Strange phenomenon

[orchida]

My orchid had been generally fine until now. I didn't notice any problems at last watering. I recently moved it closer to the window, which does NOT get direct sunlight as far as I know.

Today I saw three strange problems :

• white clusters in the soil
• pink bumps on the stem near the flowers
• whitish patches on the leaves

I would have posted in another thread, but since there were three issues, I thought it needed its own thread.

Please advise.

Thanks.

[-k-]

Looks like a kind of mold or fungus, I'm sure someone will be by shortly with more insight. However I have seen this before with some of my non-orchid plants. Was either mold, fungus, or if your using tap water salt traces can build up and create a white coat on dry spots in the soil.

If mold / fungus, use a fungacide per instructions or a cinimon mix and treat soil and swab with q-tip area's on plant iself.

[amersault]

i think this is more fungal and does come as a normal part of the composting/breakdown process for the soil.

i'm not sure however if this could adversely affect your orchid.

can i ask if you are growing this Phal in soil? bc Phals would really do better in a bark mix.

[-k-]

Now that I have some more time to look at this...

The third and fourth picture of the potting medium looks very decomposed and the white spots are either mold or a fungus.

How long has the plant been in the current potting medium?

How often do you water?

[berkeleysgr8]

I concur with others. You've got mold/fungus in your potting soil... and you desperately need to re-pot that plant into a looser medium (bark, coir/perlite, etc) because the mix you have is probably not allowing enough air to get to the roots.

[mehitabel]

Originally Posted by orchida

... Today I saw three strange problems :

• white clusters in the soil
• pink bumps on the stem near the flowers
• whitish patches on the leaves

Pink bumps on the stem near the flowers. These are *scale*, a pest that sucks the life out of plants. They are pink because they have adopted the coloration of the flower they are on. How do I know this? Because I had that very thing once on one of my magentas. They were so well hidden that I only found out when I tried to pinch off a dead flower and found scale smear all over my hand Yuk.

If it's scale, the little bumps will smear off in your hand. This is a serious problem and you do need to deal with it. There was a thread on scale recently-- something like "Smeary bulbous patches". There was very good advice given on how to deal with them.

Can't be sure about the white patches in the soil-- can't get the detail in the picture clear enough. But the other posters are right -- it may be mold. If it's mold, it's probably the result of a too-wet medium, as the others suggested. But unmoving air adds to the likelihood of getting it.

More light, more air and fresh medium should do it. For the scale-- a pesticide.

[orchida]

Thank you for your insightful and quick responses. I will repot it in new soil when as soon as I get a chance. I took out the white clusters for the time being. I realized the white clusters may have just been pollen from acut leaf. Should I cut off that part of the leaf? If so, is there a special process? My poor orchid has also had some bulbs start to shrivel.

Hopefully the increased air circulation with new soil will help it heal. I do love it and want it to thrive.

(sent from my mobile device - nice to see the forums work with iPhone.)

[domresvanis]

I would not suggest to repot it in soil.I dont know someone who grows Phals into soil.You can use medium pine bark,spagnum moss ,perlite or something else that you like.

[Phalcycle]

the white bumps in the soil look like mold or fungus, as previously said. also the medium looks really degraded, consider repotting.
also, the bumps, they look like scale begining to form,