How do you water plants in sphag?

Hello,
I decided to move my phalaenopsis seedlings from chc into sphagnum moss. They will be potted into same small clay pots. I have ordered some long fibered organic sphag and here is the question: how to water? With bark and chc I just soak whole pot in the water for 15 minutes, then drain and that's it. I never had anything in sphag and it seems that soaking it would result in too wet conditions and I would have an urge to squeeze excess water out.
Do you spray it until it is just moist or run water through the pot?
Please share your technique with newbe.
Thanks a lot.

[Gage]

I too just moved my small Phals from chc to sphag. I wouldnt worry too much about them being too wet, as long as they dry quick enough to not be wet wet more than a couple of days. So soaking should be fine in my opinion. If you are using tap water it is important to run water through for a bit to make sure you aren't accumulating excess minerals from the water, although soaking takes care of some of that. If you're using reverse osmosis or otherwise filtered water you can get away with watering just enough to wet the sphag to your liking. Either way, if you are fertilizing weekly/weakly, you should run water through the pot occasionally to leech out accumulated minerals. That's my 2 cents.

Thank you Gage. When I finished running water through the pot, there would be a lot of water that got soaked into sphagnum ( sort of like a sponge full of water). Do I just leave it there? I am planning to pot into clay pots with a single whole at the bottom.
Sorry for too many questions.

[Gage]

Originally Posted by orchideya

Thank you Gage. When I finished running water through the pot, there would be a lot of water that got soaked into sphagnum ( sort of like a sponge full of water). Do I just leave it there? I am planning to pot into clay pots with a single whole at the bottom.
Sorry for too many questions.

These are perfectly good questions. I think it's more important to know how long it will take to dry than how wet it becomes when you water (for Phals). My inclination would be that it's fine it's not too big. Terracotta breathes unlike plastic, so it will dry faster than plastic. I have an Oncidium in a 2" terracotta pot, with charcoal on the bottom half and sphagnum on the top half, and it is bone dry in 3 days. If I had a Phal in that pot I would use all sphag, and expect it to take closer to 6 or 7 days to dry out completely. So I would water it every 5 days or so, unless it showed wilting sooner than that. How big are the terracotta pots you're using?

I think they are 2 or even 1 1/2 inch. Here is the picture of how it looks now:

[Gage]

I say go for it with the sphag, and just watch it for a few days to see how long it takes to dry out some. I would do that with any repotting.

[wuness]

orchideya: I moved all my phals into sphagnum a number of years ago and have been very happy with the results. I use plastic pots, however, for a couple of reasons. Plastic reduces evaporation which means less watering. This saves time and, I think, reduces the chances of salt buildup resulting from all that evaporation. I also like plastic because I'm able to pick the pot up and easily determine whether it needs to be watered. I can't do that with clay pots and I don't want to fool with wood splints. When the moss begins to look dry and feel crunchy on the surface, and the pot begins to feels light, it's time to water. (I do put a layer of styrofoam peanuts in the bottom.) I spray until the water flows freely from the bottom. I repot every two years.

The only downside with plastic is that the long, arching flower stalks can make the plant top-heavy. When that happens, I set the pot in a heavy clay pot for ballast during flowering.

wuness

[Gage]

I completely agree. That is precisely what I do. Thank you for that, wuness! What he said! Lol

[iceicebaby]

I lower the pot into a bucket of water and allow the water enter into pot through the bottom and side holes. Allow the pot to dip into the bucket such that the top one cm of moss is still dry.
What I achieve by this 1. No water on leaves 2. the top moss will gradually soak water and get wet. This is my technique.
regards,
Dev

Thank you for the great info everyone. They are in clay pots only because I can not find clear plastic ones small enough to not overpot my seedlings.