Hello, mehitabel, and thank you for responding. Perhaps I miscommunicated some things, and will try to clarify. 1. If I "really wanted to let it go or give it away", I wouldn't be here trying to save it, now, would I? :-) 2. Regarding temperature, "about 68" was an estimate. After reading your post, I went to another room and ripped an indoor thermometer off the wall and set it up by the Phal. It's currently 74 degrees right there (and 0 with 20 below windchills outside ... which is another reason the plant is moved 2 feet back from the window). It gets *warmer* at night (to the point that I personally, being a female of middle age , am tossing off sheets and sweating, because other family members crank up the thermostat. I'll stop complaining about the lack of sleep and wasted fuel for the sake of my Phalaenopsis from now on. ::grins::) Everything I've read online and in books, up till this forum, anyway, states that Phal's like normal household temperatures, and I've been trying to follow what the "pros" suggest, honestly. The book I have here in my lap (Orchids for Dummies by Steven A Frowine) states: "Moth orchids do well in medium to low light, similar to other houseplants like African violets. They also thrive in moderate humidity of 50 percent or so and average daytime temparatures of 70* F to 80* F during the day and about 65* F at night". Is none of this true? Even though I was apparently guessing too low at the 68* average temp, it seems that we're actually quite a bit warmer here than what Frowine suggests. And we have more light ... the only thing lacking is the humidity part. 3. It's not a "curtain". It's a "clear gauze" curtain ... more like a veil that filters the sunlight coming in through the *south* window, but it does let in the sun. One of those gauzey things some windows have "underneath" the curtains that filter the sun when you pull the actual curtains back to the side. It's actually the sunniest spot in the house. Outside of moving, I'm not sure how it can get more sunlight. To move it closer to the window would subject it to cold, and when the leaf was sunburned, I'm fairly sure it actually was sunburned ... it felt hot, and developed a clear spot in the center that turned black. We had a very warm December and January, and it was getting quite hot in that spot. The reason it's been "dark" currently is that this is upstate NY and it's early March and most of our days have been overcast. There's some sun today, however, for a change. I've put in my bid for more sunshine with the universe ;-) -- haven't gotten a reply yet. I'll try to set up more artificial light there for it, though, at your suggestion. I've met resistance from the gentleman who shares this room with me on previous suggestions of that course of action, but perhaps hearing that an expert suggested more light will shift the line of thinking. 4. "About twice a week" means that I stick my finger into the growing medium and water when it feels dry -- which in this case turns out to be "about twice a week". I do know that the room is low in humidity ... thus the misting in the mornings, the air's very dry here. There does seem to be a great deal of confusion out there as far as information for beginners. Misting in the mornings was the advice of an orchid care website, on the topic of a room that had very low humidity. Have I been wrong to do this? I honestly don't recall which website at this point ... I've read so many of them in effort to help this one plant. 5. As I said above, I checked the roots this morning, there is no rot. There *was* rot due to the way the florist originally potted the plant, but that was eliminated in December when I repotted in orchid mix. I had it out of the mix this morning (for the first time since repotting) and though there is no new root growth under the surface, there is no rot, and what "old" roots are there are completely dry. The roots that were still living (two halfway decent sized ones) after the thing was first hit by the rot earlier on look pretty much the same as they did back then ... still green/living tissue there, though perhaps not the healthiest roots on the planet. But no rot ... the plant's not being over watered. If anything, it's too dry. 6. As mentioned, there are two tiny buds growing from the base of the plant (see the photos in my blog, above) that I believe are new roots starting, at long last. So, though the leaves are suffering, the roots seem to be trying to make a comeback. Anyway, I'll do my best to implement as many of your suggestions as I can, and I do appreciate that you've taken time to help me. I truly do wish to save this plant, and in fact fell in love with it, despite its problems, and would love to "get good enough at this" to have more Phals in the future. Thank you!

Hi! I'm so sorry, Jean001a, I haven't replied sooner but i have been away (got the neighbor to look after the garden :). Thank you for you response. I had used miracle grow organic all purpose plant food NPK: 7-6-7 when i transplanted the plants to their grow bags. (i don't know what it is made up of though). Luckily it seems as though they have recovered. the leaves are mostly green. However, i think that the fertilizer had too much nitrogen as the plants are now 1m tall and are only just starting to set their first trusses of flowers.

It is scar tissue probably caused by a fungus. Once there those marks will not go away. Cold and damp conditions without enough air movement encourage the fungi or bacteria (I am not sure which) to strike. You could try cleaning your plants with eco oil as a preventative and make sure there is enough air movement around the pots.

The container looks small......is the plant getting enough water? Mine will wilt at the top when they are dry. Not sure about the black leaves, I'd remove them. edit: Might help if I read your post :-/, and you say mix is damp.......your plant just looked like my plants when the mix gets dry.