Phals in sphag

Hello,
I have been keeping my phals in sphagnum moss for a small period of time and starting to like it. But there is something that bothers me a little. While I can feel that moss in the middle has some moisture still - the top layer looks and feels super dry and crusty. Should I mist a little water on the top of moss in between waterings or is it better to just let the whole thing to dry out and then thoroughly water again?
Thank you.

[silken]

You could mist it on top so that the top roots don't dry out too bad between watering. Just make sure the grown of the plant doesn't get filled with water.

I myself use moss for a number of my orchids, but lots of people don't like it. What you need to be careful with is that it isn't packed and holding too much moisture with no air pockets as the roots do need to breath. If you use a clear pot you can see how wet it is at the bottom and if the roots are green, they are still wet-silver means they are dry. You could also put a bamboo skewer in the center of each pot near the bottom. Pull it out to test how wet things are in the middle of the pot. I think this has saved a lot of my orchids from root rot. Moss likely needs to be replaced more often than other media as well because it gets old faster and holds too much water.

For my phals I have them in a mix of moss and medium bark with a bit of charcoal. That way there are air pockets throughout the pot as the mix is more chunky. I usually use clear pots as well so I can see many of the roots and what they are doing!

Thank you Silken. I think I am getting better at feeling the pot weight difference between dry and moist sphagnum.
Do you let the medium to dry out completely through with your phals?

[silken]

I let it get very close to dry. I found that a pot can feel really light and still be quite moist inside, which is why I really rely on cheap little bamboo kabob skewers in almost all my pots. If your phals are fairly new I would also suggest checking to make sure there is no wad of wet moss up tight under the crown as all of mine came that way and it causes root rot quickly. However if you have re-potted them, they should be fine as hopefully you would have removed that if it was there.

Exactly! Each of them had very tight wet sphag ball with remainings of rotted roots right under crown.
When re-potting into fresh sphag - I put packing peanut under crown to avoid such accumulation of moist there.
Was it correct?
Thanks again for your help!

[Cavs n' Orchids]

I use very loosely potted moss for my phals that need more consistent moisture, but for the ones that do better on mounts, I use large bark chips to mimick a mount with a little less watering and maintenance. I also go though them all in the morning and mist the tops of the media and exposed roots and that seems to keep them moist but not too wet near the bottom. I had a huge improvement with my phals when I switched to terra cotta pots. They seem to love it, and grow way faster and more vigorously in them.

Really terra cotta? I have them in plastic pots which I put into terra cotta for stability. Do you use wooden sticks to know when to water since you don't see through terra cotta and can't really feel the weight of moss due to heavy pots?

[Cavs n' Orchids]

I have them so loosely packed that they dry out pretty much evenly, and the hole at the bottom usually shows if its still wet. If they feel crunchy on top, a light misting keeps them happy without getting it wet too far down. The nice thing about the terra cotta is that the whole pot "breathes" because its so porous, and the roots really like to grab on to it, almost like a mount, and right after watering or misting, the terra cotta holds some water and as it evaporates, it adds extra humidity to the air around the plants. I have totally converted to them. My Cattleyas go crazy in them.

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[Cavs n' Orchids]

I have one Catt that I dropped, and the terra cotta pot smashed, but the roots had such a firm grip on it, they held the whole pot together!!

Yep, I have Catts in the clay pots with chc and the roots are growing crazy out of the pots. I just thought for phals - plastic pots preferred.
Now I am going to try clay for phals. Are yours just usual ones that are sold at dollarama with one hole at the bottom? Do you mix sphag with anything?
Thanks a lot