In the mid 70s, when I bought my first orchid, I looked at it every day
and it never did anything. I was young and impatient. I read the one page
culture sheet handed to me with the plant and it told what could be used
to pot orchids. One of the choices was gravel.
Needing some sort of interaction with my new plant, I dumped it out of the
pot it was perfectly happy in. I borrowed some natural pea gravel from an
aquarium that we weren't using at the time. I potted that little
Phalaenopsis in what, I learned later, was an over sized pot for the size
of the plant. It grew up, bloomed, and lived happily in that same gravel
and same pot for over 25 years. Of course, every few years, I had to dump
it out, break off the dead bottom with dead roots and pot it deeper again.
It finally died last year due to the Phal disease that killed all of my
other Phals too.

The point is, an orchid can do very well for decades potted only in
gravel.

Steve

How sad to loose a plant you've nurtured for so long.

Thanks for the response.