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mysterious white substance in soil

urticaurtica Posts: 3
edited August 2022 in Problem solving
Anyone have any idea what this is?



The context is a heap at the bottom of the garden that has a lot of twigs, leaves and other organic matter in, but is also full of odds and ends of rubbish including horrible stuff like oil filters and other car parts.

Someone who lived here before apparently used it as a dumping ground, and indeed we have found some small areas of soil there which seem to smell of petrochemicals (presumably from leakage from the dumped oil filters).

There are also some tree roots in that area.

It looks and smells like it might be some sort of mould or fungus, but it occurs in many different spots and is highly concentrated in the spots where it does occur - which makes me wonder if it could be the residue from some decomposed human rubbish of some sort. Intuitively, it seems too concentrated to be mould.

Or maybe it could be evidence of some disease relating to the nearby tree? I think it's an ash tree.

I'd like to work out whether I should be treating these small areas of concentrated white soil as contaminated, in the same way as I am for the small bits of oily soil - ie separating them as best I can from the better soil.

I plan to reuse the better-looking/smelling soil elsewhere in the garden (though not around edible plants, to err on the side of caution).

Any advice/theories welcome.

Here's a second picture.



Posts

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    It is fungal, totally normal.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    Looking at the surrounding ground, I'd say it was simply fungal and therefore not a problem. 
    The other areas which have been obviously contaminated are a different matter as you rightly say. 
  • urticaurtica Posts: 3
    That's great news, thanks.

    Would it still be best to avoid mixing it into soil that I'm gonna be planting into? ie would the fungus harm other plants?

    (If it's not some weird contamination that at least I won't have to worry about small traces of it getting in, either way).
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    I get it in my garden, the plants don't seem to mind. It can sometimes make it difficult for water to penetrate the soil unless you just disturb it with a hand fork.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    Fungi are generally good for soil and the environment, some not so good for us


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    The fungus won't harm anything,  It's a natural process.  I don't know whether @MikeOxgreen 's "Make your own compost" thread will give you an insight into good/bad stuff - may be worth a look thru ?  :)  
  • urticaurtica Posts: 3
    Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the fast and helpful replies! :)
  • Arthur1Arthur1 Posts: 542
    Fungi are really important breakdown organisms. For instance, when compost bins get too twiggy and dry, it is fungi that take over the composting process. What you have photographed are almost certainly breakdown fungi which grow on dead material. It is unlikely to be a pathogenic fungus as that would be growing on living material. Few fungi can grow on both.
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