Does Sphagnum Moss Uniformly Distribute Water?

[netrizone]

Hi all, how do you know when to water phals in tightly-packed moss, and when you do, how do you go about it?

There's a couple of grocery store phals in my collection that are currently in tightly-packed moss. I'm waiting for the blooms to fall before I repot them.

My current method is waiting until the top layer of moss is relatively dry, then heavily spraying just the top layer until it's pretty damp. Will this method uniformly wick the water throughout the medium? And will this allow the middle of the pot to dry out, as well? For context, the pot sizes range from 2 to 5 inches in diameter.

[estación seca]

Yes, that's the correct way. Most people wait until the top of the moss is crisp dry.

Note that if the growing area is relatively cool for Phals., like in winter, moss provides a fair amount of evaporative cooling. This is not a problem when conditions are warm.

[Ray]

One further comment - don’t wait “for the blooms to fall” to repot. Wait until you see new roots emerging from the base of the plant.