James Nguyen asked, “What is this white stuff in my orchid bark?
You probably have the fungus Ptychogaster, commonly known as snow mold. This fungus forms and inhabits the potting media when the media starts to decay. The fungus can also be found on tree fern poles and around mounted orchids. The best remedy to this fungus problem is to replace the old media. If you see the fungus in newly repotted plants that you used bark as the media, you could have been over watering which accelerated the decay of the bark. In addition to media replacement, I have also used fungicides (Physan or RD20 works very well, read the instructions before using!) to help stop the fungus growth. When replacing the media, make sure the roots are clean so you do not transfer the fungus to your new media. If nothing is done to remove this fungus, it will eventually interfere with your orchid absorbing water.
