Elaine, you are exactly right about buying Phals at big box stores. I give lectures to garden clubs and master gardener groups, and if the lecture concerns orchids, the first thing I tell the group is that IF you buy an orchid plant from ANY big box store, as soon as you get it home, remove it from its pot and see what it is planted in. I tell them that 9 out of 10 times, the plant will be sphagnum moss and nothing else. I show them what a good orchid mix looks like and tell them that's what they should repot their orchids with. There is a good reason these plants are in sphagnum moss, but that's a story for another day. Ken
