Chris,
If they were my plants and in distress.. I might take the spikes off . The plant needs all its energy to rebuild the plant. Often in nature, when a plant is at deaths door , it will put out flowers.. Hoping to set seed and keep the line going... Get your plants strong and healthy before asking them to perform.

Do you really think they're in distress Lindsey? They're putting out new leaves along with the spikes. Per Elaine's instructions I removed all the dried and yellowed leaves except the ones that still had some green left on them yesterday. Do they look better in the photo below than in my original photos?

Chris, I had this result once. Then I collected rain water and used it, no fert and keep warm. Phals are not easy! So they all put out new growth, roots and spikes but it took this rest period several months. Yours seem to be responding but give them time. With new roots start very weak fert. And look for easy orchids to buy! You will enjoy them more, I promise.

Chris,
Your efforts look to be paying off...I see a much more positive picture here since your last post.
When I say distressed...and I say this as someone that used to work at Lowe's and took home
Phals. every week...one week I took home 25 as they sold them to me for .50...what they go
through in the store is distressing..particuarly if the store waits forever to mark them down.. or
if the employees in the department are uninterested ..
Your plants that are putting out new healthy green growth and fabulous thick roots...yes , I would
let the spikes be...but they are working really hard to regrow a lot of foliage..and there's probably
as many different opinions on this as there are different flowers...


but THIS is what I want to see before I let a plant bloom...if the plant is happy and healthy you will
be rewarded with lots of huge flowers..if the plant is struggling..it will do it's best but the flowers
will probably be smaller and fewer.

I see what you're saying Lindsey. Maybe I should go out and cut off some of the larger spikes to let them put more energy into root and leaf growth than into flowers. Some have little tiny spikes that are just starting and as you can probably see some have spikes that are about 10" long now. Is that what I should do then? I've had these for about 7 months now and I think they're a lot healthier now than when I brought them home from Walmart.

This is just like when you first planted your very first fruit tree, and some expert told you that you really should remove all the fruit on it for the first year, so that it can grow a bigger root system. You know it's probably the right thing, but it's the hardest thing to do. There's that lovely little tree with a dozen cute little baby apples or oranges on it . . . argh!

What Lindsey is saying is probably true, Chris. Your plants are healthier, but still in distress as shown by the yellow leaves. It takes plants a lot of work to make flowers. They need green in the leaves to make food for themselves through photosynthesis and big, fat roots along with good leaves to absorb nutrients. If you let them go ahead and make flowers while they're still struggling, it surely will take longer for them to recover to a lusty, healthy plant.

Then that's what I'll do Elaine. Next question, can I leave the spikes that are 1/2" or less in length or cut all of them off? Where do I cut them? Will the spike eventually come back after I cut it or will it die off? I'm still misting once a day with the distilled water/Epson Salts. The humidity, because of the new trays I made is staying around 75% or so all the time. Do I still need to lightly mist daily?

Chris,
Do me a favor...give us a picture of one plant..similar to what I just posted..and let's see if we can help you one plant at a time. I am often looking at my phone or iPad and blanket suggestions for your entire collection might not be in your...or that plants best interest.

That sounds good Lindsey, I was thinking about that earlier. It's going to have to wait until tomorrow now as it's getting dark and I want to get the best possible photos. I'll post them sometime tomorrow morning. Thanks for yous and Elaine's help with these, I appreciate it.

I took photos of every one of them this morning but will only post a few. Hopefully it will be sufficient to get some recommendations. If not I'll post all of them. This is about 1/2 of them. The rest are in about the same shape.

Chris,
Are your plants putting out new roots like the photo in my post?
The third plant ( top row , right) looks unhappy to me...
All of the plants with the burgundy hue, don't look right to me either...
and that might be solved with Epsom salt...I'm new to using less than ideal water ,
and having to add Epsom salt to compensate.. Elaine is more knowledgeable
lets see what her opinion is. But I think you are on the right road with the greener
ones and the next to last picture is of a plant with a HUGE heart...look at all those
branches and buds!

You're so right, Lindsey. The ones with mostly green are looking pretty good. I think that second to last one with all the buds is certainly healthy enough to let it bloom.

Chris, all the ones that still have any reddish color on the leaves need a special treatment - since it was before Christmas when you started this thread, 3 weeks should have turned around all the magnesium deficiency (red color). This is an indication that the plants aren't taking up nutrients very well, if at all.

I'd suggest you let them dry out really thoroughly - a day or two past when you'd normally water. Then mix up a big bowl of distilled water with a tablespoon of Epsom Salts well dissolved in it. Give each of those plants a 15 minute soak in that bowl of water c/w Epsom Salts. That should turn all that red back to green in a week or two. Be sure the water isn't cold. Room temp should be fine but cold water soaking would be a shock to the plants.

After this, I think you'd better water those plants with only distilled water for a few more weeks, or at least until they've turned a healthy green again.

thanks Elaine...I have one of my NOID's that went to my sister in Miami and came back without her tag...and she's STILL on the burgundy side after 6 weeks...I think I will do the sitz bath treatment for 15 minutes on that one this weekend.

Thank you Elaine and Lindsey, I'll do that then as soon as they dry out really good. I just watered two days ago so it will be about 10 days or so before I can do this. I guess I can continue misting them though right? Elaine, what does c/w mean in your post above? Here are the ones that I figure I really need to treat.

Chris, c/w is an abbreviation for "complete with" or including. I'm old fashioned, I guess.

Thanks Elaine, I should have Googled it. Not old fashioned, I've just never run across it before.

Since I'm retired and always try to save a penny here and there, Elaine, Lindsey, does this sound like it meets the definition of 'distilled water'? It's the 'store brand' and it's about .20 cheaper than name brand.

Hill Country Fare Purified Drinking Water
Processed by: reverse osmosis, carbon filtration, ozonation. Source: San Antonio or Houston Municipal Water System.

Purified Water: Water that has been produced by distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis or other suitable processes and that meets the definition of purified water in the United States Pharmacopoeia may be labeled as purified bottled water. Other suitable product names for bottled water treated by one of the above processes may include "distilled water" if it is produced by distillation, "deionized water" if the water is produced by deionization, or "reverse osmosis water" if the process used is reverse osmosis. Alternatively "_____________ drinking water" can be used with the blank being filled in with one of the terms defined in this paragraph (e.g. "purified drinking water" or "distilled drinking water").

Chris, distilled water comes from only one source, distillation. All that means is that the water is turned into steam and the steam is then cooled, condensing back into water. That condensation is captured and then bottled. I am not sure this is the right termination, but to me, distilled water is the purest form of water available. All the other processes are simply ways to "clean" the water. Many of the impurities and minerals will be removed, but not nearly to the extent that distillation removes them.

I saw a study a couple of years ago that compared many brands of "purified/spring water" to the municipal water of a half dozen cities. Many of those purified water brands were more contaminated and had more minerals than tap water, much more. Of course, this is only important when it comes to drinking water. All it shows is that Americans (and I guess the entire world) are wasting millions of dollars purchasing bottled water when their tap water is every bit as clean, every bit as healthy.

Trouble is, Chris, you really don't know if that purified water still has a high pH or phosphorus in it. Our (very good tasting) tap water here has naturally occurring phosphorus in it and the pH is around 7.8 which is a little high but not impossible. My well water is pH 8.2 and has a lot more phosphorus so it really isn't all that great for watering plants. Does your fridge have a filter and water dispenser on the door? That water is probably purified just as much as the water you're thinking of buying, and will cost even less. But you still don't know what's in it or the pH.

Both those things, if too high, can make it difficult or impossible for plants to take up certain nutrients. The phosphorus is known to "bind" or chemically combine with some metallic ions like magnesium which makes them unavailable to the plants.

So, at least until your plants have recovered from their present precarious state, I'd stick with distilled water, when you fertilize or spray with Epsom Salts solution.

Lucky for me, I have lots of rainwater to use for dissolving all my fertilizers and additives into and the pH of my rain water is 7.2 generally. Rain water is essentially distilled by nature, but then it falls through the polluted air collecting "stuff" so not entirely pure but usually the next best thing - and free! Is there a down spout on your house that you could put an old garbage can under, to collect the rain and dew off your roof? You'd be surprised how little rain will fill up a 35gal. container.

Thanks for the explanation Ken, and I'll have to agree I can't see wasting money on bottled drinking water though I see people in the store every week buying cases of it or getting those big 5gal jugs filled up.

Thanks Elaine, no .92gal isn't going to break me I'm just cheap sometimes. Unfortunately no, our fridge doesn't have that option and as far as collecting rainwater I don't have gutters on the house unfortunately. I noticed this afternoon that the one orchid I have in the little tiny pot that has the purple looking leaves they now have some green in them so maybe the distilled water/Epson Salts is doing some good. I've still got to let the others dry out really well so I can soak them.