Your second suggestion is better than the first. Peat moss in a mix for orchids is too dense, as you realize. It will hold much too much water and cause the roots to rot, and the peat, as well as the pine bark, will break down faster and need repotting much quicker. If you use 50% fir bark instead of the pine bark, add 25% sphagnum moss, 25% perlte, some styrofoam peanuts at the bottom for drainage, you should have a decent mix. You might want to tweak that up the line for your conditions and how you water. You're in Florida, so maybe someone from your area can give you better advice.

Hi
How are you growing them in/outdoors in SH or trees?? Exposed to the wind and rain??
The last mix would be a could start if hanging outdoors in the rain. First might be okay but keep a close eye on the moisture if exposed to rain.
I've had fair luck with growing on trees and driftwood with a bit of LF sphag to start them out.
Might mention that the trees are in the SH not out in the yard. Not brave enough to put Phals outdoors yet lol
Good luck gary

My personal mix is this:

2-3 parts bark (usually fir or a bark mix of fine-coarse bark perhaps some coconut coir mixed in)
1 part horticultural charcoal
1 part perlite
1 part spaghnum moss (ripped up or chopped up)
1/2-1 part chopped up styrofoam peanuts (if I can get large perlite I will decrease the amount of this, but it never breaks down the way perlite can)

Soak it overnight in a mix of superthrive and physan and pot up! I always line the bottoms of my pots with styrofoam peanuts as well. I've had great luck with this mix for almost 10 years!

Adrianna

I just moved them inside so I like the idea of them retaining moisture without rotting as the last time I tried growing them in here. Hmm, do you think that if I have them inside and don't water too much will they get enough air in the roots, they are in those coconut fiber baskets. Thanks
Oh and don't be afraid to grow them outide. I kept mine out in the partial shade all summer and except for where the sun fried the individual leaves and they dried out from not being in big enough pots and they survived ok.

I'm in Flarda, too...on da Gulf coast.
I may be the exception-to-the rule, but most of my Phals are potted in wooden baskets with sphag.
(There is one I mounted on a cork slab with sphag as well.)

Here's a very blurry shot of one Phal taken last year...it loves the wooden basket and is now huge and blooming non-stop.

{{gwi:198349}}

I guess you could say I used to over-water!
I learned my lesson the hard way after almost losing several orchids.

Now-a-days I just shoot everything with the hose in the early morning. With the heat and light winds, they dry out nicely and are good-to-go for a couple of days...easy.

You may want to try small-sized coconut chunks...maybe some perlite mixed in...it won't break down here in Florida like 'barks' do, which will lead to all sorts of problems.

I'm also concerned about the size of the hanging baskets...you stated "large"...not too much larger than previous pot size, I hope.

I put them in little pots 4-6" inside the large baskets. So there's peat and bark in the hanging baskets and fir bark and coarse spaghnum in the little pots where the orchids are. I ended up getting Green Light brand root stimulator and starter from Lowes. The guy there kinda pushed it on me, don't know if it was the best since it also has a 5-15-5 fertilizer in it but it was on sale and well I've got it now so...I soaked them in that for awhile, cut back all the dead roots (I think having them in a bit too much direct sun this summer in those clay pots burned the roots up) and then soaked the spaghnum around the remaining roots and put the fir chunks in the rest of the little pots. Oh, I did put some of those large pine barks in the bottom for air flow, hope that wasn't a bad idea. Can they recover from almost all the roots cut off? They look healthy. The peat I figure holds the little pots in place and when I water indoors can absorb the overflow of water.