What are these little red things on my orchid roots?

[spinrah]

Any idea what this is? The orchid itself is not doing well... pretty much all the leaves have fallen.

[estación seca]

That's fungus growing on dead or dying tissue. I can't see the rest of the plant so I don't know how bad is the problem.

[Keysguy]

Think it's fungus seca?
My first guess was some sort of insect eggs because they look perfectly round for the most part in that 2nd picture.
I think I'm also seeing some serious mealy bug action.

[Orchidtinkerer]

most likely snail eggs.

[camille1585]

It could very well be fungus. The sexual morph of Fusarium solani (this morph is called Nectria haematococca) makes small red/orange balls similar to your photos. it is saprophytic, meaning it feeds on dead and decaying plant issue, as seems to be the case in your photo.

[spinrah]

Thanks everyone, I think fungus is a good guess. I don’t see any mealy bugs, I think it might just be the lighting in the photo that makes the white spots appear that way. I had thought about eggs at first too, but in person it looks very powdery. I’m also not seeing any other indication of pests. And it makes sense that it would be fungus because this is an old orchid that lived in very decayed sphagnum moss for months before I was able to rescue and repot it. I think the reporting may have been too little too late. All the leaves have now fallen and the crown is rotted. Not many salvageable roots left either. I guess my attempt to save it failed.

[Orchidtinkerer]

Sorry to hear but very wise to make a rational logical decision about the chances of recovery.
There is still a chance though, the best way would be a constant dry wet cycle to dry any fungus but provide enough moisture for the orchid which would require keeping the orchid bareroot in a vase and spraying the roots daily which is a lot of work for a slim chance of success...
If I have the space I usually attempt to save an orchid but most of the time it is not worth it.

[spinrah]

Originally Posted by Orchidtinkerer

Sorry to hear but very wise to make a rational logical decision about the chances of recovery.
There is still a chance though, the best way would be a constant dry wet cycle to dry any fungus but provide enough moisture for the orchid which would require keeping the orchid bareroot in a vase and spraying the roots daily which is a lot of work for a slim chance of success...
If I have the space I usually attempt to save an orchid but most of the time it is not worth it.

Yeah, I'm a pretty amateur windowsill orchid grower. I just decided to give up on it unfortunately.

[estación seca]

What are your day/night temperatures? What kind of light?

[spinrah]

Originally Posted by estación seca

What are your day/night temperatures? What kind of light?

The temperature in the house for the winter is consistently at 68F. The humidity level is at 50%. Daylight is shorter here during the winter, but I supplement after 5pm with 3 additional hours of LED lighting.