How to help my bargain orchid

[Aurical]

So I've always been enchanted with orchids, but never been confident enough (or had the money to buy any) until recently.

I purchased one phal from lowes for ~$14. It seems to be doing well. I have a dedicated light for it since I live up north were we don't see the sun much from late october to may and it's not on the sunny side of the apartment.

Last week I was in Home Depot and saw a beautiful phal on clearance for $7. While it is generally in good shape, it does show some damage from mishandling and I have some specific questions about what to do:

1. one of the largest leaves (approx 12") has a large split going down the center (the split is 5-6" and goes all the way through the leaf). This leaf also has a fairly large (slighty smaller than a dime) blackish spot near the tip. Should I remove the leaf or let it stay? I don't want to cause any more undue stress, but I'm afraid that this will leave the plant open to infection

2. The plant has tons of air roots, but most if not all have some sort of damage (tips are dried up and shriveled or roots are broken). Should I increase humidity/watering for the dried roots? Should I remove broken tips?

The plant is in a clay pot with a substrate that seems to be a mix of bark and light, well draining soil. As I said, it still seems to be doing well. The rest of the leaves are in good shape, the spike is green, the flowers are beautiful, and it even has a bud forming. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[mayres]

The split on the large leaf should not present any problems as long as it doesn't get any disease issues - as long as there is no discoloration increasing in size you are probably alright. I would keep a VERY close eye on teh black spot. I had a phal with a black spot close to the crown of just ONE leaf and thought it was doing OK for about 4-5 months. Then in a matter of a day or two it spread to the crown end of the plant. I cut off the leaf immediately but it had already spread to the central part of the plant (though I could not visibly see this at the time.). If I had invested in expensive anti-disease sprays maybe I could have kept the disease at bay, but as it was I ended up discarding the plant. Bottom line from my perspective - watch the black spots daily (or nearly) or remove them with a sterile cutting tool. My mother has a number of phals with the ends chewed off by her cat and they seem to do fine. I would personally be inclined to cut off a spot near the tip with a sterile razer blade (or similar tool). Air roots - if they are dried up and dead (or broken) you could remove. Some people like to lightly mist them daily (in the morning) - not sure this does much good, but it should not hurt and may rehydrate some roots if they are not totally gone and start new growth. I like to spray mine early in the morning - if nothing else it makes ME feel like I'm interacting with them more. :-) Be careful not to overwater your phal - this the number one reason for problems from my perspective - better to underwater. Enjoy your blooms! mike