Orchid plant fungus

I am growing an Orchid plant at home, inside a clay pot.
As you can see in the images, the pot is contaminated with some king of fungus (which one exactly?).
Also, fungi "fruit" heads are visible emerging out of the soil (again, what kind of fungus?)
How can I get rid of them? The clay pot probably absorbs water, therefore supporting fungi proliferation.

By the way, which kind of Orchid is this? The last time it had flowers was more than a year ago, and they were pink-violet. Is it OK that I put in right next to the window? it is facing south-west, and it gets plenty of sun light afternoon.

Thanks!

That is not a fungus.
It is salt. Chemically 'salt' is a term that covers a lot of things.
Most fertilizers are salts under this definition. Some tap water has such a big load of minerals that they will behave the same way. Do you get white crusty deposits around sinks and other faucets?

Here is how to get rid of it:
1) Scrub off all you can of the white crusts. Lift out the parts of the soil where there is the most of these crusts. Throw these away.
2) Soak the plant, pot, soil and all on distilled or reverse osmosis water. Hold the pot down until the soil stops bubbling.
Then lift it out and let it drain.
3) When it needs watering again (let it go as dry as appropriate for this plant) repeat the soak and drain.

What is happening is that the water with no minerals or salts (Distilled or RO) will dissolve the salts or minerals, and flush them away. You do not have to do this all the time, but it may take 2-3 times to remove most of the salts and minerals.

I do not know much about Orchids, but I think this might be a Cymbidium. They appreciate really good drainage, and might be planted in coarse 'soil' that is more like small chunks of bark.

Wow, I didn't expect that answer!
Thanks for all the information and instructions. I do add an Orchid fertilizer (pink 30-10-10) to the water, bi-weekly. Could that be the reason for the salt deposits?

I don't have limescale or otherwise calcium like deposits anywhere, I have an electric kettle that is entirely clean.


This message was edited Apr 17, 2015 10:58 PM

The orchid fertilizer is the source.
Get the pot cleaned up, and the fertilizer should flush out of the soil quite easily.
Then try half the dose.

The fertilizer companies are trying to make you buy as much as possible, so they will direct you to use a maximum dose. Many plants are just fine with half as much.

Thanks a lot for the guidance, appreciate it!

If that is a Cymbidium, and I can't tell for sure from the picture, It does need bright light, not direct sun, and cool temps. You can google AOS to get growing instructions.

Thanks!