| Aniko you are probably correct, but I believe the most common problem with newbies and orchids is overwatering. Bark and other porus media is much more forgiving to the people who don't know what they are doing and just water regardless of whether or not the plant really needs it. Also as has been mentioned by several on the forum, many big box stores and other short term vendors (that are not growers) tend to know nothing about what they are doing while the plants are in their stores, and they overwater significantly and have the poor plants on their way to an early grave before they are even purchased by unsuspecting buyers. Then we get people on the forum asking why their plants are doing so poorly - and they have no idea that the issues that caused their demise occurred BEFORE they were purchased. Many of us (maybe you too?) have walked through a place like Lowes or Home Depot and seen a group of phals potted in sphag sitting in trays of water with droopy leaves at 1/2 price. It is hard to not take pity on them, but to make the effort wothwhile (at least for me) it has to be a lot cheaper than half price, which unfortunately doesn't happen that often in my neck of the woods. mike  |