Mold, mold mold! It keeps reappearing! I'm not panicking… yet!

[isurus79]

Mold is not a problem!! It often shows up in newly repotted pots, terrarium, etc. and usually goes away on its own. If you unpot your plant and throw away the media, it will simply come back in the new pot and start all over again. Mold will not hurt you plants and will go away all by itself with some time and good air movement.

The best way to hurt your plants is to try and eliminate mold with cinnamon or repeatedly try to repot with new media!

[Iray]

Hi I have mold on my already-messed up-phal roots too...I used cinnamon to stop rot and dried the leaves and now they are growing mold...not nice! Let us know if something works fine for you!

[orchids44]

Since the orchids are close to the window it is probably too cold for the phal. They like warmer days than your temperature. Avoid drafty areas as well.
Try and check the medium before watering, once a week may be too much now since you have less roots than originally.
Hang in there! Sometimes neglect is a form of TLC !!!

[Iray]

BTW,should the plant be separated from the rest of the collection?

[gravotrope]

yes it should. mold is the type of fungus where if you can see it, then there are spores ready to go. peroxide really works, you can use straight 3% right out of the bottle, but if it sits or pools on your plant there will be damage eventually.

as for being unsure if peroxide caused roots to wither, i would say definitely 100% chance that is not the case. the mold started to eat the root cells, then you killed the mold with peroxide. the root cells do not regrow, they were eaten by hyphae.

peroxide is a great treatment since it also brings oxygen to the roots. if you are at all dubious, then after about 5 minutes of treatment with anything less than 3% (meaning peroxide plus water) you can water or spray everything down with just plain water. i would reccomend that anyways though...just to make sure it doesnt sit anywhere it shouldn't be.

also i treat with dollar store uncoated aspirn once a month or less to beef up plant immunity, but you have to treat your plants similarly with a rinse since it is a weak acid.

[Iray]

Oh I see..
Have to find a place for it then! Not easy since I got plants in almost every room! Lol
Problem is that I'm trying to keep the plant on the dry side so is a bit of a dilemma whether to treat it and rinse it or just let it be...

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Iray

Oh I see..
Have to find a place for it then! Not easy since I got plants in almost every room! Lol
Problem is that I'm trying to keep the plant on the dry side so is a bit of a dilemma whether to treat it and rinse it or just let it be...

Again, mold doesn't hurt your plant. Cinnamon on roots will definitely hurt the roots. Mold has a growth cycle where it explodes with growth on new media in certain environments and then goes away. Get better air movement on your plants to speed up the cycle and the mold will disappear on its own.

[Iray]

Yea I agree with isurus79 about cinnamon. It ruined 2phals of mine by drying the roots like crazy. Now one plant has no roots and the other little left, not even sure it's gonna survive!
What you said about the moldis very reassuring! Thank you!

[Leafmite]

I grow all my orchids in lava rock, LECA and basket pots (or mounted) and this really helps keeping the roots healthy and free of mold or fungus by drying quickly and allowing fresh air to reach the roots. Having grown other types of plants all my life, I just could never quite get the hang of watering orchids quite right and, now, I don't ever need to worry about watering them too often.
Good luck with your orchids!

---------- Post added at 05:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:14 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Iray

Yea I agree with isurus79 about cinnamon. It ruined 2phals of mine by drying the roots like crazy. Now one plant has no roots and the other little left, not even sure it's gonna survive!
What you said about the moldis very reassuring! Thank you!

Sorry to here about your Phals. I hope they will recover.

[Iray]

@leafmite, I use expanded clay, is it the same as leca? Or I'd there any difference?