Comments on: Srange balls found in potted plants!

Question: Srange balls found in potted plants!

missmle — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:04:43 -0800

What are these weird little balls magically appearing in my potted plant's soil?

A little while ago I noticed 2 or 3 tiny little balls in the soil of my potted plant (a money tree). I took them out and they seemed to be organic, but I had never seen them before and I've had the plant nearly a year. They were firm to the touch but when I squeezed them a bit some sort of liquid came out. The outside of the little balls was thin and almost papery.
2 nights ago I repotted some old plants and prepared a pot of lavender seeds. The very next day 2 of the little balls showed up in the pot of seeds! I know they weren't there the night before because I was very carefully layering the soil over the seeds and misting it to ensure good germination. This time I took some pictures.
One is of the balls in the pot, I circled one of them. One is of one of them in the hand to show size. You can't quite tell from the pics but they are a pale greenish colour.
What are these things? How do they just appear? Are they in the potting soil? I used the same bag for many plants and they only appeared in two. They appeared in two different plants, months apart, in one case the day after potting and in the other case some time after.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:10:55 -0800

You borked your photobucket links - can you post them again?

By: missmle

missmle — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:16:11 -0800

SORRY! the links worked in preview, but not once I posted. here's the pics:

in the hand
in the pot

By: PissOnYourParade

PissOnYourParade — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:24:35 -0800

Styrofoam pellets they add to the potting soil to make it hold water better?

I've seen them in lots of brands of soil I've used.

By: coryinabox

coryinabox — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:32:23 -0800

Looks like a time-release fertilizer to me. You can but those green pellets by the jug at any nursery.

By: Solomon

Solomon — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:39:18 -0800

It's either time release fertiliser or slug/snail eggs.

By: ROTFL

ROTFL — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:59:06 -0800

I vote time-release fertilizer, something like Osmokote. The pellets seem to "appear" on their own timetable; I believe it has to do with how often the plant is watered.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:59:24 -0800

Solomon has it; those are gastropod eggs, either snails or slugs.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:04:45 -0800

It sure looks and sounds like fertilizer, as coryinabox said. Does this sound familiar?

"Gardeners are often puzzled and alarmed by the discovery of yellowish-brown or bluish-green round objects, about 1-3 mm in diameter, found among the roots of newly bought plants..... When squeezed, the pellets burst in a convincing imitation of an egg."

More here.

By: KRS

KRS — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:14:05 -0800

They're vermiculite, a standard potting mix ingredient. Because they're mostly air, vermiculite particles float to the surface when you water the plant. Don't worry about them.

By: Emperor SnooKloze

Emperor SnooKloze — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:07:50 -0800

They're slow-release fertilizer, as coryinabox said. Probably either Osmocote or Nutracote (which is more popular among growers). The white blobby crunchy things on the soil's surface are the vermiculite.

By: Rash

Rash — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:19:07 -0800

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:03:55 -0800

I've seen exactly those things in potted soil. They are not Styrofoam and Definitely not vermiculite (which looks like small crystals)

They are some sort of thing such that they look like little rocks until you get them wet, and then they'll expand and (I guess) release fertilizer. If you want, you can pop 'em and water will come out. I don't know exactly what they are but they are definitely included in commercial potting soil.

By: oneirodynia

oneirodynia — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:49:32 -0800

KRS, I think you mean the pseudo-styrofoam pellets PissOnYourParade mentions, which are actually called Perlite. Vermiculate is chunky and irregular, not spherical blobs. Both are useful in potting soil mixes.

Rash, you're right about vermiculite, but wrong about perlite- it is also chunky and irregular, only white. I have a bag for rooting cuttings.

As for the round balls, they look like slow release fertilizer. Your bag of potting soil should mention it.

By: missmle

missmle — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:03:47 -0800

Excellent! I looked at the potting soil bag and it does say it feeds plants for 3 months, so it MUST be that time release fertilizer. I think I was thrown by the fact that they just appeared one day. I'm curious if it has anything to do with watering as ROTFL suggested.