Now what? Tiny mushrooms?

[greenpassion]

Being an orchid mom is never ending! Last week, I had posted about one of my phalaenopsis that had a floppy New Leaf. ES responded with info, and I took the suggestion it may need water. I watered it and the new Leaf stood back up as usual. But I have struggled with this new Leaf flopping over since that last post. I pulled it out of the ceramic decorative pot that the actual pot is in. It is clear plastic and I can clearly see the roots. but not only can I see the roots, I see very small thin stemmed mushrooms throughout the mix. Even though she is in Spike and flowered fully bloomed on her old Spike, I'm thinking I need to get her out of that mix and into fresh bark. To tell the truth I can't remember if she is planted and what I bought her in or if I had repotted it. I get a feeling that this is what she came in because none of my other orchids have ever had this. Could this I'm guessing fungal stuff Be the cause of the continually flopping New Leaf? She is otherwise completely healthy. Stiff perky leaves, 8 beautiful flowers on her. It's quite bizarre.

[bil]

Fungal activity merely means that the media is breaking down, and there is plenty of moisture, enough to allow fungal growth.

Just make sure that there is enough air getting to the roots. If the media is starting to compact, then at some point you should repot. I'd suggest using coarse bark that has been sieved to remove all the small bits.

[greenpassion]

Bil, are you saying that the little tiny white mushrooms in the mix is definitely fungal? I will absolutely repot it. Most of my phalaenopsis, specifically the very large ones are in very chunky bark and orchiata.

[syspila]

I have never had problems with Phals and mushrooms in the same pot.

[greenpassion]

Hmm. Interesting. I'll repot and see...

[estación seca]

I don't worry about mushrooms in the pot unless the medium is clearly breaking down, and I am careful not to overwater a plant in a pot with mushrooms.

I don't like to repot Phals going into the cool season. I would prefer to be very careful with watering over the winter, and repot when it warms up. Different people do things differently, though.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I don't worry about mushrooms in the pot unless the medium is clearly breaking down, and I am careful not to overwater a plant in a pot with mushrooms.

I don't like to repot Phals going into the cool season. I would prefer to be very careful with watering over the winter, and repot when it warms up. Different people do things differently, though.

I have never had an issue with repotting Phal in autumn/winter, they carry on with business as usual. But the room they are growing in never gets very cool in the winter, I think the low is 18C (65F) at night. That said, even if it did get really cool I would still repot a Phal if the medium looks very broken down. I'd be wary of going through the winter with medium that easily gets waterlogged, since it's not going to dry out as fast as in summer.

[bil]

Originally Posted by greenpassion

Bil, are you saying that the little tiny white mushrooms in the mix is definitely fungal? I will absolutely repot it. Most of my phalaenopsis, specifically the very large ones are in very chunky bark and orchiata.

Sorry to be pedantic. All mushrooms are fungi, but not all fungi are mmushrooms. The tradiional shaped ones that we eat are mushrooms, but the little ones you see in the media are not true mushrooms, they just have the same shape, albeit way smaller.
It would be damn near impossible to have damp media and not have some level of fungal activity. This increases as the media breaks down.

Personally, if I see fungal activity it doesn't bother me unless the media is breaking down and compacting.

Again, the way to prevent this is to plant in very shallow conntainers. NEVER go above 4 inches deep unless using sieved coarse bark for phals or Cattleyas. When using fine bark, especially i there is an element of moss in there, 3 inches deep is much safer.

[greenpassion]

What does anybody think that that Center New Leaf flopping over is because of this? Or is that a separate issue? It currently is in course bark. And it doesn't really look broken down but it must be I suppose. If the little tiny mushroom things and the floppy New Leaf are separate issues I'm not sure where to proceed from there.

---------- Post added at 10:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:29 AM ----------

Originally Posted by camille1585

I have never had an issue with repotting Phal in autumn/winter, they carry on with business as usual. But the room they are growing in never gets very cool in the winter, I think the low is 18C (65F) at night. That said, even if it did get really cool I would still repot a Phal if the medium looks very broken down. I'd be wary of going through the winter with medium that easily gets waterlogged, since it's not going to dry out as fast as in summer.

I guess I'm going to repot it some point this week. But if the leaf starts to stand up and stay stiff then I will just wait and see ES says
And if it is in the potting medium that I brought it home in this will be a lesson for sure. it's extremely rare that I don't immediately repot when I bring one home, and I think I didn't reply because I was happy that it wasn't bark instead of hacked Moss as so many are from the stores..

[bil]

Originally Posted by greenpassion

What does anybody think that that Center New Leaf flopping over is because of this? Or is that a separate issue? It currently is in course bark. And it doesn't really look broken down but it must be I suppose. If the little tiny mushroom things and the floppy New Leaf are separate issues I'm not sure where to proceed from there.

I would think they were seperate issues. Some of mine get floppy leaves, when they do I ignore it and water as per usual.
WRTo the media, does it allow for easy transfer of air? - if when you water it the water just falls thru, it should be OK.