Pot media for dry climate???

[Benny@12784]

I have my phals in a room with a temperature between 68-74ish. There’s barely any humidity so I’m using a small desktop humidifier. I’ve list a lot of roots due to underwatering. What is some good potting media to retain moisture?
I was currently using medium fid bark and spag moss

[camille1585]

A bit more information would be useful to get an idea of whether your watering habits or the substrate are the problem. How often are you currently watering with the current set-up? How are you watering? How do you determine when to water again?

[Benny@12784]

I water once a week by soaking my orchid in water for about 10mins

[camille1585]

In a dry climate once a week might not be enough, however that really depends on how quickly the plants are drying out.

If the Phals are in clear pots, what do the roots in the pot look like when you water? When Phal roots are wet they become green, and slowly become silvery colored again as they dry out. Ideally you want to water just when they look silver again. If you usually water earlier than that you may be overwatering (leading to root rot), but if you wait too long then the roots may start to shrivel from dehydration.

Also keep in mind that if these are recently repotted Phals, new bark does not hold water well the first couple of months and you will need to water more frequently.

[Benny@12784]

I do have them in clear pots but there’s so few roots that I cannot see the roots

[Dusty Ol' Man]

I agree with Camille, you may want to bump that watering up to twice a week. In good quality bark you shouldn't have any overwatering issues.

[Louis_W]

I grow in a very dry climate (except mine is much hotter)
I grow Semi-Hydroponc. You can read about it on the inventors website firstrays.com

Semi-Hydroponics™ Basics

There are also numerous threads on this forum dicussing the technique

---------- Post added at 09:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:51 PM ----------

I grow in a very dry climate (except mine is much hotter)
I grow Semi-Hydroponc. You can read about it on the inventors website firstrays.com

Semi-Hydroponics™ Basics

There are also numerous threads on this forum dicussing the technique