Getting rid of mushrooms...

For the last few weeks I've been having a problem with mushrooms in my houseplants, all of them tropicals. I never have this problem until I bring them inside for the winter, and the same thing happened last year, though I don't remember it being this bad.

So far I have noticed the mushrooms only growing in my Ti plants, but they seem to grow in on a daily basis before I pluck them out. Thus far they've left my monstera deliciosa (philodendrons) alone, despite the fact they have the same potting medium in both.

All the Ti's are in 12" pots though, and the mushrooms seem to grow right near the log of the plant (I started them from logs last year). I'll try and take some pictures and post again, because I'd love to know first, what they are exactly, and two, how to get rid of them. Earlier in the year I had a small problem with spider mites (that was a fun experience) and used an antifungal spray to get rid of them by misting the leaves outdoors once a week. For the most part I never had a big problem with the mites on the Ti plants, so I didn't spray them as much. Now I'm wondering if I could somehow use that same antifungal spray to kill these mushrooms?

For the most part the mushrooms are growing out of the top of the pot (near the log) like I mentioned. But I also have a few trying to come out of the bottom, and some of them are just strange looking. I am NOT a fan of indoor mushrooms, they just creep me out and I can't stand the smell of them. I'm sure the fact I have to water the plants so frequently and the high humidity in our home (60%) is a good reason I have mushrooms to begin with. But it's too cold here in SC to put the plants outdoors this time of year; it went from 85 yesterday to 58 today and it's freezing at night now. I just want to get rid of these mushrooms, anyway I can without harming my plants.

Thanks for any help/tips. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

Keonikale,

Lets look at what mushrooms are and what they grow in.

Musrooms are a fungus--NOT the harmful kind. They love moist, decaying wood products to grow in.
My first question would be what kind of soil you are using and where did it come from???
Mushrooms, like other funguses, grow from spores spread from other funguses/mushrooms. If you had anything near your soil you used that may have been the "recipients" of any such spores, you will have mushrooms growing. If you did not buy a bagged, sterile, professional potting mix but used your own--you may have the spores in the mixture.

As to what to do--just keep picking them off so they do not spread. You could spread something "inorganic" material on top as a mulch--like pebbles, sand, stones.
Also--try not to water your plants too much. Funguses/mushrooms cannot grow in a dry medium. More light would also help eradicate them.

Just my 2 cents worth.............Gita

Thanks Gita

I've still be trying to get photos, but I keep forgetting to take a photo before I pick them out. As far as I know all the potting soil was a bagged king I bought from Lowes. It seems like all the Ti plants I have growing the mushroom problems in were repotted around the same time. The other plants I also have potted in the same soil brand, but I am pretty certain I bought that soil at a different time. It may just be the soil I originally purchased for my Ti's had the spores. All of it is tropical indoor plating mix.

I keep picking them out as fast I can... I seem to have less of one kind now and more of a new one. The really "ugly" ones that seem to grow spores fast are the ones in the bottom of the pots, they are more yellow or white (and spread out like a mold), versus the ones on top which are blue-ish or cream colored and have more a true mushroom appearance. I have tried to use anti-fungal spray on the soil (the same thing I used to ward off spider mites earlier this year) and it doesn't seem to work.

I'll keep plucking them though and hope they eventually stop forming. It's hard to let the plants dry out too much bc of their tropical water needs, but maybe now that it's winter I can work on cutting the water back. They get sun almost all day, but it's through a window so it doesn't dry them out like I'd like.

Thanks for the tips.

keonikale- I sometimes get them, too, and it's really weird. They're completely random which pots they pick- right now they started growing in my aloe pot that I haven't repotted for forever and haven't watered for forever, either. The aloe is the pots first tenant, the soil's never been used before in another pot, it's under a bright fluorescent light, no other plant in that room has EVER had a mushroom in its pot, and it's elevated above every other plant in the room, so no spores from another mushroom COULD have gotten to that pot assuming a mushroom went undetected.

Bizarre.

Cheryl

Forgot to show you a picture....

Well for the most part the top growing mushrooms have reduced in their numbers. I still have a grayish mushroom on the rare occasion, but it's nothing like the multi-headed blue one (can you tell I don't know my mushrooms, LOL). All of this seems to have started when I moved them indoors for the winter, and I can only deduce the flare up was due to the wet soil not being able to dry out as quickly as it was able to outside. I've still got the ugly yellow ones in the bottom of the pots, but I found taking the water trays out from under the plants helps them dry out from that direction too which stops them from growing. Bottom watering though clearly was a bad idea as it promotes mushroom growth, and it's harder to fight them from the bottom of the pot because they grow up into the pot and I can't pluck them out as easily.

Mushrooms are a funny thing, at least I know I'm not having some strangely unique problem. Thanks again for the posts.

John