I don't know how big his collection may be. I don't know what conditions he/she grows their plants. I've seen mold spread fast. Both times they were ISI plants. This is common this time of year, damp, cool, no air, sets the conditions up for this problem. These plants are not expensive, and obtainable at Squw Mt. Nursery, and I made my suggestion on that basis. Nothing is written in stone. Thanks Karen, by the way I did look it up trying to figure out what it is. It is not listed in my Western Garden Book. Guess work would not work, you need to know the exact name of that problem, or you can't cure it. Molds can also make people sick, and if the spores spread into the walls, he could have big problems. Norma

I encountered this same "yellow stuff". I "pulled up" some succulents from my parents house last year at Thanksgiving and just placed in a pot w/loose soil on top of them because I had planned to pot them up soon...it was closer to Christmas when I finally got around to it. Same yellow stuff on a Euonymus Emerald Gaiety which was left in the original store container for over a year. With both plants I scraped off the yellow stuff which also produced small little "balls" which looked like styrafoam. They are both re-potted and thriving.

its a soil borne mold . it doesnt affect plants. Indoor soil is usually made of soiless mix - meaning its organic materials like compost. If its too wet and there's not air circulation in the area - it gets that way. Happens a lot when I germinate plants indoors. You have a money plant I think.. and the leaf browning is probably because watering had been sporadic. In anycase, your plant looks root bound and so time to change pots. When root bound, water may not be able to escape because the roots have clogged up the drain holes. Water may remain at the surface unable to reach the roots which can cause drowning. It can also cause the roots to rot out (preventing water from reaching the leaves) So time for repotting and in doing so, get fresh new soil. I would suggest that you also add a bit of sand on top of the soil to prevent a repeat of the fungus.

Spotty higher pH can happen if you got the soil off of one particular section of the pile...that happened to contain the old B horizon with some limestone in it! In my case, I got the old subsoil on my lot, so it just kind of stank all around. * You said you targeted our phosphorus level higher than your own lawn. Is this due to the pH difference or something else? Is phosphorus bound in the soil at higher pH's, and is our pH (7.1 - 7.3) high enough to cause that? pH. If you look at the availability of P by pH, it drops as pH rises above seven. You're not that far over, the binding isn't extreme, so I just boosted the numbers a little bit. Your standard is around 220, most people with slightly acidic pH would be around 200. In your case, I wouldn't blink at anything between 200 and 300. I never use my own soil as a standard, per se, for anybody else's. Mine have given in to some experimental stuff, plus I've over-enhanced the gardens to match the (extreme) density and (extraordinarily high) performance I demand they support. My current P levels in the garden push 1,000. * What kind of quality issues can we expect from the low phosphorus level until it's corrected? Thin, weak, sparse growth that gets sick and dies easily, discolors easily, grows poorly, and generally doesn't look at all good. Installed sod would tend to thin out and die back over the course of a year or so if it isn't corrected, resulting in a lot of thin patches and blank areas. N, P, and K are the big three and absolutely have to be there in the correct proportions (N we take care of on an as-needed basis). * It sounds like the Milorganite is great stuff, but I'm very sensitive to odors, so I don't think it's a good fit for our lawn. If we used ferrous sulfate instead (being careful to sweep it off the concrete), what rate and frequency would you recommend? I assume we don't need to worry about lowering the soil pH too much with the ferrous sulfate since the starting pH is above 7.0. I'd be comfortable with ferrous sulfate (monohydrate or pentahydrate, it doesn't matter) at 3 pounds per thousand square feet in April, early October, and perhaps early November if the weather's holding. Keep an eye on the pH in this case, though, as iron sulfate is about an eighth as acidifying as pure elemental sulfur and does NOT require digging in to work! Never use iron during hotter months or when the soil's going to freeze solid for winter within two or three weeks of use.