Green egg like things on soil of house plant
Does anyone know what these could be? They recently just pooped up in my air fern pot on the soil. They are green little balls that have indentions in them. They almost look like red blood cells except they are green.
Comments (46)
dellis326 (Danny)
10 years ago
asleep_in_the_garden
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Eggs Discovered on House Plant
Comments (18)I understand that alcohol does react with the cuticular waxes in some plants, which is why I qualified what I said to read most plants instead of ALL plants. I never said that Q-tips need to be used to remove the adult scale. What I said is the university sites (more credible than anecdote - can we agree?) usually suggest "wiping the adults off with a Q-Tip soaked in alcohol". Personally, I wouldn't bother because its ineffective - you miss too many adults and leave all the crawlers. BTW - you're not refuting - you're disagreeing, and that's fine, but some support other than anecdote would be nice. We already reviewed what Clemson University says above, so let's see what U of Colorado has to say: Management - Soft scales can be difficult to control since their protective covering largely prevents contact insecticides from being effective. However, spray oils are the most effective treatments for scales [normally what I suggest first]. Alcohol and soap sprays may also provide some control of scales, particularly crawler and very young, poorly protected stages. [the reasonable reader translates this to read that alcohol provides only marginal control of crawlers and young, poorly protected adults, which is entirely consistent with what I offered in my first post.] Where infestations are not widespread, scales can be killed by rubbing or picking them off. Fairly minor disturbance of the settled scale can break its mouth parts, causing it to starve. Scales killed in this manner, or by soaps or oils, may remain in place and appear similar to living scales. Crawler stages are susceptible to most houseplant insecticides. However, insecticides must maintain coverage throughout an entire generation of the insect (two to four months) to eliminate further infestation. Short persisting insecticides, such as pyrethrins and resmethrin, need reapplying at least once per week. Longer persisting treatments, such as bifenthrin and permethrin are effective for scale control when used at longer intervals. Soil applied systemic insecticide imidacloprid should be effective for most soft scale infestations. Armored scales are much less common than soft scales. ..... Unlike soft scales, they do not produce honeydew and, except for a very brief period after egg hatch (crawler stage), are immobile. Horticultural oils are the most effective treatment for armored scales .... Everything credible that I read, and my own observations, support the fact that rubbing alcohol is only effective against scale in the crawler stage, and I have no issue with extending that to poorly attached or vulnerable adults, but those qualifications were made by the university site for a reason, that being that the adults of scale populations are largely unaffected by applications of rubbing alcohol. I've read the studies that argue about CCD the effects of imidicloprid on apian populations, but A) I didn't recommend imidicloprid - said only that it's commonly used and effective, and B) I'm guessing that none of us maintain bees indoors. Hey - we disagree - it happens. I support my position with some university sites and my own considerable experience dealing with plants. If that's not enough for the original poster, he's as free to use rubbing alcohol as he is to avoid it. He likely won't hurt anything, and we agree there is at least some knockdown associated with its use. Of course, if you persist with spray applications of alcohol on a regular basis you can gain control through knockdown of the crawlers and senescent mortality of adults, but depending on senescence would actually be an additional contraindication of alcohol's effectiveness on adult populations. I'm sure you're a wonderful volunteer, and have a lot of experience - that's not the question. It's apparent many other learned individuals agree with what I said or they wouldn't have qualified their information so carefully; so you're disagreeing with, or refuting if you'd rather, a more significant number of individuals than a single lonely voice on a forum somewhere. Good growing. Al...See MoreClover-pattern, egg-shaped green leaf, green berries?
Comments (8)Update/clarification: The leaf pattern is more complex than I described. Basically the equilateral triangular pattern is made up of 3 smaller triangles, each with its outermost point being the tip of the largest leaf and then two smaller leaves making up the base of that triangle. Three of those triangular-shaped clusters form the primary triangle. Also, each of the 'sub-triangles' has its own cluster of little peppercorn-sized pale 'berries', so even the3 little clusters of berries form a triangle. The effect is a rather complex geometric pattern of leaves and of the plant as a whole. The leaf color is more a kelly green than a forest green - at least after the sun's been beating down on the plant for weeks. If this plant will grow indoors, it would make a beautiful houseplant....See MoreSmall green worms in tomato plant soil
Comments (2)I was weeding my raised bed garden preparing for planting when I saw the same thing a few weeks ago. After careful examination, I saw they were tomato hornworms. I've battled them the last 2 years, and I can tell you they will decimate your tomatoes. They strip the plants of everything but stems and leave tell-tale drops of green droppings and grow rapidly. It can happen overnight. The ones I saw recently were very small. I've used BT to treat the plants in the past and was successful. I picked out the ones I found this year, but I'm going to be diligent and ready with the BT at a moment's notice! I have noticed this year 3 other kinds of caterpillars in the garden, but they're not green. I guess the return of rain and vegetation has brought a healthy insect population as well! Do a search on Google images for the hornworm and see if that's what you have. If not, just do a search for caterpillars in texas that are green and see what you get. Good luck!!...See MoreTesting soil for green house?
Comments (2)You might ask your soil tester about what additions to add too. Generally adding sand to clay gives you a mortar like mix (unless you add a lot of sand). Typically more organic matter does a better job of handling clay, and some other things can help some clay soil types too (like gypsum). But it does depend upon the soil that you are stating with....See More
petrushka (7b)
10 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
Carolyn Russell
7 years agoI know this thread is SUPER old, but it's one of the only photos I've found on the whole Internet of the problem I'm having! I took a soil sample in to a local nursery who said they were some kind of egg, but they have no idea what kind :\ I'd love to know if it's something I should be trying to eradicate or if I can continue with my planting because it's nothing of importance!
carmelita802
7 years agoCarolyn Russell
7 years agoWell, I've found that if you leave them in the sun (or even just exposed to air) they turn white and then disappear. This is a particularly dense clump of them that have been in the bag of potting soil for a few weeks without being disturbed. I think they look an awful lot like a mushroom or a coral that you'd see in a fancy fish tank ;) But you can see that they went from very flat to growing upwards off a surface and then hollowing out in the middle. I have lots of those fertilizer balls in the other potting soil I bought, but this doesn't seem like it. They also have been concentrating in dark areas and in the plant roots :\
Amynoacids (z6 MI)
7 years agoStacey Norgren
3 years agoCarolyn Russell
3 years ago
Nat Buff
3 years agocarmelita802
3 years agoemilytoti
3 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
Vienna Raquel
3 years ago
I’m having the same problem on my seed starting tray. It’s definitely not algae growing on perlite. The perlite just turns green. These are teeny tiny little green balls all over the surface of the soil and even 1/8” deep into the soil. I’m worried they’ll kill my seedlings. I feel Like it’s a fungus. When I first Started my tray, about 3 days in, a thin blanket of webby looking fungus was growing. I scraped That off and started watering from the bottom instead and let the soil breath. That seemed to go away and sprouts started shooting up. NOW, I see A bunch of these green balls. I hope SOMEONE knows exactly what it is and what should be done!
Emma 10b SW CA
3 years agoI’m getting these too— a lot of them!! They’re all in pots I filled with the black bag organic miracle grow compost. I took a sample to a nursery and they didn’t know, but they said it definitely wasn’t fertilizer and probably was a fungus.
Emma 10b SW CA
3 years agoEmma 10b SW CA
3 years agoEmma 10b SW CA
3 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
tropicofcancer (6b SW-PA)
3 years agoVienna Raquel
3 years agoVienna Raquel
3 years agoLeah S
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoHU-872865419
3 years agokputch01
2 years agoHU-758366208
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoHi, adding to this thread. I found this discussion through google search as well. I have greenish balls with web-like covering growing in my soil. My soil is an aroid mix consisting coco cube, coco peat, orchid bark, charcoal, perlite, prumice and volcanic rock. These balls seems to only appear on the coco cube and orchid bark, which seems to be consistent with the above description of woody materials. Do you think it’s the same stuff? It’s freaking me out..
Carolyn Russell
2 years agoameliesc6
2 years agoTania P
2 years agoHU-843467374
2 years agofionaparry
2 years ago
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
2 years agojlco
2 years agoJust created an account specifically to say thank you 🙏 to everyone who contributed helpfully to this thread, especially Emma. Here's a photo of my soil, which is indeed very mulch-y!
Mia Lalanne
last yeartapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
last year@jlco, Fiona et al - The round yellowish to greenish orbs are not the same as the fruiting fungal bodies seen in Emma's post. What the OP and others showed in the images uploaded are evidence of the presence of usually subterranean female relatives of the Margarodes genus and closely related to armored scale insects found on plant parts above ground.
Eggs are laid in late spring or summer. The first instars (crawlers) emerge from light pink eggs laid in a cluster and enclosed in a white waxy sac. You've probably seen these two, but thought them to be a form of fungi. No pictures of the eggs have been posted to this thread. As soon as crawlers emerge, they go looking for a root to feed on, and not long after the onset of feeding, they begin emitting a secretion that becomes their protective outer covering that gives them their common name - "ground pearls." If you use magnification, you can see their mouth parts sticking out of the small balls, which are a tough waxy coating. The nymphs develop over summer and fall, and by winter, completing the life cycle as they become adults, which overwinter in the cyst/ 'pearl'.
Ground pearls ^^^
Al
Karen Gilgenbach
last yearlast modified: last yearI have them too and im worried the fungus could be toxic?
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
last yearlast modified: last year
Tomi
last yearI discovered these this morning my search led me to this discussion. Just wanted to add these. thanks for all the information
HU-202894524
11 months agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
11 months ago
Gemma
5 months agolast modified: 5 months ago
Emma 10b SW CA