Controversy on Paph light levels?

[Halloamey]

I really switched them out of S/H because I couldn't keep them damp enough without draining and flushing each one at least once a day, and once a week fertilize weakly - for 100+ orchids that was about 6 hours taking them back and forth to the kitchen sink, waiting for them to drain - for 25 or so, it took about 2 1/2 hours a day. The S/H system I had had pots with 2 holes about 1" about the bottom, and that reservoir dried up every day, plus the clay pebbles above dried completely even before that.

There is something definitely wrong with your SH system, that I can tell for sure. Most probably you are using very tall pots (Capillary action not efficient in tall pots) and also the reservoirs must be insufficient. However dry your conditions are a SH set up should need watering only once a week, that how you design it. Also I recently compared different LECA pellets and found out all of them are not created equal, some will just sit there without any capillary action, but that still would not explain your daily evaporation ! Anyways since they are not in SH anymore it is not of concern.

Since I obviously don't want to disturb them again, I'm trying to figure out what "dressing" I might be able to spread over the pot surface to help retain moisture without suffocating them. Any thoughts?

I agree with Pavel on this sphag or coconut husk mulch on top should be fine.

And, unlike other orchids, paphs actually LIKE to be repotted every 6 months to a year. I was counting on that somewhat, even with the medium changing.

I think you are confusing between what is implied. This biannual repotting is very different from the repotting you are doing. The process is to constantly grow the orchids in pot bound conditions. Say for eg. the seedling is growing in a 5 cm pot, instead of repotting it in a 8 cm pot straightaway and not worrying about it for a year or two, it is planted in a 6 cm pot. Because it is in a smaller pot, it dries up fast, needs to be watered more frequently ( thus also fertilized more frequently), more air gets to the roots leading to overall good growth. At the end of 6 months, when the seedling is almost getting pot bound it is moved into a 8 cm pot. This repotting does not involve any change of media or any disturbance to the roots. The seedling plug is removed from the 6 cm pot more moss or any other media is wrapped around the plug and it is put into the bigger pot. And the same cycle is repeated for another 6 months, at the end of which the plants are much more superior in health ( more no. of individual growths and biomass in general) as compared to those already potted in 8 cm pots at the beginning of the year and without any repotting in between.

The repotting we do, where we get rid of the old media and either change the media or the media type is NOT LIKED by any orchids.