Hard to tell from your photo. It may be slow release fertilizer beads that are often mixed in the soil in newly bought plants. You may have just not noticed them before or they floated up to the surface after you watered.

Was hoping that it would be some really cool fern spore culture,but Danny's prolly right.

Woulda been cool growing like...a MILLION little ferns! :)

it looks like perlite bits greened in sunlight by algea.

You really have to look closely to see what Jo is talking about. They don't look like slow release fertilizer prills or perlite. They do look like a red blood cell.....only greenish!

A really good closeup would help, but I'm guessing that they might be a fungus of some sort. It would be interesting to see another photograph to see if they look different now that a few days have passed.

I 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!

I've seen this before too and after extensive research, I ruled out slug eggs and believe they are osmocote liquid plant food fertilizer pellets. But it would be fun for you to remove some of the soil and the little green balls, put them into a container and see if anything hatches! Lol!

Well, 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 :\

I vote fungus.

Did anyone ever figure out what this was? I am having the same issue in my garden and this is the only thread i could find on the internet where anyone was talking about it!

I never did! I just scooped them out of the soil whenever I saw them and they never returned! I also had scooped some into a mason jar and closed it up for a week or so. and some little white thread-like worm things showed up (but didn't move around much, I don't think. It was a few years ago!).

So I know that this is an old thread but this is the first time I've ever seen something that actually looks close to what I have. Does anybody have any? I have mold growing ar I understand mine

Still a mystery!!!

It's algae - can happen if you overwater your seedlings or soil, and a good remedy is to either scrape it off the top of the soil or sprinkle cinnamon on it to eradicate it.

the only mystery.. if there is one.. is that someone didnt read all the replies ..

without a doubt.. its white volcanic perlite that has turned green due to algae .. just liek it might grow on the side of ann aquarium ...

it is indicative of a plant that needs to be repotted.. as the media is failing in properly shedding excess moiture .. unless one is growing bog plants or aquatics ...

either repot your plant with fresh media .. or ignore it.. its irellevant to the plant ..

and learn to water properly.. letting your media dry before watering again.. unless.. again.. its a bog plant or some such ....

welcome to the forums nat.. next time.. start your own post.. and give us a pic of your plant ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=+algae+on+perlite&t=ffnt&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

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!

I’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.

Also, it definitely grows upwards in that bowl shape and clusters slowly expand over time. when it hits the surface of the soil or if I take it out of the pot and leave on the bench to dry, it disappears and/or turns to orange and white dust.

Omg I might have narrowed it down... tell me if you think this is on the right track. Closest thing I’ve found that matches what I see and what is in the above post/comments

I think it’s some kind of nematode eating orbilia (???)

http://www.outerhebridesfungi.co.uk/species.php?id=277

From what I can find out about these type of fungi, they grow on decaying bark (if you added mulch or compost to your pots that could be what brought it— I think that’s where mine came from) and they seem harmless and/or beneficial if you have roundworms/nematodes. That could be the small white worm referenced in Carolyn’s comment 4 months ago.

sorry for so many comments back to back, I’ve been a little obsessed about this and I feel like I might have finally found an answer lolol

emma.. you should have started your own post.. instead of tagging this down an older post ... with a searchable title.. you may have helped others in the future ... if they searched out a similar topic ...

same with yours vienna ... yours look like slug eggs.. are your plants outside??? .. look under your trays.. where they may be hiding during the day ... and/or.. go look at night ...

ken

That is fruiting body of fungi on decaying organic matter - usually bark. There are many kinds and each have their characteristic shape and size. Fungi is always there and under right circumstances of temp and humidity they may fruit just like what you see. Some look like a normal mushroom but they can have a variety of shapes and size.

I grow various mushrooms like oysters, shitake and wine cap in logs, wood chips, bark, straw, saw dust, etc. Sometimes a different fungus may also show up on its own.

Not slug eggs. These were all indoor seed starter pots, and it had a “green house” cover. I think it was too warm and too much moisture. It seems like it is some kind of fungus. After letting it dry out a little and hitting them with more light they seemed to die off. The soil I used definitely had wood chips in it. Emma, I found this thread via search engine as well, as I couldn’t find any other info relating to this subject anywhere else on the web. Thanks for all your digging and contribution.

Emma, that fungus definitely looks like the culprit!

I am so glad to have found this post - and Emma I see nothing wrong with continuing the discussion from an old post, we are still being helped by each other :) I have been repotting seedlings using a bag of potting soil that I opened late last summer and had sitting (tightly rolled shut, but still) in a shed. The potting soil had more mulchy bits than usual. I found clusters of these in the bag as I was scooping it out. I was guessing spore/fungal because of the color and the fact that it's a dark, warmish, relatively most environment in the bag, but some of the mystery things are bigger than others and the really tiny ones (again in clusters) concerned me in case they were eggs. Hence the google search that led me here. They are absolutely not algae-tinted perlite nor are they fertilizer balls - that was my first assumption until I took a closer look, but this brand uses a different color of fertilizer ball which is also in the bag, making comparison easy. I'm going to try to get my microscope working for a decent look *just* to be sure, but now I feel reassured that it's probably fungal. Whew.

Just adding to this! Fully agree that this aren't slug eggs, perlite or fertiliser. The fungi theory seems most sensible, the photos from the fungi link describing Orbilia delicatula are extremely similar if not exactly the same. Google searching for Orbilia delicatula will turn up lots of similar photos. Also fits my situation too - lots of woody matter in the organic compost I have. Think you might have cracked it Emma!

I’m having the SAME issueS!! Ugh
I’ve got gnats flying around, I have some kind of millipedes idk, gross!!
I’ve tried yellow sticky spikes, did not solve the problem. I’ve tried apple cider vinegar, soap. I also tried replacing the soil! Finally called a local nursery they said to water with mosquito dunks. This has helped tremendously. The problem although still exists. This time I dug in the soil and found those little round green things, more like balls than flat fungus. I removed at least 2” of soil. I’m going to let them dry out and add good soil later. I will try very hard not to over water. Geez
And, I don’t want to get rid of my beautiful rubber plants and the rest of my babies t🌱🪴I’m hoping this all this works. I’m still not sure what they are lol - I need short direct answers. Thank you for all this info. I too found this post through images on Safari.

Hi, 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..

It's been a number of years now since I first posted in this thread, but mine were distinctly not spherical (they looked like a red blood cell, kind of like a smashed circle with an indent in the middle, and the edges raised in various amounts). Yours look more like spheres to me, and I don't know that anybody in this thread has had the webs covering them. My totally uneducated guess would be that you actually have some kind of eggs (spiders, maybe?). You could put some in a jar and see what comes out!

Hi kputch01 and all,

I just found this thread after discovering some weird green balls in one of my plant pots, but the fact that you have gnats caught my eye. We’ve had gnats for nearly a year (there were swarms originally) and found that we could get rid of most of them over about 3-4 months with homemade traps (bowls of apple cider vinegar and detergent near the pots - they all just seemed to fly in there and die) but for a lingering problem (still some gnats here and there) I’ve been spraying the soil with diluted neem oil (neem oil was about $25 aud at Bunnings) and it has worked really well. I started this a month ago and have seen no gnats since (knock on wood). Apparently you can also soak the soil completely at the beginning - the oil deters fungus gnats from laying eggs.

Also regarding the little green ball things, I think I’ve found the answer on this thread so thanks everyone :)

- Amelie

Hi all. Like many of you, I've had exactly the same issue and this seems to be only thread about it that I've managed to find via a Google search. I think those saying the originally described blobs are some sort of fungi are right.

I first spotted them about two weeks ago and they looked exactly as Carolyn describes - the shape resembled red blood cells. And my compost did contain quite a few wood bits. After reading this thread and coming to a conclusion that they're probably relativley harmless, I decided to leave them alone and see what happens.

These blobs have grown (from 1-2mm to 3-4mm in dia) and are now less regular in shape, the concave bit that made them look like red blood cells is gone. They've also changed colour - from green to brownish, some even have a tinge of black. And today, while I was poking around the pots, I've noticed small puffs of 'smoke' coming out of some of the blob clusters - I think some of these fungi blobs have ripen and are now emitting spores.

Hi everyone, I'm having the exact same issue as the original poster, and so many others. A Google search has led me here, and like most others I do think it's some sort of fungus. The compost I have been using in Homebase peat free and it is very laden with bark. Its on both my inside and outside seed trays. Going to try scraping it off and going to buy new compost today to transplant everything.

Hello - I have exactly the same red blood cell shaped growths which expand as others have described. Some have also gone brown in the center and are emitting small puffs of a white substance. The compost is coconut coir which also retains more moisture than normal. I think I over soaked the compost initially when sowing the seeds.

After 8 years, I'm pretty sure I'm destined to forever wonder if the OP noticed any ham-like stuff in the soil?

Al

Just 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!

Thank you to all the original posters, I'm in the UK and this is the only information I could find about the colonies of fluorescent yellow-green orbs in my bag of soil! It is definitely Orbilia delicatula as has been pointed out in this thread, and that is a huge relief. Long live this thread!

@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/ Margarodes

Ground pearls ^^^

Al

I have them too and im worried the fungus could be toxic?

There are a variety of images on this thread, some of which are adult insects (see Ground Pearls/ Margarodes above), others are different species of fungi in the Orbilia genus. Plants live side by side in harmony with thousands of species of fungi. That the fungi are present in various media means only that their ubiquitous spores have germinated and by the presence of the fungal fruits they are demonstrating they approve of cultural conditions within the containers. They are not an indication of anything the growers have done wrong insofar as the cultural conditions they (growers) provided.

Al

I discovered these this morning my search led me to this discussion. Just wanted to add these. thanks for all the information

Have had the exact same balls appear in my soil (no perlite present, no fertiliser present) and spoke to my step mum (horiculturist) after not coming to many concrete conclusions. She confirmed its just a fungus and once the body has been allow to fruit it will go dormant again. The mycellium present in the soil is just breaking down other matter and indicates good microbial activity.

.... agree with mum.

Al

Hi, ive had similar green blood cell eggs show up in a variety of my seedling planter box, which has the seperate comparements per seed. I think they are eggs and they pop like eggs, ive taken them out of the seedlings soil and placed them into a clear container to monitor them over the next month. Im not saying it may not be fungus, but to me, I think they are eggs of something and they look like they have been laid by an insect with the way it is showing up. One of my planter boxes had only ”one” egg in it, compared to the others that had a cluster of them.