Hmmm. Some of my phals this winter went thru serious abuse. A couple got overlooked, and weren't watered for a couple of months. They have suffered wrto flowers, but they are doing OK. This tells me that here, phals aren't at risk from drying out NEARLY as much as they do from too much water.
Again, as was made clear, what you need may be different from what other people need. Here I have to watch waterlogging. Ideally I'd repot twice a year, with a wet mix in summer and a dry mix for winter, but that just isn't sensible.
So, I am moving to wide shallow pots, and for phals just coarse pine bark. They get a twice a week watering with the spray till the water runs out the bottom.
I really don't like sphag. Especially not with conventional pots and phals. I use it when I have a plant with lousy roots, and I'm desperate, but even there I just use a little.
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