Too much rain in South FL?

[gutchin]

We have been getting a large amount of rain lately, and my phals have developed a black, sooty-type mold on the blossoms. Could it be the rain? I also have a lizard that lives amongst them--could he be spreading it from plant to plant? Should I cut off the affected blossoms? Should I spray, and if so, what? I don't see any insects. Also, am I supposed to move them under an overhang when it pours?

[Ross]

Perhaps sooty mold? Or some form of mildew? Yes the lizard could be spreading it, but also any air movement will spread molds and mildew spores about as well. A good fungicide might help limit spread a bit.

[gutchin]

I have all my phals outside in a screen enclosure. It is getting hot, and I wonder if this will weaken them and they will die??????????????

[Gwenchanter]

Yeah it's been raining quite a bit lately. Actually there was quite a bad storm for a few hours yesterday and the wind picked up and 4 of my orchids got knocked over, one of which had a developing seed pod which got broken off dangit!!

There is something called botrytis (not sure if i spelled that right) it looks like black spots on the flowers. I've never had mold on flowers because I grow on a patio that is completely open on two sides and so has a lot of ventilation, but, one of plants which is mounted to a tree got rained on day after day and the flowers could not dry off and therefore it got botrytis. As far as I know there isn't anything you can do once the flowers are ruined but there are things you can spray on them to prevent them from getting it ahead of time. I have no idea if this is what you have or not, it could be some type of mold if it looks like soot.

It would be really good if you could post a picture, but yes the answer to your question is that if it's possible to move your plants out of the rain you absolutely should. Phals actually do the very best when the roots are kept moist but ventilated, and the rest of the plant is kept dry, especially here in south florida in the summertime, because of the high humidity and high chance for rot/mold/fungus/bugs which all thrive in wet conditions. After watering, if I accidentally got any part of the plant besides the medium and roots wet, I wipe it dry with a tea towel, and so far, I have not had to use any pesticides or sprays and have not had any diseases or infestation problems.

I also have lizards, geckos, and sometimes even frogs living amongst my orchids and they can leave a bit of a mess sometimes but I try to keep everything as clean as possible.