[PhalPal]

After reading all your posts and with my own experiences I'm beginning to think it may not matter at all. I did a lot of re-potting today, four of which had finished blooming and were starting new growth of leaves and roots. They were very tightly packed in sprag from the grower and had been for at least the six months I have had them. I personally don't like growing in moss, but must admit that whenever I remove a phal from a pot grown in it I have a tangle of healthy roots. I had to cut off very few decaying roots. My dislike of moss is probably because it is difficult to remove all that moss from the roots when re-potting, even with soaking, and I don't think it is good practice to mix vastly different media. All of us grow in many, many different media with success and this is just another example of that.

Just another thought....Something that may make a huge difference here is that 90% of the time I am buying straight from the grower with no shipping involved. If shipping is neccessary, no telling how long the plant was soaked before leaving the grower. What I think is 'hard packed' may be totally different from what all of you are having problems with right away.