I think I made a mistake with a phal that gave a wonderful 2nd bloom this year. After the blooming last year, I did not replace the sphagnum moss (as bought) as the plant seemed healthy even up through the blooming season. It added on 4 more leaves too. In fact, after an abundant first bloom this season, I got a second round of blooms (new buds appeared and then did their stuff--smaller and fewer, but still nice).
However, the leaves have begun to show definite signs of shriveling. At first I thought it was because I wasn't giving it enough water. I increased the watering just a little, and the wrinkling started getting worse. So I backed off a bit on watering and still the wrinkling persists. Does this mean that the plant is starting to suffer from root rot? It does have some roots at the surface that have since browned and shriveled up, but then there are a couple of aerial roots that still look healthy. Also, it still has about 6 blooms in progress so I didn't want to remove it from the pot to check.
Should sphagnum moss be replaced annually?
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