Fungus in seed pot

[johnralphcarpenter]

Joking aside, is it a fungus or a foliate algae? In which case  you could paint it with Armillatox or Jeyes Fluid and save the vinegar for your chips.

[Maggi Young]

I think its some kind of cup fungus - in which case it may actually be useful : http://www.mushroomexpert.com/cups.html

[Margaret]

Wow! No apologies needed. A very enjoyable read. I am an enthusiastic vinegar user buying the clear stuff from the Chinese supermarket in 5 litre containers for cleaning, malted vinegar (in small quantities) for fish and chips, cider vinegar for salad dressing and balsamic for roasting beetroot.

So there is plenty of choice for treating nasty fungi. Thanks Cliff.

Just seen your suggestion Ralph. Will paint some with armillatox and some with vinegar.

Maggi I don't think I can be nice to this fungus because there will be no space left for the seedlings. It has started to appear in pots of precious SRGC seed.

[Maggi Young]

It may be better to shoot first and ask questions later in this case, Margaret.

 It will be interesting to see which treatment works  best /fastest.

[meanie]

...................... and balsamic for roasting beetroot.

Pickled beetroot recipe - use cider vinegar and blackcurrant vinegar in equal quantities with chilli flakes to taste (or not if you prefer).
Sorry for going off topic!

[Chris Johnson]

Please could someone advise on how to get rid of a nasty fungus in a pot of seed? The compost was from a new bag (B&Q multipurpose).
The fungus is in the pot and not growing through from the sand beneath. Many thanks.

Just caught up with this thread, Margaret.

This is a cup fungus and quite likely Anemone Cup Dumontinia tuberosa as the most regularly encountered in this type of environment. It arises from a stalk which is attached to a sclerotium which develops in the soil in association with rhizomes of species of anemone. It's parasitic.

The cups are the fruiting bodies and should easily be removed with tweezers from the fleshy pedicel. Vinegar with destroy the cup but not the fungus as it will not be taken down to the sclerotium.

If it came from contaminated potting compost, you may well get more growing.

On a more positive note, most ascomycetes (cup fungi and related) are host-specific, and without the host it should die out.

Chris

[johnralphcarpenter]

Nice to have an authoritative opinion on this!

It struck me that throughout this thread we have all been inciting Margaret to break the law. EU imposed regulation on pesticides mean that it is unlawful to use any substance as a pesticide (and that includes fungicides, herbicides etc.) unless it has been approved for that purpose. Neither vinegar or Armillatox are approved fungicides or algaecides, so it would be illegal to use them as such. Armillatox of course started life as a fungicide, but the manufacturers could not afford the exorbitant cost of compliance to obtain EU approval, so now it is marketed as a patio cleaner, and legally that is all it can be used for!

Their website says "Under European legislation the active ingredients of all pesticides have to be reviewed, the cost of raising the data for the review is estimated to be £3 million - to a small company the cost is prohibitive. Therefore as from 25th July 2003, Armillatox has become 'Armillatox Soap Based Outdoor Cleaner' so taking it out of the pesticides regulations - the formulation remains the same. Armillatox is useful as a patio cleaner and for a wide range of other applications, simply phone us for more information on our unique formulation.
Armillatox is not sold as a pesticide, insecticide or herbicide within Europe, however please visit www.armillatox.com for information on worldwide sales and uses of Armillatox". Of course outside the EU you can use it for anything you wish.

When I was a student at Hadlow College one of my fellow student suggested dilute washing-up liquid as a spray for aphids. Our tutor, a German lady, told her quite firmly that such a use would be illegal!

[ChrisB]

Another instance of the law being an ass.  There are so many.... I shall continue to break the law using my washing up liquid to spray on my plants when I want to.  Someone once told me that flea powder is effective against vine weevils, and I use Epsom salts against liverwort...

[Margaret]

Ah!  Too late I'm afraid. I did the deed this afternoon. The fungi treated with vinegar got a dob of yellow paint and those treated with armillatox got a dob of blue paint. Hope I don't get locked up. In my defense the quantities involved were very small being applied with a fine paint brush.

Thank you for the information, Chris. The seed pots are on my allotment where I have raised beds with wooden edging and bark chippings on the paths. I quite often see cup fungi on the paths but the seed pots are raised up about 800mm in an old water tank filled with fresh sharp sand. Is it possible that the pots have been infected by air born spores? The seeds were planted in January and I don't grow anemones at the plot. Luckily none of the seeds are anemones either.

[Chris Johnson]

Is it possible that the pots have been infected by air born spores?

There are countless fungal spores in the air at all times and we breathe then in every day of our lives. As noted earlier, a large number are host-specific, especially the ascomycetes. Most perish as they fail to land on the right habitat or host.

Your fungus has grown from the potting medium as spores landing in January would not develop in such a short time to produce fruiting bodies. Some can take years to fruit (bit like bulbs from seed).

There are undoubtedly a few destructive species which we see in Dutch Elm disease and Ash dieback, plus a small number that are damaging to commercial forestry. However, the vast majority are beneficial and form symbiotic relationships with their host via their mycorrhiza (fungus root).

It is doubtful that humans could survive on the planet without fungi.

[Siri K]

As Chris writes, this is a cup fungus. However, to me it looks like Peziza veliculosa, or one of its relatives. In this case it means that the compost includes manure that is not fully decomposed. The fungus lives on this manure, and not on your seedlings. In fact it may be helpful in decomposing manure that should not have been there. It seems that the compost is a bit heavy in nutrition; a bit like feeding an infant fish and chips.

What you see are fruit bodies. The fungus itself resides in the compost. So if you compare to an apple tree: what you do to the apples won't affect the tree. There is no way of getting rid of the fungus without also getting rid of the seedlings (or seeds). But in this case you don't want that anyway.

So: just wait and see. If you want, you can remove the fruit bodies. That will not affect the fungus.

[johnralphcarpenter]

All this raises an interesting question. We are advised to add mycorrhizal fungi when we plant and sow seeds, Rootgrow which contains unnamed arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and ectomycorrhizal fungi, or Trichoderma harzanium. Presumably these fungi will produce fruiting bodies at some point. So will we all be panicked by the appearance of strange fungal growth around our plants in the future?

[Chris Johnson]

So will we all be panicked by the appearance of strange fungal growth around our plants in the future?

No more than at present, Ralph, it's fear of the unknown.

Many plant species couldn't survive without their fungal partner and many others would look sickly. The majority of fungi are harmless and many are quite attractive. Better to just admired them.

[Margaret]

Very interesting information Chris and Siri. Thank you. This forum is very educational as well as enjoyable.  I don't mind fungi normally but I can't have them taking over the seedlings.

Today the fungi are brown and shrivelled after yesterdays treatment. The armillatox ones look slightly worse but the trusty vinegar will be my preferred treatment should any more appear which seems likely.