White Mold in Media...HELP!!!!

[DontPhalMeNow]

HELP ME! I have a hard white mold inside my orchid media! I notices mushrooms popping out of the pot holes. I was about to repot it when I noticed that the entire potting media is clumped together and coated in a white mildewy substance. What do I do to get rid of this stuff? And how do I go about repotting it?

[escualida]

Don't freak out I think your best course of action is just to repot it in fresh media. What kind of orchid is this, is it a Phalaenopsis?

[Bloomin_Aussie]

Yes I get that junk occasionally. It doesn't attack the plant however it restricts air and water flow through the media so can end up causing damage to the roots indirectly if left too long. Best to repot into new medium and water through with a fungicide to ensure whatever is left on the roots doesn't reintroduce it.

[Rowangreen]

It also sounds like things are possibly staying a bit damp in there (especially if the orchid is a phalaenopsis). Assuming it is a phal... once you re-pot if it's a bark based media and you've got a clear pot, then only water when the roots you can see inside the pot are starting to go silvery. You might also want to punch some extra holes in your pot to increase the air that's getting in.

PS: I don't worry too much about a few small spots of mold, but it does sound like yours has totally taken over!

[DontPhalMeNow]

Originally Posted by escualida

Don't freak out I think your best course of action is just to repot it in fresh media. What kind of orchid is this, is it a Phalaenopsis?

I lost all my tags to what kind of orchids I have but I'm 90% sure it's a dendrobium.

---------- Post added at 12:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Bloomin_Aussie

Yes I get that junk occasionally. It doesn't attack the plant however it restricts air and water flow through the media so can end up causing damage to the roots indirectly if left too long. Best to repot into new medium and water through with a fungicide to ensure whatever is left on the roots doesn't reintroduce it.

Should I soak it in a fungicide to loosen up the junk? I'm afraid if I just attempt to pull out my dendro it might break off all my roots

[Rowangreen]

If it needs soaking I'd put it in a tub of room temperature water.

I'm not so good on dends, but if it's one then there's some need a dry rest, so maybe that's where things went wrong. Can you post pictures? Flowers (if you have pics), plant then and now and roots now would be good.

[Bud]

I had molds and mushrooms come out of my media mix before, at first it didn't bother me because I like the way the mold and mushrooms aesthetically covered my pot....it was a couple of weeks when I noticed one leaf infested with fungi and I decided to nuke it with Listerine and repot to change media mix.
Molds and algae always come back once they have infested the roots of the plant; I just clean and spray them again....

[AnonYMouse]

I control mold and algae with regular sprays of hydrogen peroxide.

I have Physan 20 but I don't think its very effective (I've stopped using it). I have on rare occasions resorted to very dilute bleach solution (plant, pot, media) dunking.