Dave, Ray, and Diana, Thank you for your welcome back--although I may not
really be back, since my life is very busy nowheredays, so I am not sure how
often I will be able to visit, and I may unfortunately drop off the rgo
horizon again.

Regarding Ray's advice that I switch to SH to help with my watering as a
chore problem. I did at some point get two SH pots, and I tried one of them,
so far. I chose an orchid (cochleanthes amazonica) that was not doing well
in the hope that SH would help it, but unfortunately the cochleanthes did
not make it despite this attempt. I know that SH was not the cause of its
demise because as mentioned it was not doing well even before, and I guess
all this proves is that SH is not a miracle cure for all that ails. I still
have one used SH pot, and am thinking of trying it. The plant that I am most
interest in trying it with is a Phrag Ecua-Bess because I know that phrags
like this one prefer more water and I have been remiss in watering it often
enough. However, this phrag is now also not doing well, and I fear that if I
put it in SH and it does not make it, I may wind up thinking that SH just
does not work for me, which part of me knows is completely faulty reasoning
because in both cases the orchids attempted in SH will have been ones that
were limping already. However, I am not really sure that I want to try an
orchid that is doing well in its current medium because if I did that, and
then the plant took a turn for the worse after all, I would feel guilty that
I had switched it to a completely new medium when it had been doing so well
in the old medium. See what I mean? So I have a dilemma here, on the one
hand I am much more willing to try experimenting with SH with a plant that
is not doing well already, but on the other hand I know that the results of
such an experiment may well reflect more on the ailing plant than on the
success of SH.

Any thoughts in response?

Joanna