Question
Round green ball
I finally decided to directly communicate with someone after trying to find websites and forums that described my exact problem. Many came so close I almost feel silly for sending this; however, I am concerned about these round green balls 3mm in diameter that appear on the surface of the soil in both my Ficus lyrata and Ficus elastica. These seem organic, are hard and brittle, and ooze a yellow semi-viscous liquid when popped. I've never seen one develop as I have always simply removed the objects.
I have had previous pests with both plants. F. lyrata had millepedes (quite a lot) and F. elastica had some sort of small gnat that would emerge on the soil surface after watering. I believe both of those problems were properly mitigated, as I took the proper actions, and subsequently made observations. I am at risk of rambling, so I will make sure I send a picture as to give you the visual imagery necessary for my comfort.
AnswerMike,
Are you sure that these are not a time release form of fertilizer that you or someone else in your family may have applied to the plants some time ago and forgotten about? If these are recently purchased plants or have never been repotted they may have even been applied by the nursery the plants originally came from. Time release fertilizer is usually just the sort of ball you indicate. It doesn't appear to be an insect or a mold so I suspect it is fertilizer that simply has not disintigrated like it was supposed to some time ago. I beleive that if you pick the biggest share of them off they will not come back. That will prove that they are not growing. They are simply washing to the surface as you are watering the plant because they are light weight. They are harmless and will not hurt anything. Good luck.
Darlene
