Very well said, Amey. That's an excellent explanation.

Since I retired, a couple of years ago, I've been slowly moving my orchids into open wooden baskets and a couple on mounts. My vandas have their roots hanging free with no medium.

It's very rewarding to grow orchids in a more natural way and most orchids respond well to it. But when we're working every day, most of us don't have the time to give the extra care that orchids need when they're grown that way. For example, I water my vandas every day now. So we resort to methods that will allow orchids to go a little longer between waterings and fertilizing. Luckily, over the years, growers have discovered culture methods that many orchids will tolerate even if it's not their natural state. That's why we're here on this forum, to learn some of these tricks.