Thanks for all the input folks, it's nice to know that other people have had to deal with the same issues as me. I excised all the brown/black mushy areas and dusted the wounds with cinnamon powder. The plants have been sitting indoors in the sunroom with a fan on them for a couple days now, and seem to be holding steady. No imminent deaths yet, so that's good. I'll give them another day or two and then water them a little with peroxide solution, and then put them back outside so they can start their recovery. Howard_a, I appreciate your perspective about the direct sun and sudden change in environment. I did wonder about that myself, although I've seen sunburn before and the leaf damage on my plants looked different than that. I've left plants on the porch or even the bare sidewalk and they've still been slow to sunburn, so I don't think two days of morning sun in and of itself was enough to cause this problem. The combination of high heat and light might have stressed the plants' tissues and made the existing water problem worse...but based upon the anectdotes of other commenters here, I'm betting the main problem was the still the excess water. Orchidflowerchild, I'm glad you've got a setup that works well for you. This is only my second season of growing orchids outdoors so I'm still trying things out. I've had problems in the past getting mounted or bare root plants enough water during the non-rainy season...even when I try to remember to water them daily, they end up shriveled. I am a pretty lazy gardener;) I guess the issue with outdoor plants in Florida is that due to the vastly shifting seasonal climate, you're going to have to make some sort of compromise w.r.t. potting medium/setup. It'll end up either too dry or too wet! I think now that I learned this hard lesson, I'll know well enough to bring my plants in during super wet periods. Tuezday1, I haven't been growing Catts for very long so I'll keep your advice in mind. Thus far they haven't been very fussy, and seem to like it well enough under the grapefruit tree. They've got a lot of open space around them so they get quite a lot of bright morning and late afternoon/evening sun, in addition to the dappled midday shade provided by the tree.

Sean, a belated welcome, A couple of my earlier messages to you haven't posted here. You have my sympathy and empathy with your orchid loss, especially because it was a thoughtful and special gift for your GF, and she's loved it so. You've gone to great lengths to save this plant. Not many folks would have done that. Kudos to you. Dunno if this will help ease the loss for the two of you, but the beloved Phal could have been doomed before you got it because of the no drainage factor. The only retailers who raise orchids to last beyond that one (unnatural) flowering are the smaller commercial orchid growers, and some of those mistreat their plants, so you end up with poor quality too. You're in good company: virtually every orchid hobbyist lost at least a few of their first orchids. After you and your GF have had a chance to talk, & if you decide to get another orchid, I have two suggestions that will increase chances the new orchid will thrive and bloom again (no guarantees, unfortunately - we're talking orchids. :)). First, as Jane said, get Ortho's All About Orchids by Elvin McDonald; Meredith Books, 1999. It's a paperback, and Amazon's got them new for $2.79! Then there's shipping from their vendor, but the book was about $20 @ Home Depot a couple of years ago. The Ortho book's only 96 pages long and has guided tons of folks to success. After the two of you have skimmed through the book... Second suggestion - order a Phal from a grower who sells online. Picking out the new Phal together could help brighten your moods. There are lots of good growers who sell online, and folks here will suggest solid growers, if you decide to go that route. We can also tell you which Phals might be easier than others. One drawback is a new plant may not arrive in spike (have a "stem" maybe long enough to have buds on it already), or in bloom (flowers open). That's because the orchid's environment hasn't been messed with to force it to bloom way out of its natural cycle, like orchids you find in stores, even garden centers. This process could have compromised your orchid's health, too. But, you're in luck - this is the time of year lots of Phals are in spike. I live in Minneapolis, MN and see you're in SE Nebraska. We're geographically challenged in the orchid world. There may be small commercial growers kinda near you or your GF's school, but none that sell online as far as I know. Also, the only show around here where you can buy orchids is in conjunction with the St. Paul Winter Carnival in January, and only a few vendors attend. It's the absolute worst time to buy an orchid cuz of its exposure to cold temps. People in Chicago, S CA, FL, and farther up the E coast live in paradise re: lots of good growers and big shows throughout the year. I'll be thinking about you two. Please let us know how it's going. Whitecat8 Here is a link that might be useful: Ortho's All About Orchids, Amazon.com

OMG I am at fault for little babies that i just found in our low lying baby olive tree. I thought the nest at first was a wasps nest but as I got closer it didnt look like a wasps nest. Like a few in here I very gently pulled the branch to look inside and two little eggs were in there. She landed back in the nest when I got in my car and all looked well. When i got home I notices the nest looked like it had tipped sideways and she was hovering and I was thinking what the hell happened and it hit me I may have loosened it when I pulled the branch to investigate and worse the winds picked up really bad the last 24 hours. I saw her flying madly trying to get to it. Seems I epicly failed in trying to secure the branch to "adjust it which helped keep her and babies hidden. she kept flying to the nest but I havent seen her. I left a camera to watch for her and will check the footage; but after reading everything I think i just killed two little creatures due to my own stupidity. I feel horrible. This would have been the first set of humming bird babies I have ever seen and the second nest in my life time I have ever found on my property. I am so sorry for this I really didn't mean to hurt anyone let alone a tiny little bird and her nest. :(

Thanks dannie for your suggestion on how to proceed, and both of you for expressing your sane doubts. Whether to try water culture is off-topic to the question, but I will digress to address the doubts. If you look on youtube "orchids full water culture" you will find a number of people blooming orchids in full water and part water culture (with great success). I agree it is surprising but it is a fact. OME, Orchid Whisperer, Samantha's Orchids, Diloram Brown, Trac McNguyen, so neaty, Sharon Short, and other Youtube publishers show lots of blooming orchids in water and give instructions. OME, Orchid Whisperer, Samantha and others list the reasons they prefer water culture. On the other hand, MissOrchidGirl tried it and didn't like it for her conditions (I think Romania, on a balcony with extremes of hot and cold), although she reported it did work for her phals. She has strong objections to it as un-natural. She says it works with phals because they are "weeds" that will grow in any conditions and that it's a "gimmick." Facts beat speculation. :) The great majority of people who tried it found it worked well for them, I only found two that didn't like it. To go into more detail, I observed that MissOrchidGirl seemed to me to have left some media on the roots, which is a no-no. It looks like she also used full water culture on plants that need part water culture (some need one day a week dry, some five days a week dry). Her problems with it may be part due to her technique and part to her growing environment which is way different from mine, which is much more like OME's and Samatha's. Aside from the fact that it is proven to work well if done properly in the right environment with the right species, you can ask why it works. Don't orchids grow in trees, not swamps and lakes, as MissOrchidGirl strongly objects on Youtube? First of all, water culture is not simulating a swamp or a lake. It is more like a little stream or a water reservoir in a depression in a branch or a hole in a trunk. The places where orchids grow have lots of streams and the rain forest canopy has lots of tiny "pools" or water caches in the branches, kept full since it rains every day. I have read that there are many species of animal, for example, that are adapted to live only in these small pools of water high in the forest canopy, or that depend on them for procreation. (The very common tank bromeliads hold up to 2 gallons of water high in the canopy, but I don't see how orchids can send roots into them. Maybe it happens. The canopy is not well studied.) Orchids growing right by these pools, either in the forest canopy or on logs, rocks and boulders by small streams or pools, can send out water roots into them for a steady reliable source of water and nutrients (like your clever Twinkie). If we are going to speculate on the evolution of orchids, I speculate that this is why many species of orchids and other plants too, like African Violets, are able to grow specialized water roots that can live in water. This situation happens often enough and it is so beneficial it promoted this adaptation and kept it in the genes. If it didn't happen enough in the wild, then according to evolution the plants should not have the genetic ability to grow specialized water roots. I have seen one photo of a large phal in the wild growing over rocks by a small pond, with its roots trailing into the water, which proves this does in fact happen in nature. It looks to me like this orchid, supposedly in the wild, has bare roots sprawled over the rocks with some roots dipping into the pool, very much like full water culture: As far as the advantages of doing this in cultivation, here is a list I made based on reports of successes: 1) no media to make a home for critters 2) no need to re-pot on a regular basis, because there is no organic media to break down and acidify. Never repot. When the orchid gets too big, just pick it up and put it in a larger glass vase (or coffee cup or any container). Not only saves a lot of work and time but also saves damage to roots. Keeps roots out of acid media. 3) most of roots are in air, so they get plenty of air, better circulation than in media 4) roots are completely visible for beauty (with a glass vase) 5) roots are completely visible for health monitoring 6) no guess about when to water, you keep the water at a specific level and top it off or replace it when low or cloudy 7) fertilizing is easy, several ways but you can add a very small amount of the right stuff to the water (e.g. 1/4 tsp / gal MSU) all the time. Very simple. 8) increases local humidity around plant 9) plants gets constant supply of water on demand, as much as it can use and no more, instead of depending on the grower's schedule 10) roots are prettier, silver above the water, green in the water. Never brown or dark. 11) roots get light and contribute (a small amount) to photosynthesis 12) with a large enough reservoir, you can go away for weeks and the plant will be fine. 13) you don't have to experiment with or buy the various media and mixes- bark, perlite, moss, leca, etc. No media at all. Very simple, very cheap, very clean. 14) no need to buy special orchid pots. Any cup or glass works fine. 15) as far as natural goes, no orchids grow in pots in nature. :) Yet pots work better than mounting on wood for many people due to their growing environment and time schedule, even for MissOrchidGirl. (I also doubt orchids in the wild have their roots immersed in small bark chips mixed with perlite, or wrapped in sphagnum.) There are also advantages to growing in bark based media, I am not saying water culture is superior for all plants and for everyone, just that it is not a totally untried, crazy idea. It is both well proven in culture and has a theoretical biological justification.