Mold growig on grapewood!!!

[liquidmojo]

Last week I finally received my grapewood pieces and tried mounting for the first time! ( I instantly fell in love with it and am planning to do this more often!) The orchids that I mounted were three Dracula's, and they are in my orchidarium where I maintain between 70%-75% humidity and a 65F. night temp and 75F. day temp. This morning, as I was looking over them as the mister was running, I noticed a grey blue mold forming on the grapewood in three spots! Is there a way to kill this mold without harming the plants or do I have to take the orchids off the mount and remove the wood? I guess I may have found a drawback to loving high humidity low temperature Orchids! Any help would be very much appreciated! And even more so if I can leave them on the mount! I'm going to take a picture of it and post it tonight.

[sandra]

Bayer Advanced 3 in 1 spray will remedy this, it won't harm your orchids. Home Depot carries it. Make sure you don't mistake it for the other Bayer sprays.

Also Physan 20 is great for mold.

[Tobi]

If it's a grey-blue mold and powdery, it's probably Penicillium. That won't hurt your
orchids. If it's that color and fluffy, it could be Aspergillus. Certain species of this
mold could be harmful to them. A picture would help. Even with that there
are several Molds that sort of look like this.

[articuno75]

EEEwww. Any mold to me is just yuk. The Physan or Bayer will work. I think there are 4 different kinds of Bayer 3 in 1 products. (ie. Rose and Flower, Shrubs and trees, etc.) I bought a ginormous bottle of the Tree, Shrub, Rose and Flower, so I know it works on everything. I also have the Physan and use it as a primary on anything fungal. Bayer is my backup

[digitalgate]

i like to use full sunlight to kill mold. But your plant cannot survive in full sunlight. Remove
them from mounting before you sun it. Remember to provide sufficient air flow. That usually
reduce mold.

[liquidmojo]

Thanks for the information everyone! It is weird about the airflow because I have a 95 C.F.M. muffin fan circulating the air inside the orchidarium. But anyhoo, I will try the Physan or Bayer, depending on which one I can get first!

[liquidmojo]

Pic. #1 is my orchidarium and Pic #2 is the best shot of mold that I could get
Just a side note: Pic #1 looks like there is a very bright light over the Dracula's, this is due to the white back surface of the enclosure and not the lighting. I have measured only a little over 200 F.C. inside and actually need to get a brighter light to reach the favored lighting for them. Just didn't want to concern anyone who loves Dracula, masdevallia, or other low light species!

[made4engineering]

Yeah I also have some mold cropping up on a few spots on my orchid garden log; for now i'm still adjusting the watering schedule which might fix it, but I will probably resort to a fungicide eventually. Neither cinnamon or hydrogen peroxide killed the mold - it just came back. Nice orchid house by the way! It looks like you could fit a few more orchids in there...

[liquidmojo]

Thanks! I just finished building it about two weeks ago. I'm adding to the collection as fast as my budget allows! Which, unfortunatly, is not nearly as fast as I would like it!

[digitalgate]

all, no wonder you have mold problem. enclose environment...I used to do that too. But
now i put everything outside of the enclosure and presto .. No more mold problem.

[plantsim]

Its too bad my very first post can't be a happier one. I just found this site while searching google for information on mold growing on or around orchids. I mounted my first orchid last week. Its Dendrobium aggregatum, and I mounted it to a piece of grapewood. I've been checking on it daily, and today I found a bunch of white and blueish mold on the wood underneith the bits of sphagnum moss! If its not harmful as someone mentioned above then I will leave it alone. Should I be worried about this?

[Vivienne]

I had/have this great piece of wood for a long long time. Ended up mounting a Potinara and Den on it. They did great for a while but then I noticed mold growing. Now the piece of wood is bare again - took the potinara off (it was struggling). The Dens are stuck but plan to get them off this weekend (only little keikis).

I guess that hasn't answered a question, just my experience and what I did about it.

I plan to use this piece of wood in my pleuro case once it has been 'cleaned up'. I won't be mounting plants to it but should be able to get their little pots in to the nooks and crannies.

[liquidmojo]

That's a way better picture of the mold than I took! Unfortunatly for both of us of course! I tried the Bayer and it worked for a while...I am going to try the physan next and if that doesn't work just remove the mount. It may work for you though! My Draculas require very high humidity which is part of the problem. Dead wood and a lot of moisture don't seem to mix very well. Even with a high air flow!

I do have to add though, everyone was right! I have seen no adverse reaction to the Bayer with my Babies, and they are even starting new growth!!!! So thank you all for your advise!

[berkeleysgr8]

That's too bad liquidmojo... the mount looks so pretty!

[liquidmojo]

Just figured I would update everyone. I got the physan today and removed my Draculas from the mount... Not my happiest moment, but I love those little Orchids way too much to risk it! I think it was a good thing though, after removing everything I noticed large patches of mold under the moss! My spraying never reached that far! So I soaked everything in a solution of the Physan and water, and placed them in wooden baskets which I hung around the orchidarium! It looks good, but not like it did.

Oh well...that's what mounting for the first time is about, right? I learned from the experience and thank everyone for their help and support. Now I'm treating the grapewood and am already planning for the minature Cattleya I found over the weekend!

Slc. Mem. Alvin Beggman Poem.jpg
Isn't that just the cutest little Catt.!!!! I can not wait to get this one started after it's done blooming and I get the grapewood cleand up!!!

[berkeleysgr8]

I'm glad this experience didn't discourage you too much. The plants really were gorgeous mounted on the grapewood. There is something both wild and artistic about it!