Vanilla.. Um... HELP!

[Otterinaround]

The Story... Of a plant known as "Betsy"
Betsy..so ...started as a clipping from a local Orchid greenhouse, here in Florida.

She was sold us as a "Vanilla"...
With the cook in me, screaming buy it, the orchid lover screaming "BUY IT NOW!"....

Needless to say, I succumbed and pulled out the wallet.

I got Betsy home and placed her in a bark pot box with some orchid bark on some orchid bark, up against a trellis in the corner of the house.
I had put the planting in the corner of the house, with a pebble lined humidity tray.
I watered once a week, and fertilized with Schultz's once a month.

Then, I did the unthinkable, handed over the care over "Betsy"....to, Mum, (thought: well, it worked for me I made it to nearly 6 foot)

I jumped on a jet plane to the Middle East.

Mum kept up the routine and informed me that "nothing had happened"
cue "the doom music."
I was later informed via telephone that a change in the AC humidity unit and a metal, pot stand, and splurge at the Florida, and a humidifier on that "new AC system" a change in AC, and the whole mess on the AC wall mount and a new household AC had occurred and a new trellis had been "taped on" in my absence.

Fast-forward 2 years...and... we reach...
Today, my arrival.

I see the clipping... now a plant has sent fleshy orchid root as I am used to calling them from her third leaf.
Now on this greenish wrinkley mess of a root down in the midst of the "moisture tray" which is dry.... is a root fan that appears like the withered hands of the Styrofoam monster known as spaghetti with a side of cottage cheese vomit spread in a fan on the pea sized pebbles of the moisture tray....

I am sure you can all picture the twitching of your intrepid hero.
This clipping has now gotten dried roots and tendrils ...
The vine which now appears to have blackened leaf tips and buds at each of the three branch offs also appears unhappy. The rotten 2 inch section at the base sitting under the trellis IN the orchid bark appears like a soggy woman's set of nylons.

Mum has looped the plant over the trellis and Betsy's leaf tips are black the root tendrils appear dry and shriveled.

At this point I'm nearly catatonic on the floor in tears....

And yours truly is staring at that one fleshy root...

Something has to happen...

Cue the sprint to Home Depot purchase
a 14inch pot terra cotta plastic,
one bag of miracle grow "Orchid" mix,
one sprinkle of humidity control miracle grow mix,
two x 4 foot wood fan trellis,
box of nails
and the Best select "dendrobium" Orchid mix I could find.

Now comes the emotional bit!
It's September and ...
I'm repotting
Trying to build a 6 foot fan trellis straight out of Frankenstein from these two 4 foot ones I bought. I have hammered my fingers into hamburgers... Bled out on the patio stones... and can't stop staring at the plant.

Then the soil nightmare...
The play by play in the terra cotta plastic pot goes... Miracle grow Orchid mix CHECK,
hand full of pea pebbles,
hand full of select mix,
the root of the vanilla,
the 8 qt bag of select mix,
the base of the "Vanilla" orchid named "Betsy"
I put my feeble attempt of a my red stained 6 foot overlapped hammered Frankenstein fan trellis in the bark and soil.
Betsy appears a bit sad with the dry tendrils of roots the remains of the vine tangled around the old straight ladder trellis are draped, in an 8 foot shaped snake.

For the Pièce de résistance I put the whole deal on wheels than then...
I place this "mess" over a PVC moisture tray (read two "manly giant handfuls of pea gravel").

I water until I see a lip of clay color in the bottom of the moisture tray. I'm happy as I've watered with the mist setting on my Mum's new bendable nozzle {three foot handle adjustable hose nozzel (that I also impulse buy) from Home Depot}.

I then proceed to drag this mess out to the South west corner of our mesh covered pool patio Outside in the Humidity and PRAY!

Pictures when I can figure out how to get this camera thing hooked up and uploaded.

Hoping everything will be alright. Begging and waiting for the forum Gods to tell me everything will be ok... Sleepless in St. Petersburg.