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gardenstate
Stranger

Registered: 12/04/13
Posts: 622
Last seen: 3 months, 12 days
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Soil or dropping piles forming at drainage hole on plant?
#22506390 - 11/10/15 06:10 PM (8 years, 2 months ago) |
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Hey Shroomery! So I have a lovely miracle fruit tree in a large pot (15-25 gallon?) and I keep getting these little piles of what appears to be droppings of some sort falling out of the drainage hole. I'm just extremely curious as to what is doing this, as I haven't noticed it in any of my other plants. The plant was given to me from a friend so I have no clue where the soil came from, I'm thinking/hoping it might be worms? Anyone have any ideas?
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AquaticPuzzle
f@#ked up



Registered: 01/26/15
Posts: 424
Loc: US
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Re: Soil or dropping piles forming at drainage hole on plant? [Re: gardenstate]
#22506446 - 11/10/15 06:24 PM (8 years, 2 months ago) |
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A large family of mice has colonized ur planter lol. I really don't know what those pellets are from maby a type of tree fertilizer in the soil?
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gardenstate
Stranger

Registered: 12/04/13
Posts: 622
Last seen: 3 months, 12 days
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Re: Soil or dropping piles forming at drainage hole on plant? [Re: AquaticPuzzle]
#22506518 - 11/10/15 06:41 PM (8 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
AquaticPuzzle said: A large family of mice has colonized ur planter lol. I really don't know what those pellets are from maby a type of tree fertilizer in the soil?
hahaha seriously! The first two pictures were taken with a microscope lens on my iphone... from a distance the piles just look like dirt falling out but when you look closer you can see distinct pellets. I highly doubt it's tree fertilizer although I admit it looks similar. I have a feeling it's due to a living organism, as I have seen these piles form several times on the same pot after cleaning them up. Either way the plant seems healthy despite not fruiting but it has nowhere near the humidity it requires so I can't really be too upset.
EDIT: Upon further investigation the pellets appear to be worm castings as seen in this picture found on google https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0661/3047/products/EWCs1.jpg?v=1424386874 I would still like an opinion if anyone else has had this occur. If so that would be fantastic, I'll use them to fertilize my plants
Edited by gardenstate (11/10/15 06:48 PM)
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AquaticPuzzle
f@#ked up



Registered: 01/26/15
Posts: 424
Loc: US
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Re: Soil or dropping piles forming at drainage hole on plant? [Re: gardenstate]
#22506556 - 11/10/15 06:47 PM (8 years, 2 months ago) |
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I just searched worm poop and I'm thinking that's definitely it. Google images worm poop and you will see what I'm talking about.
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gardenstate
Stranger

Registered: 12/04/13
Posts: 622
Last seen: 3 months, 12 days
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Re: Soil or dropping piles forming at drainage hole on plant? [Re: AquaticPuzzle]
#22506568 - 11/10/15 06:50 PM (8 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
AquaticPuzzle said: I just searched worm poop and I'm thinking that's definitely it. Google images worm poop and you will see what I'm talking about.
Hahaha I just did the same it looks identical I guess I have a happy family of worms in my pot
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LSoares
Farmer



Registered: 10/09/13
Posts: 3,209
Loc: Portugal
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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Re: Soil or dropping piles forming at drainage hole on plant? [Re: gardenstate]
#22507821 - 11/11/15 01:39 AM (8 years, 2 months ago) |
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Worms wouldn't come out or throw out anything, that's some other animal's doing. I once had a resident colony of leaf-cutter wasps on a clay pot of Cylindropuntia tunicata that would leave small mounds of soil outside the drainage hole. I would water the hell out of the plant till water came rushing out and the wasps left in fury, but they would always come back and since the plant was growing anyway I stopped worrying.
(repotting was not a very realistic option and you will know why if you google that species)
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Spanishfly
$$$Rich€€€Bich£££



Registered: 03/19/12
Posts: 1,851
Loc: Spain
Last seen: 6 years, 26 days
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Re: Soil or dropping piles forming at drainage hole on plant? [Re: LSoares]
#22507974 - 11/11/15 04:22 AM (8 years, 2 months ago) |
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I think it is just soil falling out - normally prevented by putting a piece of crock or tile on the inside.
-------------------- I am currently BANNED from using Private Messages - so can anyone who wants to contact me do it via my Journal thread. Link is https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/23831115 Maybe some mod or whatever might think this has now been long enough.
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El Torcho
Time for tea?


Registered: 04/16/15
Posts: 1,365
Loc: Lone Pine Hill
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Re: Soil or dropping piles forming at drainage hole on plant? [Re: Spanishfly]
#22508537 - 11/11/15 09:29 AM (8 years, 2 months ago) |
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If some bug is in there and your plants are healthy, why worry? They are probably helping the plant. I always add red worms to my pots/soil mixes.
The last pic looks like soil just falling out, but the macros make the items look very uniform, and very poop like.
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"Well it sounds trivial, but the key insight is . . . . . you don't know shit" ~Dennis McKenna "There is more to human existence and to reality itself than science can ever give us access to." ~His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama
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orison
mcfluffysugarnuts


Registered: 01/19/09
Posts: 5,468
Last seen: 24 days, 14 hours
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Re: Soil or dropping piles forming at drainage hole on plant? [Re: El Torcho]
#22508650 - 11/11/15 10:00 AM (8 years, 2 months ago) |
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mole
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gardenstate
Stranger

Registered: 12/04/13
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Last seen: 3 months, 12 days
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Re: Soil or dropping piles forming at drainage hole on plant? [Re: orison]
#22510134 - 11/11/15 04:27 PM (8 years, 2 months ago) |
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I'm quite certain it's not soil falling out I rarely water it enough for it to come out of the drainage holes and bring soil with it... I agree it appears to be some sort of critter, but like El Torcho said, I'm not too worried they are probably just providing aeration for the roots
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