Mushroom Growing in Houseplants: Detect and Get Rid of them Easily

Various mushrooms can grow in your houseplant in shapes and colors from brown, yellow, white, grey, black, or even green hues. The yellow and white mushrooms often belong to the species Leucopcoprinus birnbaumii. Other types may contain different species, for example, the brown mushroom growing in houseplants may belong to the Coprinus or Conocybe genera. So, keep reading to tell you more details about indoor mushrooms in potted plants.

After reading this article, you can answer the following questions: What is the mushroom growing in my houseplant soil? Why are mushrooms growing in my houseplant soil? Is it bad if mushrooms grow in my potted plants? Are they dangerous to me or my pet? Are mushrooms in houseplants good luck? How to get rid of mushrooms in my houseplant soil?

I’m a plant pathologist. I walk with you here. Hence you can ask me your questions below on this page or by clicking here. So, let’s get going!

Type of Mushroom Growing in My Houseplant Soil?

Here you can find several types of mushrooms that grow in houseplants. Every type has its specific habits and treatment conditions. If you want to know whether they are harmful or not, you have to identify them correctly.

Most likely, the mushroom growing in your houseplant belongs to one of the following groups:

A: Yellow Mushroom growing in Houseplants

Yellow mushrooms are common types of mushrooms that grow in houseplants. Most likely, they belong to the species Leucopcoprinus birnbaumii. Their color is yellow and you can see gills on the undersides of their cap. You can see its picture below and compare it with your mushroom. Please read “Yellow mushrooms growing in houseplant” to give more functional information.

B: White Mushroom in Houseplant

White mushrooms are another type of mushrooms that grow in houseplants which often belong to Leucopcoprinus birnbaumii. The color of them is white and you can see gills on the undersides of their cap too. In the following, you can see its picture and compare it with your mushroom growing in your indoor plant. If you read “white mushrooms growing in houseplant” you will take a more perfect view of them.

C: Brown Mushroom Growing in Potted Plant

Brown mushrooms in Houseplant are also common types of mushrooms. Indoor brown mushrooms in the houseplants often belong to the Coprinus or Conocybe genera. In the following, you can see its picture and compare it with your mushroom growing in your indoor plant. Click on “Indoor brown mushroom growing in potted plant” to learn about them in detail.

D: Black Mushroom Growing in the Potted Plants

There are various types of  black mushrooms but I think black mushroom growing in potted plants most likely belongs to one of the following species:

• Leotia lubrica also that also called “jelly babies. although the caps are brownish yellow to olive in young members, they will turn dark green to black with age;
• Pluteus atromarginatus also known as Black-edged Shield and its cap comes from greyish-brown to dark brown and black colors.
• Coprinopsis atramentaria also is known as Common Inkcap, Tippler’s Bane, or Alcohol Inky. the young caps are whitish to pale grey, but they gradually turn greyish-brown to black at maturity.
• Coprinus comatus also is known as Shaggy Mane or Lawyer’s Wig. when it’s young, you find it similar to a white egg but over time, the cap will turn grey to black.

If you want to identify your black mushroom growing in a potted plant, I recommend reading my next post. there I will discuss them in detail with their images.

All of the following mushrooms are spread by their tiny spores and mycelia. It is hard to see their spores to the naked eye. They love warm, humid and rich soils. Hence your houseplant soil is their favorite environment.

They are your guests even though you have not invited them. If you want to know how they enter your house, keep reading to tell you.

E: Green Mushrooms Growing in the Potted Plants

Recently, one of my friends asked me about a green mushroom in his houseplant soil. Honestly, I don’t have seen any green mushrooms in potted plants so far and unfortunately, my friend got rid of it before taking a picture of his green mushroom.

Anyway, if green mushrooms in houseplants are your problem too, I provide you with the images of several green mushrooms with their names. If you detect one of them is probably your problem, tell me below this page to give you more detail about it. You can also send me the picture of your green mushroom (

Stropharia aeruginosa

Common names: Verdigris Agaric or Green-spored Parasol.

Cortinarius austrovenetus

Gliophorus psittacinus (syn. Hygrocybe psittacine)

Common names: Parrot Waxcap or Parrot Mushroom.

 

Gliophorus viridis

Common names: Green Gliophorus or Green Waxcap.

Hygrocybe virescens

Common names: Green Hygrocybe or Green Waxcap.

What Causes Mushroom Growing in My Houseplant Soil?

As mentioned earlier, types of mushrooms that grow in houseplants can spread by their spores or mycelia and love the humid rich soils. In the following, you can see the mushrooms growing in the houseplant’s soil where come from and how to enter your house.

• First step: The infested soil or plant

Thousands of tiny spores of mushrooms are flying anywhere and finally land on the soil and even plants. Hence your houseplant or its soil may be infested with the:

-Manufacturing of soil (anywhere your soil is prepared).

– Nursery of plants (where plants are kept for growing).

-Garden centre (where you bought your indoor plant from).

– Even during shipping your plant.

• Second step: It is the suitable environment for their growth.

If your potting mix is rich and you overwater your houseplant, most likely, you will see mushrooms in your indoor plant soil.

Oh, do you think seeing them in your houseplants is bad? Don’t worry about them, keep reading to tell you.

Are Mushrooms Growing in Houseplants Bad?

The good news is that the types of mushrooms that grow in houseplants are saprotrophic organisms. It means that they feed from decaying matter and break them into the smallest parts that are usable for your houseplant. Hence, they are not only harmless for your potted plant but mushrooms in houseplants can be beneficial. However, why we should get rid of them? Keep reading to tell you.

Could Mushrooms Growing in Houseplants be Dangerous to me or my Pet?

Most likely, the mushroom growing in your houseplant is toxic. Hence never eat them. If you have little kids or pets in your house, you should get rid of these mushrooms.

Research shows that there isn’t any health hazard from the spores flying in the air. However, they are producing millions of spores and you should control their population in your house to prevent raising their amount in the air.

Some people ask me If these mushrooms grow alongside my vegetables, can they impact the taste or toxicity of my crop? No, don’t worry about it. If you don’t eat them, they cannot hit you.

Is Mushroom in Houseplant Good Luck?

Some cultures believe that the types of mushrooms that grow in houseplants not only aren’t bad but can be a sign of good luck. They even consider if you find them in your potted plant, they bring you good fortune. Hence be happy if you see them. So, if someone asks you “Is a mushroom in houseplant good luck?” you can say yeah.

If you are interested in finding more mushroom superstitions. I recommend reading “Are mushrooms growing in houseplants good luck?” It will be very fun for you.

How to Get Rid of the Mushrooms Growing in Houseplants’ Soil?

Although the types of mushrooms that grow in houseplants are not harmful to your potted plant, you should get rid of them. It is because of their toxicity. Especially when you have little children or playful pets. To get rid of them, first, you have to remove mushrooms in houseplants and then prevent them from their next appearance. Let’s get going to know how to do it.

First step: Remove Mushrooms in the Houseplant Soil 

Because their spores are flying anywhere and you have infested soil, removing them may be clenching. But I have several treatments that can help you.

• Changing the soil: you can remove the soil completely. especially you should remove the soil around the roots by washing or rinsing. But there are problems with this method:

First: removing the soil around the roots will hit your potted plant.

Second: it is not guaranteed that all spores removed and some of them may still stick to the pot, roots, etc. and regrow.

• Replace the topsoil with uninfected soil: it is a safer method for your houseplant. However, the mushrooms will regrow again but if you repeat it several times, the population of fungi in your soil will be decreased. It will take a long time to see notable results.
• Remove them when they pop up: you can dig mushrooms off completely or only cut their caps. In this way, you remove their spore’s source and hence you prevent re-infestation.
• Using fungicides: you can drench the soil with fungicides but there isn’t any guarantee all mycelia and spores would be killed. Hence, they may regrow and say Hello!
• Change the favorite conditions of mushrooms: as said earlier they love warm and humid environments with rich soils. Hence, if you provide cooler, less moisture and poor soils, they cannot grow in your houseplant soil.

➡ But, unfortunately, the best condition for them is the favorite condition for your houseplant too. When you provide a hard environment for them, you are providing a difficult condition for your potted plant too.

Always, prevention is easier than treatment. Keep reading to tell you how to prevent mushrooms from growing in your houseplant. you can also find more tips about killing mushrooms in houseplants in my other post.

Second step: Prevent mushrooms from growing in houseplant soil 

Let’s get going to do some tips for the prevention of growing mushrooms in your indoor plant.

• Always use uninfected soils: it is very important not only for preventing mushrooms from growing but for avoiding other diseases and pests’ infections. You can buy sterile soils or you do it by soil sterilization. You can do soil sterilization in your house easily. Click here to show you.
• Based on your houseplant, if you could change only one factor (temperature or moisture) you could prevent growing mushrooms without hitting your indoor plant.
• After spotting them, cut their cap immediately to prevent other infestations.

Conclusion

Now you are familiar with mushrooms growing in your houseplant. You know they aren’t harmful to your houseplant and they cannot hit you unless you eat them. You learned several tips to get rid of them and prevent more infections.

Do you want to get rid of them or do you decide to let them live in your potted plant? If you want to leave them to do their things, what is your sense about these new guests? You can do something to decorate your houseplant with types of mushrooms that grow in houseplants. Please send a picture of them to us.

If you want to get rid of them, do you think the above treatments can work well? Do you have your unique remedy for getting rid of mushrooms in your houseplant? Please share your ideas and experience with our readers below on this page. Thank you!