AusBonsai

Hi,

2 of my willow leaf figs have these white dots growing at the bottom of the root ball. Is it some type of fungus or root rot? I've gotten rid of the wooden grow box in the first picture. Second picture is the rootball.
I cleaned the bits i could see on the roots and sprayed with an anti-fungul, i've also put stones/gravel at the bottom of a new pot in case it was from the roots sitting in water??

Any help appreciated. The tree doesn't look like its dying, just lost its vigour.

Hi Eusto,
I'm pretty sure most root rot is fungal. The white in your pics looks like mycelium so is some sort of fungus but you must realise that there are many good fungi and only a few bad ones. Impossible to tell the difference between good and bad from a pic of the mycelium.

It is possible that the fungus is affecting your tree but I think far more likely something else - lack of fert, not repotted, too dry, too cold, not enough light, etc??? The fungicide treatment will probably get rid of it whether it is good or bad.

Putting stones in the bottom of a pot does not always help with drainage. It often just raises the wet area to above the stones. (There are some posts on ausbonsai somewhere outlining the science behind this) Far better to adjust the potting mix to give better drainage or adjust your watering to match the capability of the potting mix you use.

Hope your tree starts to look better

Cheers Shibui,

Yeh i didn't want to disturb the roots too much and change the mix at this time of year. I will look at doing that for all my willows in Spring.