Fungus from sphagnum?

[momokev]

A woman in my orchid society told me to try growing my oncidiuims in sphagnum moss. I tried a couple and they seemed to do well. Now I think I'm seeing fungus on the pb's? I do have them in plastic rather than clay pots, and they might be planted too deep into the sphagnum. I keep the humidity about 60% with fans 24/7. And I've only noticed it on the indoor onc's. Thought I'd see what ya'll thought before I put them back into bark.

Lisa

[orchid_fan]

Hi Lisa,

Can you post a pic for us to see?

[momokev]

Sure, Nancy. This is my Morning Joy.

[Gilda]

Lisa, Could that be sunburn??? Are the spots soft ??? I would use some fungicide on them and see what happens.....They look healthy.

[Jmoney]

I'm on a dark monitor right now, so it's hard for me to see clearly, but if you mean the dark brown spots, I don't think that's from the sphag. Maybe sunburn, maybe something else. Sphag is pretty antiseptic--something about its phenol content retards bacterial (and possibly fungal) growth. The only thing you have to worry about is sporotrichosis, which is some fungus that may be present on live sphag that may give people a skin infection.

[momokev]

Well, I guess it could be sunburn. It's inside in a SE window, so I don't know. I might spray it, just in case.

Thanks for the help!

Lisa