I've been jinxed!

[OrchidTraci]

Ever since Brutal made a pest comment, weird things have been showing up. Today I discovered in my phal (the other extra huge picture I displayed) that was recently repotted, had fuzz growing off og the brand new medium I purchased. It isn't mealies, I know what those look like. It is the most bizzare thing I have ever encountered. Do you think I got a batch of bad chips? I hope not, I don't want my brand new phal getting sick from it.

[LJA]

Sounds like some kind of mold. I've never heard of mold harming mature plants but, just in case, pick off as much as you can, push some of the medium away from the base of the plant, and wipe the plant's base with either a five percent solution of bleach and water or some listerine..... That should keep the stuff away. (!!)

[cattlover]

Sounds like some kind of mold. I've never heard of mold harming mature plants but, just in case, pick off as much as you can, push some of the medium away from the base of the plant, and wipe the plant's base with either a five percent solution of bleach and water or some listerine..... That should keep the stuff away. (!!)

WOW! So mold isn't BAD? That sounds great. I think I had mold at the bottom of my chid pots and I use a pretty drainable medium--well, at least i THINK i do! It's orchid potting mix by shultz--charcoal, bark, stone (the ceramic kind?). Anyway, I'm sure some of you are familiar with it. Well, I bought some sphagnum at the HD yesterday because one of my blc's needs TLC--it's kinda small, it does have roots, but I'm worried about it cause its leaves are getting leathery and kinda wrinkled...
Anywho, I soaked the sphag in rootone with fungicide and made the medium half that and the mix. Then I got the instinct to look at the other chids and they all had this fuzzy white growth at the bottom of the pots along the mix, too. Well, long story a little shorter, I washed the mediums and pots completely with boiling hot water and hydro-peroxide (also, the pots with bleach). I also did the sphag method with these as with the blc. Will this be sufficient? Are there any household mold killers/deterrents? I dn't think i tend to overwater, I have a windowsill humidity tray with blue rock gravel lining it, so there is water in it. I sit my pots on them. And I thought the mix drained easily...and I have a ceiling fan, so....I'm worried and clueless.
I water maybe 1x a week...maybe 2x. Every 4-5 days. I have tried the sphag/bag method with very little success--mold again...

Oh, and I dipped the roots in the rootone as well...
M

[orchidaddict789]

Mold! Yuck...once I was about to repot my phal so I took out the whole rootball with its sphag attached. What I saw was so disgusting. There was white, fluffy mold on both roots and sphag. I wiped off the mold, let it dry off a little, and repotted. Oh yeah, I used some Listerine too. Now it's a happy phal again .

[OrchidTraci]

Mold! Yuck...once I was about to repot my phal so I took out the whole rootball with its sphag attached. What I saw was so disgusting. There was white, fluffy mold on both roots and sphag. I wiped off the mold, let it dry off a little, and repotted. Oh yeah, I used some Listerine too. Now it's a happy phal again .

I had a mold problem with a type of sphag moss. It was a pretty dark, low grade moss. Then I found a much higher grade blong long fibered moss, Better-Gro I think it is called. It is great moss for the price.

[cattlover]

Mold! Yuck...once I was about to repot my phal so I took out the whole rootball with its sphag attached. What I saw was so disgusting. There was white, fluffy mold on both roots and sphag. I wiped off the mold, let it dry off a little, and repotted. Oh yeah, I used some Listerine too. Now it's a happy phal again .

Looks like it's listerine time ! Get that minty fresh feeling.

Do I just pour it on?

[TADD]

I put the bleach in a hand sprayer and flush out the medium while in the pot. It doesn't hurt the plant at all!

[cattlover]

I put the bleach in a hand sprayer and flush out the medium while in the pot. It doesn't hurt the plant at all!

bleach doesn't hurt the plant? like, you spray the plant? I don't want to have to keep checking the medium (undoing the plant from pot, blah blah...). Doesn't that stress the plant out?

btw, should i also just pour listering right in the pot?

[orchidaddict789]

btw, should i also just pour listering right in the pot?

I'm not sure what's the "right" way. Since I was repotting with all the roots (with the mold) exposed, I took some Listerine soaked paper towels and dabbed at them. I was afraid of pouring Listerine straight into the pot (is it safe to do that? ). Whatever I did, I did not hurt my plant.

[TADD]

Make up a large amount of diluted solution, and pour it throught the medium. Thats all I do, not squirt it all over my plants if I can avoid it.