.

This will easily lead to the spread of the fungus balls in other areas. You may find that the fungus grows and fills the entire plant and is water-repellent.

This can easily lead to the withering of your plant. If you don’t take care, the fungus can easily spread to other nearby houseplants. Hence, you need to be careful about it.

What To Do?

If you find the fungus balls in one of the houseplants, you need to remove it and isolate it to prevent spread. Also, monitor all the other houseplants to see if they are infested. It is vital that whenever you remove the top loose soil, make sure you dispose of it well and don’t just throw the soil outside because it can affect other plants.

Make sure you dispose of all the greatly affected plants in the best way possible.

Conclusion

Fungus balls are dangerous, so don’t tempt your dog or cat to feed on them. Take the relevant measures to get rid of them rather than leaving them there to destroy your soil and reduce your productivity. Ensure you dig out the fungal balls before they release the black powder.

If they come out, it can easily lead to more spread. Also, you need to be carrying out regular crop rotation for the benefit of your plants.

Furthermore, always be keen to clean up all garden debris after each end of the season.

Lastly, if possible, plant varieties that are resistant to many soil-borne diseases.

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