White fuz in my bark medium!
 

Hi friends! New orchid keeper here.

I've picked up two phals and an oncidiu over the past couple weeks after wanting to join the orchid world for a while. So far, things have been going okay.

One of my phals started dropping some of it's flowers a few days ago. The leaves and stems seem healthy to my eye so I haven't been worried. But yesterday I noticed some white fuzzies in the bark medium.

There's a picture attached. You can see it near the bottom of the container. There's a few patches like that.

Wuh oh! Does this call for emergency action? I assume this stuff is mold or some other fungus. Is it already too late? Should I repot into a new medium and was off the roots?

Thanks for your help, flower folk!

Welcome to OrchidBoard.

That picture isn't clear enough for me to really tell what is going on. Is the plant in a glass bowl or is it just sitting in one. can't really tell. And is the white stuff down in the pot?

White fuzzy things could be 3 things that immediately come to mind:
Mold if media kept too wet. It should get almost dry before watering again. And have good aeration and drainage. Never sitting in water.

Mealy bugs are a good size and fuzzy and white. You would likely see them on the plant also.

immature scale is fuzzy and white and often mistaken for mould. Usually I have seen it at the base of a plant.

In both bug cases, you need to isolate the plant or it will spread.

It is likely mould in the media but without a better photo, I really can't tell.

It's in a clear plastic pot — a typical orchid pot, I understand.

It's definitely not mealy bugs or scale. I'm fairly certain it's some sort of fungus. It's a thin, white layer; almost like fuzzy paint.

Here's a hopefully better picture (my only camera is a phone)

I might need to get better air circulation going on in here, since I've watered twice, one week apart. It's a bit too chilly to leave the window open I think.

Does the presence of fungus call for immediate repotting? I suppose fungus isn't typically bad for plants, and repotting at this stage could be harmful to it.

Phals usually don't even mind re-potting while in bloom. So since the flowers are done, I would consider a re-pot. Your pot looks very wet, so I assume you just watered?? Is the media in good shape or somewhat broken down. Do you know how old the media is? These should be almost dry before watering again. If it is older media that could take a while. Mould usually occurs in wet conditions so I would assume the media is very old or it is being kept too wet. You do have some good roots. The roots will be silvery colour when dry and then it is time to water again.

Looks pretty normal tbh, from what I can see. I like to repot mine in large bark chunks, no moss, and in a much bigger, but shallow pot.

I did just water them yesterday.

It's hard for me to tell how broken down the medium is. It certainly doesn't look fresh. I believe it is quite old, as the store actually has actually just put the plants on sale, so I imagine that they've been sitting on the shelves for a while.

There are still a few flowers on the plant (it lost about half of them). But if it isn't too dangerous to repot them in bloom then I'll probably give it a shot. I'll also look into getting a fan to improve circulation.

Thanks so much for the advice! I didn't realize you could wait until the roots went gray to water. I figured that by the time the outer roots were graying the plant would be in trouble.

@bil Yeah I think I'm going to pot these phals up. I understand that they are typically kept root bound, but these particular plants seem pretty root bound to me. I'm going to try to find some slightly wider pots for them.

If you give it an airy enough media and good drain and air holes in the pot, it will dry at a much more even rate. Otherwise the top gets real dry and the bottom stays wet. I like medium bark that has been soaked (I usually microwave mine immersed in water in a pyrex bowl for 5 minutes). I add a bit of moss to help add a bit of moisture. Remember new bark dries out much faster than old bark.

If the bottom roots are always wet, then they will eventually rot. You can also use a bamboo kebab skewer. Insert it into the pot and use it to test how wet or dry it is down in the pot. Pull it out and test and place it back until you test again. Water when the stick is nearly dry. You can mist the top roots when they are silver if you want but don't let water sit in the crown of the leaves.

If you have eliminated mealy bug and scale, it probably is snow mold. Repot in fresh mix and visit the sticky at the top of the Beginner forum for "The Phal Abuse Ends Here" for useful hints on anything having to do with Phal culture.

If someone could provide me with good reason to keep them pot bound, I'd do it. I just look at the knotted roots the dead and damaged ones where they have forced their way thru the small slits and I just feel sad. No plant is 'meant' to be like that surely?

I read that thread as soon as I brought the phals home :)

I feel that way too! I just don't want to rock the boat too much as I'm learning. I'm going to see if I can find some wide, slatted clear pots.