I have acquired me three unwell phalaenopsis orchids from a friend. I took the plants out of the pot and removed all the rotted brown roots and only left the green ones.
I mixed their bark with some coconut fibre and pebbles as I had to think on my feet and try and find something to replace the moss hah...Only enough to coat each piece of bark. Will this be alright until my payday in ten days? I would also like to know a good online brand of orchid potting mix I can buy if anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be very grateful.
I have extensively researched these wonderful orchids on YouTube and watched hundreds of videos but knew the best place to come and ask how to care for them now was here!
Do you guys drench your orchids for an hour at every watering?
Is a west facing windowsill alright for their environment?
Also how often should I mist ?
Thank you so much for reading this . Here are some photographs.






This one I got with the black holes already there, three weeks ago..
It's shot a new leaf so assuming it's recovering. What can you tell me about those black spots? It lost a lot of roots to rot that I removed when I received it.



Also. Since I've had these, they are getting dark pigment appear on their leaves. Is this a good or bad thing?

Just to answer your questions:

Dark spots are not a good thing.
About watering - I would simply take your Phals to the sink, let room temperature water run through the medium, let it drip off and place the plants back into their spot. Many people mist, I have never done that, I simply water. I do not drench for an hour. If water collects during watering in the crown I would gently tissue that out, as not to invite rot.
Now how often to water? Stick your finger into the medium, it is still damp don't water. There is another way to tell if water is needed, it is called "hefting the pot". Lift the pot after you just watered it and also lift the pot when it is dry just before you need to water. Get a feel for the dry and the wet weight of your pot. After a while, just by picking up your pot, you might have a good idea if you need to water or not.
Light conditions - good light but not direct sun, that will burn the leaves, but perhaps behind a sheer curtain might be fine.

with Ursula's good advice, but a couple of points to add:

I've let recovering Phals sit on a table in the shade with no medium at all for days while I was getting materials together for re-potting. (but I do live in Florida, where it is generally warm and humid) So yes, you can wait 10 days to get your supplies. Just mist the leaves once in a while. A chunky bark mix is what I use for mine. Your local nursery or garden center will have it.

When you re-pot, try to place the plants so that the crowns slant sideways, not upwards. This way the water never sits in the cup of the leaves which can invite crown rot that will surely kill the plant.

Pots for Phals need to have holes in the sides as well as drainage holes at the bottom. Orchids need a lot of air to their roots, and especially Phals like the ventilation. You'll find as they recover they will stick roots upwards into the air. Don't feel you need to cover these - the plant is collecting nutrients from the air that way. Those roots will also attach to a piece of wood or cork if you put it within reach.
Pot with holes, plant slanted sideways:

This little one kept crawling out of the wood basket, and falling to the ground. So I inserted the piece of cork, and it has happily attached roots to that now. I do need to water this one more often than the potted ones. Just a douse with warmish water about every second or third day if it doesn't rain.

thanks Elaine!

I'm not a Phal expert, but I believe your black marks are from sunburn. A West window is not the best for Phals especially in a zone 8b as in your profile.

As Ursula suggested, you really need a sheer on that window. Phals cannot take direct sunlight.

The best way to understand the way orchids take light is that in general, the bigger wider dark green orchid leaves need less sunlight (or cooler filtered light) than the lighter green narrower leaved plants.

The reason for this is that the wider surface area of the big leaves allows for a larger collection of sunlight (hence the reduced need for direct or bright light).

Phals - semi-shade or filtered light similar to Hostas in your garden or African Violets on your windowsill.

to the forum!

I agree with Melissa, it looks like they're getting too much sun and the black spots are sun burn. The yellow color around the spots is infection so watch it carefully. If it starts to grow, lop off the leaf.

Jim

So I only have a west facing windowsill really or a north facing one? Which is best? Can I use net curtains to help?

Hm, considering your location, cool grey, rainy UK, I think I'd choose the north facing window for this time of year, say May through September, then move it to the west-facing window for the fall/winter and early spring months.

Do keep an eye on it when it's in that west window though for the direct sunlight hitting it. Maybe you have another plant or a sheer curtain or something else that would give just a little shade in the spring and fall. In wintertime, I doubt your sunniest day would burn the leaves.

The west window would be excellent year 'round if it had something like an adjustable louvered shade on it so you could control the amount of light easily.

This West facing one only gets sun late afternoon because of the building you see in front of it covers it all day! Is this adequate?

Late afternoon sun is a lot different in June than in November or January, of course. I would think at this time of year you should use the lace curtain to shade the Phals from that late sun, but in the winter they should be fine.

They look great right now!

I always shield my Phals with our sheer curtain especially during our summers here. My Phals are also by a west facing window on a pole stand, glass is tinted a bit, gets dappled shade from the city trees as well, so it is like the wall by your window. My Phals are in bloom right now, so the flowers still need some light, so sheer curtains allows light to pass through. But west facing sun is so hot in my very dry area, so I have to shield it, and I let the ceiling fan run, especially on very hot day that we have like now. Our temps outdoors are hitting very high right now 95F and higher, so that heat is just so intense as it passes through the glass window.
But you may have much better temperature conditions than mine. But light always gets hotter as it goes through the window, so a little protection will help, especially Phal leaves, they can burn easily.

Here is a good tip. If the windowsill is too hot so that you would not place a computer thumb drive there for risk of heat damage, then it is too bright for your Phal. I would put up a sheer to shield the plants for sure.

This Phal sits in the direct sun outdoors for about 3 hours and day and is fine...BUT...it had a full year of seasons to become accustomed to this amount of light. It is mounted to a pecky cypress board. Phals are a pain in the rear, in my opinion, so I don't work TOO hard on ones I get, but sometimes I get lucky.

I've pulled the curtain down this better?

Yup that's okay!

If you think of it, some days that are cloudy you could put it up again, but on the sunny days it surely should be down.

I always monitor our outside temps Pia..so you should do the same, even if it is grown indoors. When I know it would be more of a cloudy day, I keep the curtains open..but typically our summers here are hardly like that..always sun, sun, sun..so shaded always in the afternoon. Only in Fall to Spring when temps cools down, then I can safely open the curtains. It helps to have an indoor/outdoor sensor, so you can more or less see if it is getting too hot indoors & outdoors. And run some fan there, it will appreciate good overall air circulation.

Your next consideration will be during late Fall to Winter. Later on, you might consider putting them a bit further away from the window, the glass is too cold, so sit them maybe on a table beside that ledge when the colder season comes.

Before and now!

Looking good!