What to do if one goes out of town?

[smartie2000]

I would turn off the fan so it is not on 24/7 first.

Sitting the pot in water such that the water will probably disappear in a few days would help too. Usually it does not cause too many problems. That just gives you more time before the pot dries out completely

Also, is putting sphag moss on top of the potting medium (bark mix with charcoal and perlite) not a good thing to do long term?

I have put moss on top of my pots in the past and it has not caused problems for me

[Diane]

I've had several long (3 week) trips where I could not get an orchid sitter. I water thoroughly, lower light in summer, and put moss on some of the thirstier guys. I usually lose one or two plants - most likely the least healthy, and may blast some buds.

I recently was unable to care for my plants (about 250) for almost 45 days. I have definitely lost about 50 plants, mostly paphs. The catts suffered some losses, but amazingly the phals have no losses. The odds and ends speicies also did quite well. I expect there are maybe 10 to 15 more that I will end up losing....