Ken, Sorry for interrupting your article, But this has been a sore spot with me for a long time. They call Phals a beginners orchid, but I find them to be one of the more difficult ones, and the marketing is probably the biggest problem. Another issue is our erratic weather here. When the weather goes from cool and foggy to hot and sunny/windy on a weekly basis, Phals are a house plant. Most of us don't have the same space and green houses you have. Almost all of the west coast growers are within 5 mi. of the coast, where Temps and humidity stay the same. For the rest of us, we have to work at it. The Phals and others that are mass produced for sale are not expected to live! That is big business. I will buy Phals from the box store, but I think of them as cut flowers that last longer. I have one now, a resturant reject, that was given to me, coming in bloom now. It is still in its' sleeve in long fiber. I never soak it, just sprinkle the top of the medium. Many of the others I've tried in various mediums have gotten too much light , or too hot and croaked. Some in different light are doing well.
I know these articles have limited space, but it Irritates me the way these plants are marketed to the unsuspecting public.
