Fuzzy White Mass on Miltoniopsis

[mycuppybear]

I have a fairly new Miltoniopsis orchid. It looks completely healthy and has 2 beautiful blooms, but when I picked it up to move it today I noticed it has a fuzzy white mass on an area of the top bark medium. It looks like a very fine layer of cotton, which is why I'm thinking it's mealybugs. Then when I picked up the pot, I saw the same fuzzy white stuff hanging from the bottom of it. Weird. The plant is in a plastic pot which is inside a clay pot, and when I took the plastic pot out to look underneath, there were a few tiny tiny bugs crawling at the bottom of the outside clay pot. Does this look like mealybugs, or something else? Maybe spider mites because it does look web-like? Also, would the best thing to do moving forward be to spray some insecticide? I have Safer brand Insect Killing Soap. I do not want to have to repot it so I'm hoping I can try spraying first.

[RosieC]

Could it be some sort of mold?

I don't really know, just a guess.

[Anisa]

Never seen anything like that before but it doesnt look like mold to me. Yes, try insecticide!

[JennS]

It is hard to tell in the picture. Is this stuff attached to the medium or kind of hovering above it?

[mycuppybear]

It is attached to the bark. Sorry, it was hard to get a clear picture that close.

[PaphMadMan]

I think you've just got some mold growing in the media and in the moist nutrient rich environment around the pot. Tiny insects could be fungus gnats or any nmber of other things - probably not harmful except for contributing to media breakdown. Nothing you say or show makes me think of mealybugs or spider mites.

Safers Soap won't hurt so give it a shot, and drenching the media with Physan 20 or a similar product inhibit the mold. I don't think you have a serious problem right now, just signs that the media is breaking down, so you will need to repot soon.

[Lagoon]

Looks like the moss has fungus and fungicides don't seem to work well on this type - it just returns & comes back bigger and better.

Its time to repot!

[JennS]

I agree that it looks like a mold or fungus. Physan will help when you repot. You could try to spray the roots with listerine too when you do repot. The plain one that is not flavored. I do a soak of them in physan first then spray with the listerine right before repotting.