What is this nasty stuff in my soil??

[ItsMike64]

Hey everyone! Hope you’re all staying safe in this winter storm that’s ripping through the east coast! I noticed today that there was some gross white crust that almost looks like sandpaper or coral on the soil of my plants. It doesn’t look like mold that I’m used to but who knows, it could be. Has anyone ever encountered this? I’m using natures made organic raised bed soil because believe it or not this was the only potting type soil I could find between lowes and Home Depot that didn’t have perlite. If someone could give me some advise here, that’d be great!

 

[Kamikaze Chameleon]

Are you using tap water?

 

[ItsMike64]

Are you using tap water?

Yes I am but it’s good tap and I filter it most of the time, could that be causing this?

 

[Pickle-cham]

Looks to be Salt build up to me but could be from hard water i suppose but take a while to build up. Definitely doesn't look like mycelium which is another white substance that can appear on potting soils

 

[ItsMike64]

So strange!! I scraped it off and we’ll see if it comes back…