What are white things under bark mulch?

MYC

what are these white things in my soil? I am trying to feed Rose impact and saw these under bark mulch.

JacobZ

Is it affecting your plants? Or is it simply a question of curiosity?

I can't say I'm sure what these white things are.

It looks somewhat like slow-release fertiliser pellets. Did you put down fertiliser pellets such as this Scotts Osmocote 1kg All Purpose Controlled Release Fertiliser in the past?

It might be mycelium which is like the root system of fungi. It's made up of thin, thread-like strands that spread through soil or organic material, breaking down dead plants and wood. This helps recycle nutrients back into the soil, making it healthier for plants. Sometimes you can see mycelium as white, fuzzy patches under bark or mulch.

I suppose they could also be eggs or droppings from insects, which aren't going to be harmful unless they are actively damaging your plants.

If it is not affecting your plants, I don't think it is worth worrying about.

Allow me to tag some of our knowledgeable members to see if they have any ideas what they could be, @Dave-1, @Noelle, @DIYGnome.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Jacob

Dave-1

Afternoon @MYC

My first thought was some kind of mycelium from the bark itself decomposing. Tho @JacobZs other suggestion also makes sense.

Do you rose leaves have any spots or discolorings? If not I wouldnt be overly worried. I freaked out once when I found some pright orangy dogs throw up it looked like on my new bark mulch. Turns out its a natural mycelium but wooooo it worried me at first that some poor doggo was sick.

Dave

Noelle

Hi @MYC

Looks like fertiliser to me. Fungal mycelium is threadlike rather than granular fertilser. And because this is in patches as fertiliser is likely to be when broadcast by hand, that seems the more logical to me.

As @Dave-1 also says, even if it is fungal, it is likely to be one of the many microflora that live naturally in mulches and composts - they are among the organisms responsible for the breaking down of organic materials like mulch into compost or humus that is good for the soil. Generally these microflora feed on dead and decaying materials, not living plants, so your roses would be safe.

As an aside, don't put the mulch right up close to the trunks/main stems of your roses - as the mulch breaks down it could possibly cause stem roots on your roses. Leave a minimum 15cm radius circle around each rose trunk.

MYC

Dear Dave, Jacob and Noelle, what a big relief to know you all convinced me that my rose is safe with this white things on the soil. No, I didn’t put any granule fertiliser since beginning of Winter. Only liquid fertiliser after July hard pruning. When September comes, I resumed feeding Sudden Impact for rose, that was when I scratched off the mulch and saw the white things. Anyway, as unsure, I had removed as much of those white things before putting in new granules. The other roses around this rose have no problem , very relieved. So good that I always find great help from this Workshop Community . Many thanks to all of you.