Laelia question

[orchid lady]

Hello, I got this Laelia ?? today and as shown on the photos the plant is full of these green build up (mold?). How can I get rid of this and is it hurting the plant? It also came along with the Spanish moss, I'm assuming for decorative purposes.

Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated

[wetfeet101b]

Those roots were most likely dead before the algae started to colonize the exterior.
With living roots, there would be some algae colonization but not to that extent.

Check the roots. If they are still alive then the algae would be benign and would actually help to hold moisture. Since the plant is mounted, it would need all the help it can get with keeping moisture available.
If the roots are dead, remove them as they are just invitation to more infection.

[Becky15349]

Yeah John is exactly right - the algae won't hurt the roots really; it just means that the plant was growing in an extremely humid environment before you received it. I'd be more concerned about dead roots, if there are any (I don't see any)...as time goes by, that algae will kinda disappear unless your conditions are that humid also.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

The plant looks really healthy, so the roots are probably fine. Be sure to keep the humidity up around this one so that it doesn't feel shock from a different (dry) environment.

Cheers,
BD

[orchid lady]

Thanks guys. I just noticed this morning while spraying it with water that the algae started to get wash off. The nursery where I got from is just an enclosed place (not a greenhouse) and there's probably not a whole lot of difference in the humidity.