Moss at the top of Potting Mix

[dnatural1]

Hi All,
Most of my orchids are in a mix which is predominantly bark (I use various sizes). The rest of my orchids are mounted. This Summer (I live in Sydney Australia and it's now Summer here) I started using a misting system (fan-forced) to cool and humidify my greenhouse. It worked beautifully as far as growth and flowering are concerned and consider it the second best thing I've done so far (after Winter heating). However I'm now starting to see some downsides. One is that the wooden plant benches are starting to rot - my fault as I should not have had wooden benches and this will be fixed. The second issue is that I'm seeing a lot of moss growth at the top of the mix. I believe this is restricting airflow through the bark mix and may eventually lead to loss of roots through rot. Some moss growth is also appearing on the mounts.
How do you deal with this kind of situation? Keep the humidity lower (difficult under my circumstances)? Use an Algaecide? (I found an article about a product based on Benzalkonium Chloride which is used for moss control in horticultural situations). Any experience out there with the use of such chemicals especially concerning how they affect roots?

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[estación seca]

I don't know the answer, but I have received plants from commercial growers in the US with a thick layer of moss on top. It doesn't last long here. But the plants arrive looking really good, so somebody has figured out how to make this work.

[Ray]

Moss is a naturally airy holder of moisture. I have never seen it interfere at all with an orchid, potted or mounted. I view it as a sign that I am doing a good job with watering and humidity, and that my water is sufficiently low in mineral content.

One caveat, through - moss on the top of the medium in a pot can hide the fact that it could be decomposing, so every now and then, I pluck some off to check.

[Orchid Whisperer]

I think that it depends on what orchids you are growing. I have moss growing on the surface of the mix for my Coelogyne cristata & that seems to be OK. If the moss was growing on mix for my Cattleyas I'd be changing the potting mix and reducing the misting. I would not be getting the chemicals out without doing those 2 steps first.

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