Unexpected mushroom in an indoor plant pot!

[JamieCG]

Hello!

I had given my Red Luna Peperomia a really good dousing a couple of days ago, and to my surprise, these popped up for the first time yesterday!



The shroomery.com forums told me it was a Pluteus mushroom, and after some research, I think it might be a Pluteus flavofuligineus. Non-toxic, fairly innocuous, usually grows on dead wood so I'm not sure what it's doing in my indoor container garden, but hey.

I used Miracle-Gro Organic potting soil to pot the peperomias. Since the only access to the outdoors these pots have is through the windows, and the peperomia is set pretty far back on the table, I suspect that the potting soil may be where the spores came in from.

Mushrooms in the garden are a totally new experience to me. Will they stunt the growth of my plants? Help them? Not affect them at all? Should I dig down and remove the body of the mushroom if I want to protect my peperomias?

Thank you so much for your thoughts!

[Kisal]

I wouldn't bother digging it out. It isn't harming anything, and digging into the container would only disturb the roots of your plant.. Just remove the above-ground mushroom growths for appearances sake. Or you could leave them there, if you feel they provide an interesting conversation piece.

The mushrooms are growing on decaying wood chips in the potting soil. The spores may have been there to begin with, or they may have drifted in through the window screens. Spores are very tiny.

The mushrooms grew because you provided sufficient moisture at a time when other conditions, such as temperature and humidity, were favorable.

[JamieCG]

Oh, wonderful! No, I'm absolutely more than happy to keep the visible portion of the mushroom in place: I've never had a more unusual or more intriguing volunteer. I'm glad that the plant and the mushroom can coexist peacefully; that was my only concern.

Definitely glad to know of this forum! I'll be back for more once I have the space to start my long-awaited outdoor vegetable garden.

Thank you so much for your advice!

[KSTABACH]

I've had an African Violet for over five years. Yes, it became my pride and joy because It has always done well and I've had to re-pot it almost 4 times because it has grown so large. I recently moved and was nervous to find it the perfect home again.
Today I came home and found two mushrooms in the pot! with baby mushrooms growing below....needless to say, I freaked!
First I worried they were poisonous, then I worried they would take over my beloved African violet!!!! I was glad to see here, that it has happened to someone else...but still! Any help would be greatly appreciated! I put my plant on the porch as of now!!!
what should I do next???

[applestar]

Easiest fix is to simply repot the African violet and discard most of the old soil. Did you recently repot it and use a different potting soil/mx? I suspect so. Recently, many premium potting mx contain beneficial mycorrhiza. Also, there seems to be more woody potting mixes being sold.

If the new potting mix is suspect (dd it smell musty or mushroom-y?), you may want to use a different one.

...all that said, I really don't think the mushroom is a problem and you could just break it off and discard it. Wear gloves if you feel the need, especially if you are allergic -- in that case, take all necessary precautions (mask, etc.).