fungus in the soil under peppers roots?

[brekehan]

As I was digging up soil and composting/fertilizing etc. today, I saw some of what looked like wet white toilet paper under the roots of some of my bell pepper plants. I doubt it is harmful, because the peppers were the best ones of all my plants and had been on a growth spurt.

I haven't put any paper in my soil... Everything that went in was brown and green

Anyone know what the stuff is? Is it potentially bad?

[snowleopard394]

Without seeing this stuff, I can't really say for sure what it is. But if it is a fungus, it's probably a good thing. There are a lot of fungi that are "mycorrhizal" with plants. Basically, the fungus is better at absorbing nutrients from the soil than the plant is, so the plant and fungus form a symbiosis. The fungus gives the plant nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and in return, the plant gives sugars to the fungus. That could explain why those peppers look so healthy.