New to phalaenopsis, too much sun or humidity?

[ianmh]

Hi everyone, I'm new to Orchids and the Orchid Board. I received my first phalaenopsis 2 months ago and have have bought 5 more phalaenopsis plants since. I live in Toronto and face east in a condo and have a few questions and problems.

First I read that east was one of the best directions to face, I'm still a bit worried about the sun over heating my plants. I have blinds and I open them half way around 9:30 and the plants get about 2 and a half hours of morning sun broken a bit by the blinds. They seem to be doing okay, but is this too much sun? I should also add that it is extremely humid right now.

The first plant I over watered and all the leaves went mushy, I quickly transplanted it into wood chips and cut all the leaves off except one and cut most of the roots. This week I have noticed a new leaf finally coming out and a new root coming out of the side, so I was quite pleased at the possibility of saving it. That said the last remaining big leaf is looking rough. It has tiny sticky blobs (shiny slim) on the bottom of the leaf and some black spots now. I'm wondering if I should chop this leave off too?

The apartment is very humid this time of year and I'm wondering if I need to water the Orchids at all? Can the orchids get enough water from the air? Could these sticky spots be from the humidly or still too much water or are they a pest of some kind

One last question, when a flower dies how long do you usually wait to pull it off, I have a plant with a lot of healthy flowers, but one is shrivelled, but it's still very firmly attached to the spike? Should I wait longer and let it fall off?

Lots of questions, thanks for any help, this board has been a great resource.