Thanks for the advice. I think the nursery I'm buying my orchids from may be giving me bad advice... I was told to jam the orchids roots very tightly. The bark is so packed I can hardly stick anything in it to test for moisture. I will try loosening them up a bit. Also, I find that spagnum moss keeps the roots wayyy too wet so I always repot after blooming because I don't trust the spagnum - maybe I'm going overboard but the spagnum stays wet for weeks... do you keep phals in spagnum or bark? Thanks again.