Tenman wrote (in part):
What is commonly missed is that these plants neeed a good deal of water.
They don't like to stay wet, but they still need the water..

I think the "don't like to stay wet" part of our knowledge of orchid-growing
comes from suffocating the roots in insufficiently airy media, and not from
too much water, per se.

Taking a clip from The Baker's orchidculture.com free sheet on Cattleya
skinneri, for example:
_____________________Plants usually grow in wet mountain forests from near
sea level to about
4100 ft. (1250 m), but they also occur on rocks at higher elevations where
rainfall is greater and evaporation is less._____________________
That sounds to me like "staying wet" is the norm. We have to consider,
however, that the root systems are very much exposed (sort of like those of
"Uncle Vito's" plants) to air so they important gas exchange processes that
occur through the root systems go on unimpeded.
--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!