Help Fungus or Mold

[Flower Fool]

I have a baby Cattleya (Blc. Blanche Aisaka 'Yuki' FCC.AOS X Lc. Melody Fair 'Carol') that appears to have a white mold or fungus. What is it and can I use hydrogen peroxide to remove this white fluffy stuff? I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures a photographer I am not.

[estación seca]

You have scale and perhaps mealy bugs on your plant. The infestation is so bad I would unpot the plant, remove the media and gently clean with a soft brush plus barely soapy water. That will reduce the bug count but not eliminate them. I don't know what treatments are available in Canada but somebody will probably jump in.

[Flower Fool]

Thank You for your reply. Is this contagious? I have several other baby cattleya's in the same area.

[Roberta]

OH YES... hopefully the critters haven't moved to the neigbboring plants yet, all the more reason to get this one cleaned up. Do be on the lookout for signs of intestation and be ready to pounce.

[Flower Fool]

Thank you Estacion & Roberta.
I have cleaned up and repotted the plant in the picture. I had some bark soaking as I was planning on repotting all of them tomorrow. I didn't see anything on the other plants, but I wiped them down with some soapy water. Will repot the rest tomorrow.
Again, thank you for your responses.

[Roberta]

If the other plants aren't showing problems and aren't at the "right" stage for potting (new roots starting) it would be better to just wait and watch. The soapy water wipe (you can spray it too, to get into the crevices) may nip the nasties before they get a foothold. If they're starting to root, then it's a good time. But if not, it's a balancing act between quick action to possibly head off the critters and the risk of settng them back it it's not a good potting. Your choice... The infested one absolutely needed "the works".

[Dimples]

You can also regularly spritz your orchids with 70% rubbing/isopropyl alcohol to help kill the MBs. It gets into the cracks and crevices and then dries quickly. Not sure if it’s quite as effective on scale, I haven’t had scale on indoor plants.

[Roberta]

Those little bumps are definitely scale... clean off well, under those shells are eggs for the next generation. I strongly suspect all the stuff is scale at various life stages. (I never had much problem with mealies on Catts, but scale is another story... Catts are scale magnets. And have lots of places to hide. )

[estación seca]

For smaller infestations I completely submerge and soak plants in just barely soapy water for 6-12 hours. This drowns the bugs plus eggs. I rarely need to repeat this.

For a bad infestation, like this, I would not do the soak. There are lots of punctures made by the bugs through which soapy water could enter the plant and damage it. I would treat the plant and be watchful. If any scale reappear I would soak then, after the plant has scarred over the previous punctures.

[Flower Fool]

Thank you everyone for all your helpful advice.
I repotted all the babies today as they were all growing new roots. I rinsed the roots with soapy water that I added alcohol to. I have a question regarding spraying them with the alcohol. If it gets down into the leaves will this cause crown rot. (Like a Phal. if you get water into the leaves it will cause crown rot.) Also, the only isopropyl alcohol I have is 99%, I assume this would have to be diluted.
Do you just spray the whole plant?
All the help I can get to help these little babies survive and thrive would be very appreciated.
Thank You