Weird eggs around drainage hole?

AToad · Post by **AToad** » Tue Oct 21, 2014 7:33 pm

Hey All,

I originally posted this under the cacti pests and diseases forum, since my question's not really about the plant itself, however it was suggested that I try this forum instead, incase this is indeed something particular to the plant.

I bought this ponytail palm on a lark in an odds and ends shop about three years ago- it looked healthy, had a racket ball sized pup, and was only five dollars... It was planted in straight compost, so when I got it home, I decided to repot it. When I pulled it out of the pot, clustered all around the drainage hole, on the inside were these tiny yellowish eggs. I removed the eggs and rinsed as much excess soil away from the roots as I could, then repotted it in a fresh, unused mix that I use for my succulents and cacti. Whatever lays these did not seem interested in the caudex or foliage of the plant, and the roots seemed healthy enough as well. The next couple years passed without incident, though I have remained wary of the plant and don't let it sit too near anything else.

In the last two months or so, the pup has begun to shrivel (thought it remains firm to the touch), and the leaves have stopped growing. I turned the pot over only to find that a new, massive, cluster of these eggs has developed - far bigger than the first one I saw. I have just sat for a half hour inspecting the plant, looking for the layer of these eggs, but I cannot ID a culprit. The eggs a very small, perhaps 1-1.5 mm in diameter, slightly fuzzy, completely dry to the touch, and tinted yellow. Attached below are pictures. I have not unpotted it yet, because I am hoping to have a treatment in hand before I give it a fresh pot and potting mix this time, so I don't know if the roots are being eaten or if the bugs might have burrowed into the pup's caudex or something nefarious like that. The mother plant's caudex remains firm, and it hasn't stopped growing or producing new leaves.

My first thought was mealybug, because mealybug CAN eat ponytail palm, and the eggs are slightly fuzzy, but I have never seen mealybug lay eggs that tightly, in that sort of honey comb-esque pattern, also there are no bugs, mealy or otherwise, visible anywhere on the plant. After about an hour of Googling, I think that the closet matches are earwigs on the eggs... but I can't tell. Slug eggs are a little similar, at least in size and shape, but these eggs are totally dry. One of the users on the other thread suggested that it could be a slime mold as well, however, from slimes that I have seen (like, just walking through the forest or something), and a cursory Google search, this stuff does not seem to adhere to the same sort of branching/fractal growth patterns as the slimes do. It may not be clear in the photos, but the little nodes/eggs appear to be individuals, not actually connected to one another, with that slight fuzz covering everything. The potting mix is just 2 parts perlite, 2 parts vermiculite, and 1 part garden compost - is this too much organic material?

Has any of you ever seen these before? If so, do you happen to know whether it is necessary or how to treat them? I'd seriously appreciate any information/advice you might have on them. I worry about bees, so I try not to use insecticides, but if I need to, I will, and I will just make a note not to compost this potting media.

I am in Upstate Ny in USDA Zone 5b.

Thank you so much for you time!

-A

Saxicola · Post by **Saxicola** » Tue Oct 21, 2014 10:20 pm

Pesticide won't do you any good because it is a fungus. It is harmless, though I think it is the same fungus that will occasionally make yellow mushrooms in a pot. It will disappear before long.