Laeliocattleya sapphire doll questions

[aliceinwl]

I bought a Laeliocattleya "sapphire doll" as a bare root 3 pseudobulb division over a year ago. I was told to set it up in a vanda basket with no substrate. It slowly proceeded to drop all its leaves. It didn't have much in the way of roots so I wasn't entirely surprised. I watered it every morning, but it just didn't seem to be staying wet long enough (I have it outdoors; no greenhouse) so I added coarse bark to the basket.

With the addition of the bark, it's been slowly growing roots and it pushed one new leaf. Would it do better with a more substantial substrate? Maybe small to medium bark? Or, should I just maintain the current status quo (it seems to be making steady positive progress albeit slowly)? In its current set-up it's probably completely dry within 2 hours of watering on most days.