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Sometimes there is a lot more growing in our potting media than we would like to admit
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If you see a white powdery fuzz, like a cotton candy or a flower type substance or even a spider web type substance
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this video is going to cover what exactly that is and if it is white mold
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Hi, I'm Amanda Matthews and thank you for watching my video at Orchidary
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where I share my tips of how to grow orchids indoors since my outside climate is not that great for orchid care
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So in this video, I'm going to talk about what is the white stuff inside your potting media, whether it be sphagnum moss or orchid bark
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and to identify what that is. And there are three common culprits of what that can be
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and one is orchid mold. The other is powdery mildew, and the third one is mealy bugs
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But before I actually go into these one by one, I do want to say as a new orchid grower, if you are used to cattlia roots, or if you're used to
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phalanopsis roots, or if you're used to dendrobian roots, there are so many types of orchids
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And one, like the pathopetalum, the phragmopedium, or other kind of terrestrial orchids
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they will have white hairs coming off their roots. That is normal
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And, you know, when I first repotted my frag, I thought, what the heck did I do wrong
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what is this and it totally freaked me out. But once I realized, oh, that's the way they're supposed to look
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That's why it's always good to have references. Don't cut it out. Don't start treating it with all
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these products that could eventually harm your orchid. Just know that that is normal
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Onsytiums also have this fuzzy kind of root. The first one I want to talk about is snow mold
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Now, snow mold or orchid mold, as it's commonly called, is a problem and it will. It will
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kill your orchid. I've read so many things saying that leave it alone, it will go away by itself
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and it doesn't pose a threat to your orchid. This is absolutely not true. The snow mold will kill
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your orchid, but not the way you think it will. And that's why I want to put it out there very
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clear because you might see this white stuff in your orchid pot and think, oh, it's no mold
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Now, it'll go away by itself. See, the snow mold will come into, you know
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usually a new setup. So right after you set up And you use this orchid bark that has this mold in it already And the mold will have spores in it But you can see it because they in the spore phase
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Once this repot is set up and there is humidity in the pot, that is what attracts the snow mold to your orchid
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You know, when you get sunburned and you can peel back the skin, that's what it looks like
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It looks like a web, but it gets so thick, you can actually peel it back
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That is the problem because this web is hydroreferred. repellent. It does not let water pass through it. So what once was a high humidity potting media
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now becomes a no humidity potting media because water cannot get to the bark. It can't get to the roots
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The orchid mold will die off, but your orchid roots will die off first. That's the problem with the
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snow mold. What attracts it to the potting media is what exactly kills
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it because of its properties of being hydro-repellent. So to get rid of snow mold, you need to repot
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your entire orchid, throw away that potting meat. It already came with the spores. Because it is a fungus
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it does spread extremely quickly with these spores. The second white stuff that could be on your orchid
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is powdery mildew. Now, I want you to imagine a scene with me here. Think of
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of a dark dungeon-type cellar or wine cellar that has no light, no air ventilation, it's damp
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there's water dripping off the walls. Can you smell that? I mean, take that image and just smell it
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That is what powdery mildew smells like when you repot. You can really smell this stuff
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Now, it's different than the snow mold because a snow mold will actually form a web
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This powdery mildew does not. You know, like on an orange if you leave it out too long or a grapefruit and it gets that fungus on the outside of it and those spores spread, that's what this powdery miltew does
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Now, some molds are actually good and they have benefits to the human environment such as the vaccine penicillin or the yeast in bread or making of cheese and tofu
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but in the orchid pot, they have no practical use whatsoever. Now the treatment to both snow mold and powdery mildew is first a total repot And if you going to reuse the pot really scrub it out use a strong detergent
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make sure that pot is eliminated of all kinds of bores. And that's the problem with these
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because that's the smell that you go into that cellar, the wine cellar, or you can imagine, you know
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adolescent socks, you know, that's been in their room for a long time or mushrooms, you know
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that specific smell that just comes up and you're smelling the spores
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So you're going to repot and then you're going to pot with a medium that drains very well
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Now, I do not have very good luck with pure sphagnum moss and this is what usually attracts
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the powdery mildew and the snow mold. But if it works for you, great
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Use it. Just make sure that it's draining well. An orchid that will sit in a humid environment for a long period of time not only develops
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bacterial root rot, but also attracts powdery mildew and snowmold. So get rid of that and make sure you use a potting media that drains
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The second thing you want to do is spray your orchid with a fungicide
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Do not use pesticide or insecticide because these are not pests and insects
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They are other types of things. So use a fungicide. My go to one is FISA 20, but I know it doesn't, it isn't sold in all countries
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I have heard of people using mouthwash and like Listerine, either the one with alcohol or not alcohol
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but that does work too. And it doesn't harm the orchid for some reason
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What you want to make sure of is that in the product that you buy, they have this ingredient right here
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which is the active ingredient that kills the powder moldew and the powdery moldew
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and the battery mildew and the snow mold, mill mold. You can use hydrogen peroxide too, but it does not do the best job for this
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And it does more harm to the orchid roots than it actually does to the mold itself or the mildew
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So it works if this is the only thing you have, but beware that it can have some side effects
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Now remember the image of the dungeon cellar basement, you know, horror movie type thing Now what attracts the mold and the milda to this is exactly the cooler temperatures So another way to get rid of this mold and mildew is raise the temperature mold and mildew like the temperature is a little cooler So if you can raise your temperature use a seedling mat or a
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in some places where they call them a heating pad, but not the human heating pad. It has to be
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specific for plants. Or just raise your overall temperature in your indoor environment if you can
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The third way to eliminate mold and mildew is to actually keep that air circulation high
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Remember in this trap cellar, you are not going to have ventilation
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Now the problem with this is that if you do not keep, if you did not treat your orchid correctly
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and you increase the air circulation, these spores are just going to spread from orchid to orchid
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They're going to jump around and it is going to infest your entire collection
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So make sure that you have actually treated your orchid first and then keep the circulation high on that
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fan. Before I go on to the next tip of what white little thing could be in your potting media
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if this video is helping, please give it a like or comment below because there isn't an orchid
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that I cannot kill. So maybe you have an orchid too that you're having a problem with a pest or an
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insect. Just comment below what that problem is so I can actually research it and give an answer
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back to you. And let's go on to our third little culprit of what power
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stuff could actually be in your potting media. It's not mold, it's not mildew, it's
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actually what we call a mealy bug. Now mealy bug looks like a little roly-poly, a tiny
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roly-poly who rolled itself in powder sugar. They're not actually white, really
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they're pink underneath but with all this white fuzz around them to the human
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eye and to the microscope they look white. Mealy bugs can be removed
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physically manually by just wiping off the leaf and and make sure, you know, get a detergent, get a fysand 20 again, a bactericide, insecticide
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because now we're treating a whole different problem with his, an actual live insect
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If none of these three are actually what is on your orchid
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you can take a look at this video up here of the most common orchid bark bugs that infest the orchid bark
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and these down here which infests sphagnum moss. Now, these insects and bugs and little critters are different
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in each video so make sure you check them out I hope your collection is pest free
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as soon as possible and happy cultivating
