Thank you for further opinions/advice. ashes_of_the_fire those roots are gorgeous! For most part I tend to slightly underwater my orchids, before the ailment that is (I always thought it was fine as they flowered and looked healthy) and the roots would be slightly thinner than yours. I am especially grateful for the step by step instructions. I will definitely need them as this will be my first repotting on my own! (mum refused to help as she says last time she got involved it got them to the current state). I have something by Westland called 'orchid compost'. It says it has organic matter, bark and wood fibre. This is the only thing suitable at the shop nearest to us (and that is 30 minutes away). There is another shop that is about 1 hour away in another zone that requires 2 buses. But I am not sure that one is much better. I think I'll repot the worst first (I will do it tomorrow morning when there is more light and might post photos in case I need advise of whether they are actually alive)... to see how they take to this compost. And order the following online: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elite-Orchid-Compost-Range-for-Phalaenopsis-5-Litres-/261365464855 Does that seem like a good mix? Apparently one of the orchids is not actually a Phalaenopsis that mum owns (since it hasn't had flowers in years I did not know any better). Though she cannot remember its name. meyermike_1micha thank you for the tip ... I have been reading many websites and books about caring for orchids, but none actually go into any sort of detail. Something I read a year ago said that orchids can grow without any medium! in baskets but would require very frequent sprays. Wow! Maybe I need to do that to avoid the bugs. jane__ny thank you for the link! It is very helpful. As I said the books I could get from the library and some websites I came across weren't as helpful. Most of the books had various pictures and species, and talked about reproduction, illness and the fact that orchids depending on the type like various mediums including moss, bark, and something else. No one ever went into basics of how to physically water them (just state that you can spray or pour). Cloths were a strategy to get rid of insects. They have only been covered in them for about 3 months. These bugs are a pain to get rid of ... and one of the solutions is placing a layer of sand on top of the peat ... it cuts air supply to them and cuts their wings when they crawl out. I was a bit apprehensive of doing that (since who knows what the sand will be infected with!) So I saw someone's solution of placing denim to a similar effect ... break the cycle. Each fly lays many many eggs ... and the problem multiplies. Most of these I read were for houseplants ... as no one wrote about infected orchids. But the things is one of the orchids I bought was already infected and it was in bark! So it does happen. Probably not as frequently. I know most of the solutions I was trying were damaging the health of the plants, but as I mentioned these stuff eat roots ... and reproduce fast. So the fact that some of the orchids are still alive is pretty much a miracle. I do not wish this infection on anyone's plants. Oh and I place my stupidity/naivety to the fact that for many years that I have owned orchids they were healthy and I never saw what I have been seeing in the past 3/4 of the year. Thank you so much for your support! I also include the picture of the flies! (this was when the situation was improving too! before then you couldn't see the yellow ... it is a lot a lot better now). Just about 3 or 4 flies per sticker. Another quick question ... do I need to dry out the orchid compost completely before planting? (that is where I went wrong with the peat apparently) Lija P.S. Liquid Oxygen contains Hydrogen Peroxide. It was advised to me as it apparently burns up the larvae which seemed like a pleasant thought.

Thanks for the reply Mike! I thought that was a possibility too. We had a miserably hot summer down here in TX this year and it lost a few leaves in a similar manner then as well (not sure if that tells you anything). It has been a bit cooler the past couple of weeks. Got down into the lower 60s upper 50s at night. It would be that cool for a couple of nights and then warm up into the 70s. The plant is probably used to highs in the upper 80s and 90s with lows in the 70s to lower 80s. I say that because I am not sure if the plant will start to drop its leaves for the fall based on the temps that are normal for the climate it is in. However I did move the plant inside and it never gets cooler than 70 there. I read some forum posts on winterizing the plants and that made me think that the cooler temps are to blame. Haven't seen the the ants past couple of days. Maybe the bait worked, not sure though. How do I post a picture of the plant? I don't see anywhere to upload a picture to this post.

Bridgett If I may suggest, using much more gritty mix will make drainage much better and if you need to take plant out for any reason, the mix just away easily. If the soil is hard to remove, that suggest to me that it likely contains too much peat (it looks like that in the last photo), and the peat may have become hydrophobic. That happens when the peat dries out too much, hardens up and is very difficult to re-wet. Even if there is rain or watering, all water just slides around this hardened 'clump' and roots don't get any - water runs out and you may think it is well draining. So there is more than enough water available, but plant is 'dying of thirst in sea of plenty (of water)'. I keep all succulents outdoors when temps are high enough; they are in full sun - no shade of any kind, from sunrise until about 7pm. I do not take them inside (I would in case of big storm/hail/high winds). They get all the rain we get. You can see lots of grit in the pots - the mix drains very well, it is made of grit+perlite+ some turface. I know lots of ppl grow them in much more soil, but believe me, I don't have to worry about overwatering. The red edges on leaves are from sunshine, and quite desirable on all green plant. Btw, most of them recover easier from underwatering than overwatering. You can also see that your plant could use more sunshine - the leaves are far apart on the stem. So if you repot them into mix with better drainage and slowly expose to more and more sunlight, they should improve considerably.

Why not post a few more pictures including one of the soil and one of the whole plant, and tell us how you water and what kind of light the plant gets? I suggest you find out exactly what's wrong before doing anything else. Fortunately there are a lot of people here who have lots of experience raising all sorts of plants and dealing with just about any nasty thing that can harm them. I have a few guesses, but a little more information will help folks figure out what's going on and the best way to treat it. Fungus gnats live in the soil, so you have to do something to the soil to get rid of them. I treat them by periodically getting all of my plants to dry out at the same time, because they can't survive without wet soil. I've heard of people getting good results by dissolving part of a mosquito dunk in water and then watering lightly with it. I'm sure someone will pop in and give you some details. Often, the kind of wilting and yellowing leaves I see in your picture are signs of watering issues, and usually it's overwatering. Many people don't believe it's possible, but watering while the soil at the bottom of the pot is still wet keeps the rootlets that carry water to the plant from breathing and ends up killing them, making it look like the plant is thirsty when the problem is drowned roots. I can tell my plants are starting to get dry from their weight, but I check the soil moisture daily with a sharpened wooden dowel (just switched from a cheap moisture meter) stuck all the way to the bottom of the pot, and don't water until the first time the tip feels dry. At that point there's still moisture in the soil, but if I wait any longer the plant will wilt. At that point I water thoroughly until a lot of water has drained from the bottom of the pot and let the pot drain thoroughly. There are ways of helping this along, but we can get to that later. Best of luck!