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Oskar 03-01-2014 12:53 PM

Root fungus?
 
1 Attachment(s)
Hello!

I saw a day or two ago this white fuzz on one of my phal. roots and i'm wondering what to do.

Is this a fungus or is it something normal?
I saw an earlier post about this issue but it didn't contain any picture.

I've attached a picture of the white fuzz.

WhiteRabbit 03-01-2014 07:24 PM

Hard to say from the photo... You can use 3% hydrogen peroxide on it.

The Orchid Kid 03-02-2014 11:58 AM

Is this deffo fungus and not the roots turning silver when they need a water?

Bill U. 03-02-2014 09:37 PM

I can't officially say from the photo, but that looks like the velamen (the spongy outer covering layer of the root that will turn silver-white in color when dry) is just turning and the plant is indicating that it is in need of a watering. In well-established phals, you can also sometimes see a little bit of "white hairs" growing off a root and attaching themselves to either bark or the pot it's growing in- these are anchoring hairs that help hold the plant within its media (they grow in trees in nature, so they need to have that ability to hold on and not fall out of the tree). I think that your phal is okay- just thirsty :)

Oskar 03-03-2014 05:20 AM

Great! Thanks everyone :)

I saw an earlier post about someone talkning about velamen but there wasn't any conformation..

I watered the plant yesterday and it seems to be fine, the root is still white but not fuzzy so I'll wait and see what comes next :)

The Orchid Kid 03-03-2014 05:27 AM

It should turn green quite quickly, at least the roots in the pot. Those on the surface might not as much. You might need to dunk the pot in a bowl of water to make sure the water soaks in. You can safely leave it there for 5mins then let it drain well.

OCRC_Dir_China 03-03-2014 05:29 AM

Mist them with some water and see if they change color; they just look dry to me.

Oskar 03-03-2014 09:59 AM

yes i left it there for about 5 min and they all turned green and healthy except for that little "stump" on the picture below the thicker roots (The white fuzz in the middle of the picture)

The fuzz disappeared but it's still white though, could it be velamen?

The Orchid Kid 03-03-2014 01:15 PM

Stumps looks like an old dead root. Just snip it off on next repot.

So they turned green, but are still white? ;-) Confused!

Oskar 03-03-2014 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Orchid Kid (Post 660924)
Stumps looks like an old dead root. Just snip it off on next repot.

So they turned green, but are still white? ;-) Confused!

Hah! English isn't my first language :) Most of the roots except the stump turned green!

But i will snip it off the during the next report! Thanks :)

The Orchid Kid 03-04-2014 03:59 AM

Oh ok, I get it. I probably did not read it that well myself, no worries.

The white on the stump is probably a bit of fungus as it decays. You can dab a bit of cinnamon powder on it, as a mild anti fungal to keep it in check, but doubt it would be an issue anyway. Orchids are continuously shedding old roots and leaves and growing new one, so is just part of the cycle. If you want you could get some scissor in there and snip off now, just take care not to damage any other roots.

Either way looks like you have plenty of good roots. I am not an expert so others might advise different, but often I use this slight change in colour to silvery green as a good indicator to water. I never water if the roots are a rich green, because I have rotted roots off before from been over concerned with watering.

Oskar 03-04-2014 05:45 AM

Ill try using cinnamon powder on it, don't have a scissor long enough at the moment!

Thanks for the advise! :)


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