A fungus amung us!

[Randy]

I was enjoying a dip int he pool yesterday and glanced over to at the tunk of one of my Wodyetia's, and noticed a bright yellow mushroom about 1' from the trunk.

I am up on the manganese and magnesium rich palm fertilizer which I'm applying every 3-4 months, but what's a good prectice for avoiding and/or treating fungus?

I'm wondering now if a fungus might have been the culprit responsible for killing the foxtail that was planted just 5' from this one?

I look forward to responses!

[MattyB]

I was under the impression that mushrooms were a good indicator of healthy soil conditions, and considering that you're in hot ass Arizona I think that's pretty awesome that you have mushrooms in summer!

[Randy]

(MattyB @ Aug. 17 2006,16:00)

QUOTE

I was under the impression that mushrooms were a good indicator of healthy soil conditions, and considering that you're in hot ass Arizona I think that's pretty awesome that you have mushrooms in summer!

Whereas I was under the impression that fungus was a palms worst enemy- or at least a threat?

[Matt in SD]

There are different kinds of fungus.  The fungus that cause diseases in plants, as far as I know, do not make mushrooms, and they "eat" the plant as parasites.  Mushrooms growing around you palms (i.e. in the dirt) = GOOD.  Fungus growing ON your palms = BAD.

Matt

[Matt in SD]

Although if you have kids, make sure they know not to touch and/or eat the mushrooms!  Unlike snakes and spiders, most mushrooms are actually poisonous.

Matt

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

Randy…Matt is correct in that fungi that are deleterious to living tissue  generally do not ‘fruit ‘ far from the trunk of the tree….Ganoderma,  ‘wood rot’ initiating fungi do have fruiting bodies and will do so on the trunk of the tree, generally at a wound…bad news on that score, since there is no remedy

There are root rots that affect palms, Phytopthera and I think three or four others, but generally those are mostly seen on pot culture.

To echo Matt, I would not worry at this point.

[Patrick]

Just a heads up, I've been learning the hard way that the Pytothphera bud rot shows up in younger palms, especially younger ones when they're stressed. I've also read that too much water can do it too, as the roots are efected by this and you're seeing results in the emerging leaf.

Geez, listen to me, some frickin' kid.......uhhhhhh, I read in this book once........

Experience is truly priceless.

Good luck!

Pat