Three Beautiful New Phals

[Mountaineer370]

A couple of days ago, I received a very nice order of three Phals from Hausermann's. They are Phal. Star April's Coming, Phal. Jiuhbao Venus, and Phal. Fuller's Sunset. All have nice spikes ranging from 12 to 18 inches. All arrived in those thin four-inch nursery pots that have just one hole at the bottom. All are packed tightly in wet sphagnum moss.

At some point, I would like to transition these to Orchiata bark as with most of my other Phals. I know that will be a big change for these plants, but I have never had good luck nor developed a level of comfort with potting in sphagnum.

For now, I have simply removed all of them from the nursery pots and dropped the entire root ball into a four-inch clear plastic slotted pot. It's a snug fit for them, but I think they are all getting a little more air flow now.

I was thinking of keeping them in their sphagnum for now but maybe loosening it up a bit to allow for more air and for me to be able to see the roots on the inside and have a better idea of when and how much to water. Maybe over time, I will pull out a little more of the sphagnum and replace it with a few chunks of the Orchiata here and there.

The last thing I want to do is shock these plants. They are all beautiful and healthy, and it's such a treat to have new plants for the first time in a long time. I'd like to make sure the spikes continue to develop and produce nice flowers. The April's Coming is showing actual bud development. The other two aren't quite there yet, just little nubs.

The last time I got a new Phal. was one from Trader Joe's last fall, and when I repotted it, the flowers dried up pretty quickly afterwards and the remaining buds blasted. I have had better luck repotting other Phals I have bought from shows in the past, but the ones that did the best were already planted in some kind of bark. These are three large plants in tight sphagnum, and I'm a little worried. What does everybody think? What would you do if these were your plants to keep them healthy and give them the best chance to adapt to my conditions?

I grow strictly indoors, on my dining room table, in front of a big window with sheer curtains when needed, and two supplemental fluorescent lights. My house stays at around 69-74 degrees all year round, and my humidity is very low in the winter but is picking up now, into the 30s. Due to the low humidity and the fact I use Orchiata, I'm having to water several of the plants about three times a week, which I don't mind, but I will probably be able to start spreading that out as summer comes on.

Edit: Maybe I should have put this in the repotting forum? Mods, feel free to move it if that would be a better fit.