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Friend or foe?

infoi09FuFFiinfoi09FuFFi Posts: 2
in Fruit & veg
Would anyone know if these small yellow balls are something harmful to my tomato plant?

I've read it could be an active part of the compost, but I'm worried it's an insect egg of some sort?

TIA 

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hello and welcome to the forum 😊

    Those are the fruiting bodies of fungi that are breaking down the organic matter in the compost into a form that makes the nutrition accessible to the roots of your tomato plants … nothing to worry about in themselves, but they might be an indication that the compost is too damp … I’d let it dry out a little if I were you. 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • infoi09FuFFiinfoi09FuFFi Posts: 2
    Hi,

    Thanks for the welcome and for you advice, that's really helpful and a relief! I will let the dry out a little as you suggest :)

    Thanks 

    Natalie 
  • war garden 572war garden 572 Posts: 664
    they look like fertilizer balls or perlite to me?
    are they clear and easily squish with you fingers.
    if worried just wear pair latex gloves before squish it. 
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    edited April 2023
    @war garden 572 They’re  fungus, don’t you have that in USA? 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • war garden 572war garden 572 Posts: 664
    we have fungus but we also have what I mentioned
    and they look like those yellow sphere in picture 
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Do you have Specsavers in America? @war garden 572
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    war garden 572 said:
    we have fungus but we also have what I mentioned
    and they look like those yellow sphere in picture 
    We also have ‘fertiliser balls’ in the UK … what is shown in the OP’s photograph are not those. 

    If you zoom to enlarge a section of the image it is obvious that they are the tiny cup-shaped fruiting bodies of fungi often found on damp compost. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Definitely not slow release fertiliser.  It's as @Dovefromabove describes.   :)

    Another thing you can do @infoi09FuFFi, once the growing medium has dried out a bit, is to add a little more compost, and bury the stem a bit more.
    It's hard to see from the photo how big your little plants are [I'm guessing they're just at the small seedling stage judging by the vermiculite/grit etc  ] but each time you pot them on, you can bury them a bit more, which helps stability, but also means more roots are produced which helps later on for accessing moisture.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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