True dat.

I grow many different orchids in NZ Sphagnum Moss from Bestgro. That moss is very important for the health of my orchids. It is much more expensive than other sphagnum moss but it actually lasts a long time. It is also cleaner with very view dead twigs, dust, etc. in the bag.

Ironically I like moss as it allows me to water less. Critical to using this media is also the use of fans to circulate air and relative humidity. For pots that are 3" and larger, I also use inverted net pots inside the root ball so that air can penetrate the core of the pot.

Moss is tightly packed in around the plant because it positions the plant inside the pot. Plastic pots that are clear or slightly opaque, or net pots with open lattice is also what I use to pot. I have tried terra cotta pots but in my environment, terra cotta does not work as well.

You should determine for yourself what is the best potting media. All the advise you've been given in this thread is appropriate for that individual. Too many people denigrate sphagnum moss as "plant killers" but in reality, it is the owner's lack of experience that causes plant death.

I too use NZ moss, and as soon as you use it, you can appreciate how much better quality it is that a lot of mosses that are availlable.

A couple of points.

1. Yes, ramming moss around the pots keeps the plant firmly in place. What I prefer is to pot in pure bark. Coarse for the fat roots, fine for the thin roots. If the plant is wobbly, I place three rocks on the bark to hold it upright. Then after a month or two, I remove the rocks and see it is is still wobbly. Basically, once the roots have taken over the job of support, the rocks are removed.
2. Agree 100% with the comments about terracotta pots. Plus they are heavy and accumulate salts.

3. As said, every grower on here, myself included, will give you the best advice they can, but it will necessarily be based on their growing conditions and experiences. My suggestion would be, if you go with moss, then buy a cheap NOID phal and pot it in coarse bark, so that you can compare the regimens and see what is best for you. Experimenting is the way we find out new things. Blindly copying, while it can work, does not tend to expose us to the learning process.

4. Moss IS a killer. I always joke about the Mossites and their degenerate cult, so far removed from the pure religion of the Barkistas.
The fact is, I would never recommend moss to a beginner, for a very good reason. While it is not the moss that kills, but inexperience, keeping phals in moss requires real skill, and good knowledge. I take my hat off to the people who do well with their phals in pure moss. I simply wouldn't want that much grief. Why would you recommend that method to a beginner, when if they overpot or over water, they will crash and burn?

We should be showing them the easy way to grow phals, and the easiest way is in pure coarse bark. You can't overpot. I know, I've tried. I have had phals in pots that are 14 inches in diameter. You can't over water either, because it isn't the amount of water that kills them, it is the lack of air in the pot because that compressed moss has teeny weeny airspaces, which fill with water, and if they are kept wet for too long, the roots will suffocate and die. Coarse bark has such HUGE airspaces that the water can't fill them, let alone sit in them.

Finally, if you are starting out with orchids, and you haven't got the time to water them three times a week, then why not buy cacti instead?

I use the time spent watering to inspect the plants, see who is putting out new roots, who has a problem, and who is about to present me with a new spike or growth. In short, it's the difference between a chore, and appreciating them. It doesn't take that much time, surely? I use a spray because I find that that wets the medium more thoroughly. I appreciate that that can be messy in the house, but it needn't be When you pot the plants up, cut a shroud out of thin clear plastic that tucks inside the pot, and catches the spray that is likely to bounce off, deflected off the medium. It pays not to over pressurise the spray as if you do there will be more splash.
Use a plant saucer, but instead of placing the orchid pot in that directly where its roots would sit in water, place another, smaller saucer in the larger one, but upside down. The orchid pot sits on that and you water the orchid, wetting the whole surface, until water starts to flow into the saucer. That water can sit there where it will evaporate. Done carefully you should never have to empty the saucer.

Now that's a lot simpler than schlepping orchids to and from the sink.

This isn't intended to start a holy war between Mossites and Barkistas. It's meant to start a discussion about what is told to beginners in the field. We want them to enjoy their first orchids, not have the sort of miserable experience that leads them to give up on the hobby.

If they then decide they don't have the time to lavish that much attention on their plants, then by all means suggest a moss based technique. Just don't try teaching them to run before they can walk.

Plus of course, they might find that walking has its own rewards. ;)

staugorchidsociety.org/PDF/SphagnumMossbySueBottom.pdf

The above article gives an excellent unbiased overview.


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There is a big difference between orchids grown in moss by the commercial grower, and orchids bought in the supermarket in a pot with moss wrapped around the roots.

Many mass-market orchids have been uprooted from large communal growing beds at the commercial grower just before shipping. They may not have been grown in moss. They are then packed into a pot with moss so the roots stay moist before they are purchased at retail. These recently-repotted plants will be much harder for me to establish in my growing room than plants that have been shipped in the pot with the moss they have been grown in for some time.

One thing I found is that good ventilation (with a fan) makes a big difference. The moss dries out much faster and the plants seem much happier.

As she says,

if you pack the sphagnum very tightly into the pot, you can potentially compact it so much
that you reduce its air holding capacity. Then you water it and all the remaining air is pushed out till it can dry out.

Do please explain how that is good for a plant whose roots are designed to 'breathe'.

Let's face it, those plants are designed to grow up in trees, clinging to the bark, with no medium at all. I have see Phals growing and blooming well, hung from the ceiling on cords, being sprayed and watered frequently, of course.

In short, phals do perfectly well without any medium. They don't need medium. We force that on them because we don't want to have to spray them several times a day.
In the wild they cling to trees and the roots are free to breathe all the time. How many phals in the wild grow in rammed moss?

I still ask, why do people tell beginners to ram the roots in a tiny pot full of moss when they could have an easier time of it with bark?

and as I keep saying. It takes skill and expertise to keep phals in moss. Those are two things that beginners lack, or they wouldn't come on here saying that their first orchids are dying.

Trying to teach beginners a more complicated, and skill requiring technique seems to me, pointless.

Shouldn't we suggest they start simple, and then when they can actually keep the plants alive tell them how to do it in moss?