Mold or mealybugs on phal? Sequence of problems with new orchid - Orchid Board

aliceinwl · #4 08-07-2018, 11:51 PM

Mold doesn't usually become a problem unless your media is too old or you are keeping things too wet.

If it's been over a year since re-potting, repotting into new media would be the best option.

If your media is newer than this, it should be pretty much drying out within 7 days. You should wait until the roots look silver to water again. People have had mixed results with the skewer method in the sticky at the top of the forum, but it really helped me to gauge when to water so I think it's worth a try. I still use it on Phals that I over potted or that I can't see any roots through the container.

If your orchid is having some root die off, the dead tissue will tend to mold when things are moist after you water. In these cases, the mold dies back as the pot dries out again, and the next time you water there's less tissue and less mold, until the problem solves itself.

Before I started mixing my own orchiata, perlite, and charcoal media, I bought some packaged media by Better Grow that looked really good: fir bark, perlite, charcoal, coconut chunks, no dust. For whatever reason, the Phals I put in it suffered near complete root death. I didn't see recovery after re-potting until they were able to start pushing new roots. It might take yours awhile to recover now that the growing conditions have improved. My house is pretty dry so I don't have issues with water sitting in the crown and I found misting the root buds on the stems of those Phals really seemed to spur generation of new roots.