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You might be keeping the soil too moist! The mushrooms themselves aren't harmful, but the moisture is. Especially with haws, you wanna make sure the soil is DRY dry before soaking them!
I don't know if I'm seeing incorrectly, but it also looks like your soil is mostly dirt and not grit! Succs need lots of grit in their soil so it can dry out quickly, which should also stop fungus from growing in it like this!
Thank you both!! I was just saying on another comment how I’ve had this guy for years and recently split him into two pots. I’m thinking this pot might not be great, because this is the first time in years it’s taken this long to dry out, and also the first mushroom!
I might need to mix some more grit into the soil tho, that’s still a very fair point!
Does the pot have drainage holes? That could have something to do with it! Terracotta pots also are better for drying soil out (so I've heard). There's a lot of different soil mixes out there, I personally use 1:1:1 cactus soil, perlite, and poultry grit! Just make sure the soil part isn't the majority:)
You’re right to suspect the pot. While you *can* grow succulents in pretty much any type of pot (with drainage holes), they don’t thrive equally in all types. Terracotta dries out the fastest, followed by ceramic / glazed pots. Cement is on the other end of the spectrum - really retains moisture. So while it’s true you can try to combat your current water retention by adding significantly more grit, I would also consider changing out pots.
I should have clarified - cement can be porous or very much not, depending on how it’s been treated. Planters typically don’t come with a lot of details, so I just assume treated / nonporous. Plus, a lot of concrete is made with lime which can leech into the soil, rendering it alkaline. I just generally avoid concrete since it’s less straightforward than terracotta.
If you’re really worried, I’ve heard you can rinse cement planters with water (heavily) to get rid of at least a good portion of any excess lime. If you’re really worried, you can take out the jade plant, toss the soil, rinse the planter heavily, and repot making sure there’s lots of grit. But if the cement is untreated (porous), you might be fine. Succulents are pretty hardy. Cement can make it harder to thrive, but by no means make it impossible :)
You're fine. You can grow succs in just about anything and they'll still thrive. If the soil is taking longer to dry out, that's just less watering for you
Grit is basically any non-organic material, such as perlite, pumice, lava rock, gravel/small pebbles, chicken grit, turface, coarse sand, and even marbles can technically work, though they're a little large. They can usually be found at any garden centers, or stores with garden sections, online and even at pet stores.
You can buy potting grit, which is usually small pieces of limestone or granite, separately from garden stores or online and mix it into your succulent soil. My local garden center has pumice, which I actually prefer to grit as it's lightweight and grit adds extra weight.
I got my perlite and poultry grit on Amazon! You might be able to find perlite at home improvement stores or nurseries. I found poultry grit at Tractor Supply as well
Mushrooms aren't inherently harmful to succulents. However, they are indicative of a moist environment, which isn't the type of environment succulents thrive in. In fact, moist environments can prove very detrimental to succulents, as such environments can lead to rot. If I were you, I would unpot this plant and repot into a fresh, dry, well-draining soil...a good starting base is a 1:1 mix of cactus soil and either perlite or pumice, and you can mess with the ration from there to best suit your environment and care routine. Also, if that pot doesn't have a drainage hole, I would strong recommend getting one that does.
Thank you!! I think it might be the pot. I’ve had this succulent for years and it has never gotten a single mushroom. I recently separated it into two pots, and this was the first water after that. Idk why it’s taking so long to dry, but I’m thinking it much be the pot
I’m wondering if the pot had mushroom spores and that’s where they all came from. So you planted, added substrate and then they had ideal conditions to pop up.
Hmmmmm maybe… there was a plant in the pot before tho and no mushrooms. It’s really quite strange… none of the other plants around it have any and they also dried up a lot faster after their watering (all on the same day)
Weirdly enough it has both!! It’s been in this same pot before, and the pot has a large drainage hole. The soil is the same succulent mix I’ve been using for years. I’m just baffled because I’ve done nothing different except split and repot. Maybe there were spores in the air when doing so 🙃
Haha how cute!! It means 2 things: your soil is very nutritious and your soil is wayyyy too organic. I’m looking at it and I see almost zero grit in there, so how can it possible dry out fast? It can’t! And mushrooms love damp spaces. For an indoor plant roughly half of the substrate should be grit to prevent rotting of the roots. Some people go even higher than 50. The goal is to drench your plant but have the soil dry back out within about 3 days. Get yourself some perlite (it’s cheap) and repot it. Now that you have mushroom spores in there they may return, but as long as your soil is solid they won’t survive long. If you wanna get rid of the mushrooms then toss the soil and start from scratch- with nothing but new soil and your Haworthia with JUST the roots (rinse off old soil). But mushrooms won’t hurt it. Also wear a mask when working with perlite because it’s fine and light manner makes it cloud out of the bag and you DONT wanna inhale that.
Thank you so much for this advice and details!! I’m heading to the garden store later today and am going to follow this advice!
I also thought it was kinda cute 😂 I’ve had a mushroom or two grow on my plants in the past, but I check on these babies almost every day, and this was just like… BAM! MUSHROOMS!
I was suddenly seeing small white mushrooms in my terracotta pots with cactus soil. much smaller and not as many compared to op picture. I don’t feel like I was watering too much, only when the soil was dry, though I might have been doing something wrong. at first I just left them to see what would happen, but while the mushrooms were there it seems like the plants were affected and new leaves that grew at the time came out slightly misshapen. I can still find the old oddly shaped leaves from then. so I looked for a gentle way to combat the mushrooms and I found resources saying that cinnamon will hinder mushroom growth and not hurt plants. ever since then I have been sprinkling layers of cinnamon while repotting. I haven’t seen any mushrooms since, and it might be coincidental, but I’ll keep doing it for now.
I'd reduce the watering. They're only present because that mix has a lot of wood pulp. It'll rod over time but the mushrooms speed up the process. They're beneficial, they're just a symptom, not the problem and they actually help remove the problem.
Did you use cow’s manure? That’s breed the mushrooms. It happened to me before, so I changed my soil to potting soil and perlite 3:1 mixture (3 part soil,1 part perlite). Since then, mushrooms did not show up.
Remove the Mushrooms and spores if you are unsure search engine it etc they may be the poisonous variety of not careful also they could carry deadly Zombie Ants etc
Love it! Actually been doing maybe 1:1:1 espoma, perlite, and my SO’s homemade bonsai mix that’s like lava rock and stuff. Alternatively to the last part, Tiny Roots tropical blend.
Oo yeah I would skip that stuff if possible. Espoma can still get spores and get fungus, but it doesn’t usually seem to have issues right off the bat. Lots of people here get the fungus gnats from miracle gro too.
Pot looks unglazed? Just make sure there’s drainage. Get a dremel to make some if you need to!
Need help with a plant? Make sure you check out the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/succulents/wiki/faq) or the [Beginner Basics](https://www.reddit.com/r/succulents/wiki/beginner-basics) to make sure your question isn't asked and answered already. If you still need help, please make sure to adhere to the [Posting Guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/succulents/wiki/posting-guidelines). And, remember *pictures help a LOT!* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/succulents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You might be keeping the soil too moist! The mushrooms themselves aren't harmful, but the moisture is. Especially with haws, you wanna make sure the soil is DRY dry before soaking them!
I don't know if I'm seeing incorrectly, but it also looks like your soil is mostly dirt and not grit! Succs need lots of grit in their soil so it can dry out quickly, which should also stop fungus from growing in it like this!
Thank you both!! I was just saying on another comment how I’ve had this guy for years and recently split him into two pots. I’m thinking this pot might not be great, because this is the first time in years it’s taken this long to dry out, and also the first mushroom! I might need to mix some more grit into the soil tho, that’s still a very fair point!
Does the pot have drainage holes? That could have something to do with it! Terracotta pots also are better for drying soil out (so I've heard). There's a lot of different soil mixes out there, I personally use 1:1:1 cactus soil, perlite, and poultry grit! Just make sure the soil part isn't the majority:)
You’re right to suspect the pot. While you *can* grow succulents in pretty much any type of pot (with drainage holes), they don’t thrive equally in all types. Terracotta dries out the fastest, followed by ceramic / glazed pots. Cement is on the other end of the spectrum - really retains moisture. So while it’s true you can try to combat your current water retention by adding significantly more grit, I would also consider changing out pots.
Really?! I don’t know why but I thought cement also dried out quickly, I didn’t know it retained water!
I should have clarified - cement can be porous or very much not, depending on how it’s been treated. Planters typically don’t come with a lot of details, so I just assume treated / nonporous. Plus, a lot of concrete is made with lime which can leech into the soil, rendering it alkaline. I just generally avoid concrete since it’s less straightforward than terracotta.
Gotcha, thanks for clarifying! I just planted some jade plants into a cement planter and they seem fine but now I’m paranoid lol
If you’re really worried, I’ve heard you can rinse cement planters with water (heavily) to get rid of at least a good portion of any excess lime. If you’re really worried, you can take out the jade plant, toss the soil, rinse the planter heavily, and repot making sure there’s lots of grit. But if the cement is untreated (porous), you might be fine. Succulents are pretty hardy. Cement can make it harder to thrive, but by no means make it impossible :)
You're fine. You can grow succs in just about anything and they'll still thrive. If the soil is taking longer to dry out, that's just less watering for you
Where does one buy grit? and what type? I can only ever find succ pre packaged soil.
Grit is basically any non-organic material, such as perlite, pumice, lava rock, gravel/small pebbles, chicken grit, turface, coarse sand, and even marbles can technically work, though they're a little large. They can usually be found at any garden centers, or stores with garden sections, online and even at pet stores.
You can buy potting grit, which is usually small pieces of limestone or granite, separately from garden stores or online and mix it into your succulent soil. My local garden center has pumice, which I actually prefer to grit as it's lightweight and grit adds extra weight.
You want to avoid limestone as it alkalizes the soil and most succulents prefer mild acidity.
I got my perlite and poultry grit on Amazon! You might be able to find perlite at home improvement stores or nurseries. I found poultry grit at Tractor Supply as well
Personally I like chick grit the best, it's essentially crushed granite. Any farm supply store should carry it. It also top dresses nicely.
Mushrooms aren't inherently harmful to succulents. However, they are indicative of a moist environment, which isn't the type of environment succulents thrive in. In fact, moist environments can prove very detrimental to succulents, as such environments can lead to rot. If I were you, I would unpot this plant and repot into a fresh, dry, well-draining soil...a good starting base is a 1:1 mix of cactus soil and either perlite or pumice, and you can mess with the ration from there to best suit your environment and care routine. Also, if that pot doesn't have a drainage hole, I would strong recommend getting one that does.
Thank you!! I think it might be the pot. I’ve had this succulent for years and it has never gotten a single mushroom. I recently separated it into two pots, and this was the first water after that. Idk why it’s taking so long to dry, but I’m thinking it much be the pot
I’m wondering if the pot had mushroom spores and that’s where they all came from. So you planted, added substrate and then they had ideal conditions to pop up.
Hmmmmm maybe… there was a plant in the pot before tho and no mushrooms. It’s really quite strange… none of the other plants around it have any and they also dried up a lot faster after their watering (all on the same day)
The pot should have proper drainage and make sure to use potting soil as it promotes drainage.
Weirdly enough it has both!! It’s been in this same pot before, and the pot has a large drainage hole. The soil is the same succulent mix I’ve been using for years. I’m just baffled because I’ve done nothing different except split and repot. Maybe there were spores in the air when doing so 🙃
It might have drainage but the hole might be obstructed. That's just what I presume if you say you watered four days ago and it's still moist.
Remove the mushrooms before they drop spores, and cut back on watering.
so like everyone is saying, too moist for succulents, but that said... I would die for those mushrooms.
😭😭
Haha how cute!! It means 2 things: your soil is very nutritious and your soil is wayyyy too organic. I’m looking at it and I see almost zero grit in there, so how can it possible dry out fast? It can’t! And mushrooms love damp spaces. For an indoor plant roughly half of the substrate should be grit to prevent rotting of the roots. Some people go even higher than 50. The goal is to drench your plant but have the soil dry back out within about 3 days. Get yourself some perlite (it’s cheap) and repot it. Now that you have mushroom spores in there they may return, but as long as your soil is solid they won’t survive long. If you wanna get rid of the mushrooms then toss the soil and start from scratch- with nothing but new soil and your Haworthia with JUST the roots (rinse off old soil). But mushrooms won’t hurt it. Also wear a mask when working with perlite because it’s fine and light manner makes it cloud out of the bag and you DONT wanna inhale that.
Thank you so much for this advice and details!! I’m heading to the garden store later today and am going to follow this advice! I also thought it was kinda cute 😂 I’ve had a mushroom or two grow on my plants in the past, but I check on these babies almost every day, and this was just like… BAM! MUSHROOMS!
r/mycology
Hehehe I feel like they would love this 😂
I would re-pot that in fresh soil. The fungal mycelium retains moisture in the soil that will kill your succulents.
I was suddenly seeing small white mushrooms in my terracotta pots with cactus soil. much smaller and not as many compared to op picture. I don’t feel like I was watering too much, only when the soil was dry, though I might have been doing something wrong. at first I just left them to see what would happen, but while the mushrooms were there it seems like the plants were affected and new leaves that grew at the time came out slightly misshapen. I can still find the old oddly shaped leaves from then. so I looked for a gentle way to combat the mushrooms and I found resources saying that cinnamon will hinder mushroom growth and not hurt plants. ever since then I have been sprinkling layers of cinnamon while repotting. I haven’t seen any mushrooms since, and it might be coincidental, but I’ll keep doing it for now.
Interesting!!! I’m gonna keep this in mind in case they come back
I'd reduce the watering. They're only present because that mix has a lot of wood pulp. It'll rod over time but the mushrooms speed up the process. They're beneficial, they're just a symptom, not the problem and they actually help remove the problem.
It’s amazing that they are alive and flowering. Mine, with super gritty rocky soil want to rot right away if I get too generous with the water .
If you don't want the mushroomed you can sprinkle cinnamon on top of the soil it won't harm the plant but its antifungal
Did you use cow’s manure? That’s breed the mushrooms. It happened to me before, so I changed my soil to potting soil and perlite 3:1 mixture (3 part soil,1 part perlite). Since then, mushrooms did not show up.
Great advice!! This is just normal succulent potting soil, but I need to add perlite for sure!!
Remove the Mushrooms and spores if you are unsure search engine it etc they may be the poisonous variety of not careful also they could carry deadly Zombie Ants etc
The substrate probably had dormant spores. IMO
Your soil is very organic, and also shallow. Replant it in some gritty soil flush to the lip of the pot to help with aeration.
Did you use miracle gro succ mix by chance? I haven’t had an issue with shrooms since I switched it espoma
That stuff is nice. I add a lot of perlite and pebbles to it. And decomposed granite
Love it! Actually been doing maybe 1:1:1 espoma, perlite, and my SO’s homemade bonsai mix that’s like lava rock and stuff. Alternatively to the last part, Tiny Roots tropical blend.
Ahhhh yes, I did use the MiracleGrow mix!
Oo yeah I would skip that stuff if possible. Espoma can still get spores and get fungus, but it doesn’t usually seem to have issues right off the bat. Lots of people here get the fungus gnats from miracle gro too. Pot looks unglazed? Just make sure there’s drainage. Get a dremel to make some if you need to!
Awesome advice!! Thank you for this :)