Fusarium solani bloom on roots.

[Vsol]

I purchaded this orchid a month ago and it was looking a little sad so i went to repot it and found some small orange balls in the roots. I cut iff all dead roots and after reading a thread on here about Fusarium solani found i had the sexual phase of this fungus. I soaked the roots in a water/hydrogen preoxide mix after cleaning the roots well as recommended. I left for two night and came back to what looks like a fungus bloom in the water covering the roots.

I attached some photos of the roots as well as two photos I found of the plant before this happened. Im not positive what type of orchid it is. It has curly flower stems which I'm not sure is intentional or they didn't stake them. If anyone has an ID that would be appreciated.

I am wondering if this is salvageable or if I have to trash the plant. I am so sad I loved this little Orchid

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Most people need to make 5 posts before they can post photos. It's an anti-spam feature. Hit Reply to my post, type something and post it. Maybe go to other threads and post something like Pretty! to other people's photos. When you make 5 posts come back here and post your photos.

Are you sure the small balls aren't time-release fertilizer granules? Fusarium is not very common at all.

Soaking orchid roots for more than overnight isn't ever a good idea. Hydrogen peroxide harms roots. It is unfortunate there are so many mentions of treating roots with it, all over the Internet. White or grey cottony or filamentous mold often grows on dead plant tissue, but is not usually indicative of living plant infestation.

And if your plant did have a fungal infection, hydrogen peroxide would only kill the parts of the fungus outside the plant. You would need to use a systemic fungicide specifically known to kill the fungus infecting your plant. Not all fungicides kill all types of fungus.

[Vsol]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Most people need to make 5 posts before they can post photos. It's an anti-spam feature. Hit Reply to my post, type something and post it. Maybe go to other threads and post something like Pretty! to other people's photos. When you make 5 posts come back here and post your photos.

Are you sure the small balls aren't time-release fertilizer granules? Fusarium is not very common at all.

Soaking orchid roots for more than overnight isn't ever a good idea. Hydrogen peroxide harms roots. It is unfortunate there are so many mentions of treating roots with it, all over the Internet. White or grey cottony or filamentous mold often grows on dead plant tissue, but is not usually indicative of living plant infestation.

Thank you! Yes it definitely is not fertilizer. Ive looked up what the Fusarium solani looks like and its exactly that. I have made a couple other posts so ill hit five and get back to you. Thank you!

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Here is a photo of the roots with the fungus or algae

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Lets see if this works

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[estación seca]

Looks like you're trying to post photos. It is cumbersome. Below the text box click Go Advanced. Scroll down to Manage Attachments. In the box that opens click Choose File. Repeat for more photos. Then hit Upload. The photos should appear in your post. You can use the Preview Post button to confirm before posting.

[Vsol]

Okay here are the photos. Thank you for your help!

[estación seca]

It looks like the base of the plant is soft, black and slimy. It is unfortunately dead. I would wrap it in a plastic bag and throw it away. The white strands are growing on dead tissue under the water. Soaking a sick orchid almost always finishes it off.

I would suggest you read a bit in the thread "The Phal abuse ends here." From the left yellow menu click on Forums, then Beginner Discussion, then look near the top of the listing for sticky threads. Once you figure it out you will grow beautiful Phals.

[Token]

I'm not sure what that white slime is. Maybe the hydrogen peroxide turned everything into sludge. The roots are certainly in no good condition which would not be the end of the world but the stem looks completely covered in fungus/slime too,

You could try salvaging it but I've had better looking cases not make it so I would personally bin it instead of spending 2-3 years trying to get it to look like it once did.

When you said water/hydrogen peroxide mix - I thought good, he didn't use full concentration but you don't mention what concentration you did actually use. 0.5% is safe for roots. Pharmaceutical grade ends up dissolving roots if left in it overnight.

If you want to save it you will need to get a tissue and rub all the slime off. Don't be gentle, I can see half of your roots should pull off if you do it properly as half your roots are dead (after you already removed a bunch of dead roots)

Then see what condition the stem is in. The stem is the most important bit, if that is brown or soft it will have stem rot and be too hard to save.

If it hasn't got stem rot it could grow some new roots but it will be a long recovery

[Vsol]

Thank you! I will evaluate it and see if its possible to save

[DrDawn]

Those roots definitely look very unhealthy and overwatered. For comparison, I'm attaching a pic of a relatively healthy Phal that I was repotting last month. You're looking for lots of nice firm roots, often green if they are getting light.

The number of roots and the condition for your little Phal are quite poor. As ES suggested, read the info about Phals from the stickies on the Beginner Board, that will give you some good starting info! The number one issue that I see is overwatering. Almost no-one underwaters them. I grow a bunch of Phals on a windowsill in my house, feel free to ask if you have more questions!

[SouthPark]

vsol ----- step 1 is probably to wash off all of that slime mold white fuzz from the whole plant. Cut off any mushy roots.

Then wipe down the plant including roots. Then, allow the whole plant including roots to dry right out - providing some gentle air-movement.

Do NOT apply any hydrogen peroxide to the roots.

And, if the base of the plant isn't mushy and still relatively firm ------ either use the 'sphag and bag' method (eg. google 'sphag and bag orchidboard'), or pot the orchid into coarse bark or coarse scoria (lava rock), in a pot that has excellent drainage ------ which means water exits the pot easily through drainage holes, and no water collects at the bottom of the pot.

If the base of the plant has turned to mush (very soft), then that would most likely be an unrecoverable situation - ie. not much chance or even no chance of surviving. Here, you could still try sphag and bag method, but probably a one-way ticket to where-ever the plants go after they ...... (eg. into the ground, or into the compost or bin etc).

Note that the water culture method is based on roots growing to meet or (as Jamie Oliver says it) 'kiss' the watery media ..... meeting the watery media on its own terms, where the roots somehow become adapted to a watery environment, or lower oxygen level watery environment ----- ie. the adapted root's metabolism is different from regular roots - can handle less oxygen or something.

Anyway, if you choose to grow in regular media - bark, scoria (lava rock), etc .... or any media, then the following info could become handy later for you:

Click Here and Click Here and Click Here and Click Here and Click Here

Also ----- your thread title mentions - fusarium bloom. Does fusarium actually look like that white fuzz? If not, and if there's no details that indicate that white fuzz is fusarium, then probably not a good idea to assume it's fusarium ------ as I don't think fusarium looks like white fuzz, right?

Anyway - good luck and all the best!