White dots in my Paphiopedilum Medium

[genocyber]

Hello everyone, today when I was checking my orchid, I saw a couple of white dots in the medium. I started checking more in detail, and I found a lot of them in the medium. I would like to know if this is normal or if the medium has a fungi outbreak, and I need to replace the medium. I will hate to do this because my orchid is in bloom, and I don’t what to shock it. If I need to replace the medium could you please provide me some suggestions of what to use because this is the first time I have a Paphiopedilum.

Below are some pictures of the white dots and the orchid.

Best Regards,

Hector

[billc]

Hi Hector. The white dots are certainly not normal, it's probably some sort of fungus. If it was me, I'd try some hydrogen peroxide poured thru the mix. You could repot it, paphs don't mind being repotted at any time in their growth cycle, but sometimes you'll wind up damaging the flower stalk.
If you don't repot now, you should certainly do it after the blooms dies.

Bill

[genocyber]

Originally Posted by billc

Hi Hector. The white dots are certainly not normal, it's probably some sort of fungus. If it was me, I'd try some hydrogen peroxide poured thru the mix. You could repot it, paphs don't mind being repotted at any time in their growth cycle, but sometimes you'll wind up damaging the flower stalk.
If you don't repot now, you should certainly do it after the blooms dies.

Bill

Thanks for the quick response Bill, if I use Hydrogen Peroxide, I let it run through the medium, and then I run clear water? About repotting it what will you recommend? For my other orchids, I use a mix of Moss and Tree Bark. Will you recommend a mix of 50/50 or something different? What I read is that Paphs don’t like to have exposed roots, so I need to make sure that they are covered. Is my information correct?

Hector

[SJF]

Originally Posted by genocyber

Hello everyone, today when I was checking my orchid, I saw a couple of white dots in the medium. I started checking more in detail, and I found a lot of them in the medium. I would like to know if this is normal or if the medium has a fungi outbreak, and I need to replace the medium. I will hate to do this because my orchid is in bloom, and I don’t what to shock it. If I need to replace the medium could you please provide me some suggestions of what to use because this is the first time I have a Paphiopedilum.

Below are some pictures of the white dots and the orchid.

Best Regards,

Hector

Is this a new acquisition? If so, it could be Epsom salt. If not, insect eggs of some kind?

[NYCorchidman]

I wouldn't repot the plant. Paphs are not "immune" to repot. They are plants after all. You do risk losing the flower if you repot. You may not lose it but why risk when you can otherwise enjoy the bloom for a long long time.

Also, paphs have very fine hair like structures on their roots, and repotting may disrupt the relationship between these hairs and potting mix.
Your paph looks like it has a previous flowered old fan and the current fan with a spike on it. This means it won't initiate a new fan until after flowering is finished.
That is a better time to repot if you wish to repot this plant.

I had those exact same little white eggs on one of my paph as well last month. Well, whether they are eggs or fungal growth of some sort, I'm not sure, but I thought it was odd and looked very gross to me.

What I did was that I gently scooped them out using little tweezer and ear wax cleaner thing. then put some fresh moss to replace what was taken out.
I haven't seen those little white stuff ever since.

By the way, do you know the name of your paph??
I love vini paph and I would love to have yours when it gets big enough to be divided in the future.

Could you post the frontal shot if possible?
I really like the dark color and the shine to the flower.

Thanks in advance!

[genocyber]

Originally Posted by SJF

Is this a new acquisition? If so, it could be Epsom salt. If not, insect eggs of some kind?

This is not that new, I got this orchid 2 months ago, and I never say that white stuff. It atcually appeared a couple of days ago.

---------- Post added at 08:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

I wouldn't repot the plant. Paphs are not "immune" to repot. They are plants after all. You do risk losing the flower if you repot. You may not lose it but why risk when you can otherwise enjoy the bloom for a long long time.

Also, paphs have very fine hair like structures on their roots, and repotting may disrupt the relationship between these hairs and potting mix.

Your paph looks like it has a previous flowered old fan and the current fan with a spike on it. This means it won't initiate a new fan until after flowering is finished.
That is a better time to repot if you wish to repot this plant.

I had those exact same little white eggs on one of my paph as well last month. Well, whether they are eggs or fungal growth of some sort, I'm not sure, but I thought it was odd and looked very gross to me.

What I did was that I gently scooped them out using little tweezer and ear wax cleaner thing. then put some fresh moss to replace what was taken out.
I haven't seen those little white stuff ever since.

By the way, do you know the name of your paph??
I love vini paph and I would love to have yours when it gets big enough to be divided in the future.

Could you post the frontal shot if possible?
I really like the dark color and the shine to the flower.

Thanks in advance!

NYCorchidman, I will wait to report the orchid. My only concern is why type of medium is the best for Paphs? I usually report my phalaenopsis in a 50/50 mix of tree bark and orchid moss. Tomorrow I will remove all the white stuff from the medium and place new orchid moss. About the name if the orchid the truth is that I don't remember the name and there is no Tag.

About the picture, I will take some nice pictures tomorrow and post them in here so you can see it. I love the color of the flower, is kind of a Dark Bugundy color.

Hector
Hector

[NYCorchidman]

Thanks for the reply!

I would still love a piece of this plant even if it doesn't have a name.

For best mix for paphs, well, different people use different things.
Most paphs that I buy come from 100% moss or 100% bark (small grade). Sometimes, they are planted in some fine peat like mix with perlite and bark chips added in it.

I repot them into a paph mix by repotme.
It has a coconut husk chips, perlite, hydroton balls among others, and it has worked very well for my paphs so far.

I think anything that retains moisture while providing great drainage is great for paphs.

You could use 50/50 of bark and moss for paphs, but for this type of paphs, I would use small or medium grade bark instead of large chips.

[SJF]

Tindara has an orchid mix that I have had good results with for paphs, phals, onc. int. and some Catts that needed to establish better root systems.

From their website:
"Tindara's All Purpose Orchid Mix is a high quality, premium orchid growing medium & orchid potting mix enriched with micronutrients!

Proven results internationally with unprecedented success! If you want a tested and proven orchid potting mix then you have to try our orchid mix. Consisting of coconut husk chips, perlite, charcoal, aliflor and other unique ingredients, it provides excellent aeration to the root system with just the right amount of moisture retention that orchids require."

[NYCorchidman]

They never responded to my email. Maybe their email is old and dead. lol

[genocyber]

As promised, here are more pictures of the bloom. Also, while I was taking the pictures of the orchid, I realized some damage in the leaves. The damage looks like dry blister or skin burns. Do you have an idea of what will make this?
Hector