The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Bionic on March 05, 2017, 02:09:59 pm

Title: Have you seen anything like this before
Post by: Bionic on March 05, 2017, 02:09:59 pm

I planted several different types of chilli and this is what I got.

Only one type of chilli has come up so far, not particularly worried about that as they do take a while, but where did the mushrooms come from?

I planted them in compost from a new bag

Sorry the pic didn't embed properly. I hope you are still able to see it

Title: Re: Have you seen anything like this before
Post by: Fleecewife on March 05, 2017, 02:58:27 pm

Yes I've had them sometimes.  I just squash them down before they ripen, and prick out the seedlings to fresh pots.  I wouldn't eat them although they could well be harmless.

Title: Re: Have you seen anything like this before
Post by: cloddopper on March 05, 2017, 10:39:00 pm

Bagged so called  compost is unfortunately no guarantee of quality .

 What you have looks like wet food fibres & muck enriched with a know level of nutrients . If it had had sufficient heat produced during the composting cycle the fungi would have not been there  .

 The Spores & roots ...  ( Mycellium ( sp ) )   will be all through the bags contents .
 I won't use it in my UV lit heated propagation bedset up .
 
 What we have done for the bed & Munchkin's bedroom succulents is to  get a bucket, half fill it with such a type of " compost " and then poured two kettles of boiling water in the bucket & stirred it in .
Cover it , leave overnight to cool , pour it out on to a clean but old bed sheet and make a ball to squeeze the excess water out .  Put the sterile compost in a dish drops & hot water  washed seed tray that has been well rinsed in clean tap water . We then sowed the seeds in it , keeping them well apart & ever so slightly dry , as too wet usually causes rot and or mould  aka "  damping off"  at the base of the stems .

Title: Re: Have you seen anything like this before
Post by: Bionic on March 06, 2017, 08:45:46 am

Thanks both.

My chilli seeds are in a heated propagator so that's probably made it nice and warm for the fungi spores :-)

Title: Re: Have you seen anything like this before
Post by: YorkshireLass on March 06, 2017, 09:04:40 am

By my thinking, mushrooms themselves are not harmful, in fact they're a sign of good soil. However, their presence here suggests the compost didn't get hot enough, so what diseases might be present?
I'd just snip off the mushroom stems and make sure the seedlings look happy.

Title: Re: Have you seen anything like this before
Post by: Foobar on March 06, 2017, 04:04:06 pm

I've got them growing on my compost heap :)  (the mushrooms, not the chillis!)

Title: Re: Have you seen anything like this before
Post by: Lesley Silvester on March 06, 2017, 10:57:36 pm

I buy compost that is from garden waste and I have had slugs appear in it. They must have hatched in there because the pots were in a heated propagator indoors. I'll try that trick with the boiling water.