How dark is too dark?

[james mickelso]

Phals, and many other orchids are epiphytes, and grow on other plants. Phals for the most part don't seek to bury their leaves into a media. They instead look for something to anchor the plant. Even if the media is fresh and in good condition the tendency is to spread out seeking support. Since their natural habitat is humid and rainy (during the rainy season), they spread their roots out seeking support and ignor the media as a source of moisture. Their color is dark green for the most part which means they are adapted to deep shade conditions and need the chlorophyll to gather and convert the meager amount of light they receive. I have phals who's color ranges from light green to deep green and a few which have a lot of red in the coloration. It varies with species and parents.