Cobweb mould
 

Hi everyone - Happy Friday! Two of my phals have developed a cobweb mould. When I spotted it last weekend I repotted them in sterilized Leca after dunking both of the plants in bleach. Today the stuff is back! I thought I had given them a new start but apparently not. Plan to increase to strength of the bleach solution - is 2 TBL per 1/2 litre (2 c) of water too strong for the plants? And now I'll have to bleach the Leca before I reuse it. Any other ideas? I put these 2 on a heat mat for the week - their roots aren't as developed as I would like. Where does this mould come from anyway? I sure don't want to see it on anything else.

You might try brown listerine or isopropyl alcohol, neither diluted.

Cobwebs sound like it could be a heavy infestation of
mealybug. I would suggest wiping off as much as you can from the plant (maybe using a cotton swab dampened with an alcohol or listerine solution and then spraying with an insecticide. Good luck!

:)

Shirley, you are correct, but there is also such a thing as "cobweb mold."

Try to post some pics so maybe we can id whats going on with your plants. But wiping down with alcohol is a good start.

Its not so much much on the plants, but on the roots and the leca no Im sure its cobweb mold - will alcohol treat that as well?

alcohol should treat any kind of mold. A lot of people here will spray the roots with brown listerine before repotting.
I would have thought the bleach would have done it as well, but who knows. It's recommended to never use a bleach solution stronger than 1tsp/1gal for orchids.

For the alcohol, you can just slowly pour it through the media just as if you were watering, and try to get it into all areas.

Cleaning your growing area might help as well?