Question
Thank you in advance for being available and kind enough to answer questions.
Yesterday I received a phal orchid as a gift from a coworker. It came potted with moss in a small plastic container maybe 4" diameter with just one hole at the bottom of the container. The plastic container was sitting in a slightly larger ceramic pot with many holes around the pot and one large hole on the bottom; and a matching ceramic tray. The plastic container moves freely around the pot and tipped over a few times during the transport home. I live in New York City and the heater makes my apt veru dry. I know that it needs humidity so I put stones in the space between the plastic container and the ceramic pot and also thought this would be good to secure it in place and keep it upright. Did I do the right thing? The plastic container doesn't have holes around it like the ceramic one, so how could the holes on the sides of the ceramic pot be doing anything to help the plant?
Your advise is greatly appreciated.


Answer
Thank you Kelly for the vivid description of your growing condition.  I think that what you did was helpful to help stabilize the pot and provide an increased humidity level.  Sometime when you are in the vicinity of a garden center see if you can locate a small bag of orchid potting mix to use in repotting your plant at some future time.  I have found that using moss as a potting mix may be fine for a while but, over time, it tends to compact restricting air flow to the roots of the plant.  It also tends to stay wet too long and/or dry out more quickly than a standard orchid potting mix.  Also, I agree that the plant would benefit from more aeration holes in the pot. When you repot you could consider repotting the plant from the plastic container directly into the ceramic pot since it seems to have better drainage. When you decide to repot be sure to check your plant's roots after removing it from its pot.  Any mushy roots should be removed as only firm roots are healthy.  Annual repotting is preferred as that also provides an opportunity to check roots health. When you repot, you will need to place the pot on a pebble tray to maintain humidity about the plant.

You didn't mention where you were growing your plant.  An east window is a good location for windowsill growing but be careful to avoid exposing the plant to temperatures below 60 degress. This is a particular problem with windowsill growing tn the winter. They also grow well under lights and away from the window.