please help me to not kill these 2 orchids :help:

[pinky]

Hey my name is Victoria and I havent been on this site in a while.I have been so busy with school and life in general.
Last time I bought some orchids, I caused premature death to all of them
It seemed like the harder I tried, the worse they ended up. I had bought 3 phals that all came potted in sphag...I read through all the posts and tried my best to repot them with a phal mix of bark and such. Everything went downhill from there. I tried my hardest to balance between dehydration and overwatering, but no matter what they got moldy despite being in a bark mix with easy drainage. It seemed like repotting them was the worst thing I could have done for them.

So about a month ago my mom and I went to Lowe's and we walked by the distressed plants and sure enough they had some phals for a couple bucks. So I said to myself that I might as well give it a go and just not try to hard this time. So I brought it home...it is in a glass square container in sphag. I have been watering it only a little because there are NO HOLES on the bottom of this glass container. I know thats horrid, but I am petrified to repot. There is a tag inside that says dec. 2010, so the poor thing has been in that container that long. It has an old spike on it but I am not even sure at this point if i should cut it or leave it.
Then, last week my mom came home from Lowes with another distressed orchid for me. I had no idea what kind it was, as it was definitely not a phal. I did a little research and it turns out that it is a dendrobium. However I have no idea what species it is. It seemed like it had no tags in it, but on closer inspection it does have tags...they are just buried in the medium. I am really not sure of what to do with it. Not sure if it should/should not get light..how much light..etc...I have it in a southwest facing window, but not in direct sun. I have no idea the water or temp requirements for it, since I have no idea what species of dendrobium it is and they appear to have varying requirements. Once again, this orchid is also in sphag, but it is in a container with holes at the bottom and when I water it, it drains easily.
I have noticed some small fruit fly looking bugs around the sphag in both orchids...I imagine they are gnats as I have seen them before on just about every orchid I have acquired..(which was one of the reasons I was so quick to repot them all before)
Can someone just please help me to not murder these poor plants. I dont want to go overboard and kill them with kindness; nor do I want to just ignore them and let them die. I just want to know how they both look to you guys and if you can help me out with very few basic guidelines on how not to kill them. they dont deserve it. lol
thanks so much for your time. any help will be appreciated.
heres some pics of them in their current condition:

[Leafmite]

My mom has a phal in a pot with no holes. The trick was, it had mostly styrofoam under the thin layer of moss and after she watered it, she turned it over and poured the water out. I just replaced the broken down moss with a few chunks of lava rock (the red kind), and left the styrofoam. The phal thrives. I grow my phals in lava rock and plastic net pots and they do very well. Clay pots are fine for phals, too. Lava rock is just a very easy medium because it doesn't break down and allows air to the roots.
Phal-type dendrobiums are a great orchid. They don't like repotting and prefer to be on the dry side so Lava rock (large) is a good choice for these if you don't want to use a tiny pot that is easy to knock over. It is best to repot these when there is new growth for they often lose leaves when disturbed (I do admit I repotted my new ones while in bloom, out of growth, but I spent a good while being very careful not to harm the roots). After repotting, stake them (chopsticks, pencils, etc can be used) so there is no movement and they will recover much more quickly. Once established and happy, these are in bloom quite frequently. I give mine cattleya light. They don't seem to mind lower humidity. I use plastic net pots so if they ever outgrow the pot, I will just drop it into a larger one. They will easily tolerate temps in the 60'F but mine would probly be thrilled if I turned up the temps.
I hope this helps. Good luck!
Leafmite

[-k-]

Pinky... Welcome Back! Glad you are stilling trying your hand with orchids!!! I have included links for you to read. What you have there is a Phal. type Dendrobium and a Phalaenopsis. They can be typically fairly easy to care for, not too much fussn whatsoever. Your Phal. potted without drainage can kill the plant if your not careful watering, check the moss using the skewer technique, also since it's clear you should be able to see condensation as an indication.

Your Dendrobium can receive bright light and some sunshine, water year round when needed ie: 7-10 days depending on your conditions. If you don't want to repot right away thats fine just as long as you do not let it go too long in between

Your Phal. will take low to medium light levels try to avoid direct sunlight, water year round as well when needed ie: 7-10 days, be sure to give the plant a good soaking, try to avoid giving little sips of water. If you keep it in it's current pot, just be sure to drain out any exess water from the top side!

Skewer use for watering of orchids

Phalaenopsis Culture for Beginners
This link brings you to the AOS website for the culture sheets, on the left side you will see links to Dendrobium as well...

[Shannara]

I would consider repoting them both, especially the Phal. You can try and grow it in the glass container but IMO I think it would be happier, and easier, in a pot with some airflow around the roots. The Dendrobium is likely a hybrid and if you found tags post the name of it for us in this thread. These culture sheets should cover the basic requirements for each of your orchids.

Dendrobium Culture for Beginners

Phalaenopsis Culture for Beginners

HTH

Edit: Ahhh -K- you beat me to the culture sheet links. LOL

Shann~

[Emma Grey]

Hi. I think part of the problem is you're starting w/ plants from big box stores. Often, these plants are already ailing because they haven't received good care while in the store. It sets you up for failure from the start.

Having said that, if you can repot these plants and give them good care they should recover. I'm linking to a thread that gives detailed instructions on repotting a phalaenopsis. It should be helpful to you.

Repotting a Phal

You can do it!

[syndywindy]

Glad you are trying again. The two orchids you got are pretty easy going for the most part. Don't be afraid to repot, I think they would both be better off in pots with good drainage. Repotting both in bark should be no problem, just be sure to soak the bark first. Phials don't require high light levels, The den does need higher light. I have aprox 50 dens give or take several and for me, I don't let my hybrid dens dry out. Mine do well with being watered a couple times a week in winter, more often when they are outdoors for summer. With the exception of just a few, all my dens are in bark. If and when you repot, be sure to check the roots. Any black mushy ones are rotted and should be removed. As the others have said, good drainage and air flow is desirable.

[pinky]

thank you all so much for your replies. I am seriously thinking about repotting the phal. into a more suitable container now...and I may as well do the den. at the same time.

Just a few questions:
-does the size of the pot that the den is in look appropriate? Is it normal that I cannot see any surface roots on the den? It worries me that I cant see them because who knows whats going on under there..
-Is it better to use straight bark or should there be some sphag mixed in? I remember hearing that before but I wasnt sure.

I think before when I first gave this a go I was a bit obsessive and that was my downfall. I had like a laboratory set up to repot my last phals and I felt like I was performing surgery I remember actually being anxious. rofl

I will definitely read all the articles everyone posted for me before I attempt it...and I think this time I will take a calmer approach

[pinky]

Hey I have a ? about the den in the 1st and 2nd pics I posted above.... the small little nub looking growth to the left....is that broken or is that going to grow to look like the others with leaves?

[orchids4me]

Hi Pinky haven't met here but welcome back. Phals were my nightmare a while back but I learned a trick or two I found it tricky and stressful when potting from sphag to bark when they were use to the sphag. So depending on the size of the root ball if large use some packing peanuts in there and don't pack the sphag pot up a bit looser but use a clay pot. It dries more evenly. If the root ball is smaller I don't use the peanuts but I use a pot that I can fit a couple fingers in between the root ball and edge of the pot and again don't pack the moss to tight

The den looks like a hard cane hybrid type. This one you normally can water year round. You mentiond it has a tag burried in the media... What its name ??
Good luck