What is wrong with my orchids?

[priz_m]

Hi atthelab I guess all there's left for me to say is: Welcome to the OB!

[beanluc]

Originally Posted by atthelab

I live in the approx. 20 min. south of San Francisco and the weather is very moderate (average temp ~ mid 60's+). It is rarely humid.

Right on, I'm in San Francisco myself. (the Presidio, literally steps away from the Golden Gate)

If you're on the Pacific side of the Peninsula's ridge, you might have plenty of humidity a lot of the time. If you're on the Bay side, then, yeah, it could be drier, just because it's warmer. Still, if it doesn't get above the 60s much, then that low temp. all by itself keeps the humidity high. When temps go into 70s or 80s or even higher, like it can in San Jose or East Bay, that's when supplemental humidity makes a big difference. Lots of people in the cooler Bay Area regions don't use humidity trays at all. If you're heating your apartment, though, that will impact the humidity inside. Anyway: I think the humidity supplement will be a good idea for you, but I don't think it's going to make or break your efforts, since you have a few other very important things to try.

Cost-saving secret: Don't buy pebbles at the garden store. Go to Home Depot or such place. Instead of $15 for 2 pounds of designer polished agate or glass, you can spend $5 for about 25 pounds of plain rock - quartz, granite, whatever. The gravel/pebbles will be dusty and you can rinse them off. Then in addition to pebbles ffor your humidity trays, you'll also have plenty of ones you can use for other plants: in the bottom of pots, for draining, below the plain soil, or on top of the soil in a cactus/succulent's pot, et cetera.

Originally Posted by atthelab

How often should I use orchid food?

Get an orchid food bloom formula (6-30-30 for example - first number should be smaller than next 2), and whatever the instructions on the package say, do it but mix the formula in HALF the strength recommended (mix half the amount of food with the same amount of water), and apply every time you water until you either get blooms or you see any part of the plant starting to change color. If it turns darker green, that means it's gotten enough food, and if it starts to yellow a little, it might mean that it has gotten too much food, or, more likely, the food was mixed stronger than the plant likes.
After blooms are gone, stop feeding for several weeks, then feed with a grow formula (20-20-20, all numbers equal, OR first number bigger than next 2) for a while, exactly according to package instructions or maybe a little more dilute (less strong).

Once your plants start being well-fed for a season or two, you can just wait for one of the following 2 things before you give bloom feeding again:
The plant will begin to spike by itself, at which time switch from grow formula to bloom formula, OR, keep in mind when it started to spike for you first, and at the same time the following year, start giving it bloom food and it probably will spike again.

Originally Posted by atthelab

My apartment gets lots of indirect bright light

OK, good! And you have a lot of happy orchids. Maybe you could move these not-blooming ones to a brighter spot among all the other ones? A couple of the ones that have been blooming well for you can either have a season off, or, maybe they'll bloom anyway even if they get rotated out of the brightest spots for a while.

Originally Posted by atthelab

Regarding plant #1: I just can't bare to throw it out yet!

Sigh... I understand! I've done it, too, with these inherited tough cases. So far my resurrection percentage is about 25% - they're usually just too far gone. Let me guess: Somebody happened to hear that you like orchids and have some that do OK, and they said to you "Maybe you can save mine!" which they got as a birthday gift and wrecked in 4 months or less. Well, it happens to me. My wife brings her officemates' emergencyroom orchids home.

OK, well, my best advice is to do what firstaid you can now, and then to not fuss over it all the time while you wait and see how it goes.
For now, do take it out of the pot now and look for rotted roots. Also you'll have to CUT OFF the rotted bulb(s). I hope only one of the bulbs is rotted. If all the bulbs are rotted, there's little chance for recovery. Use a sterilized and very sharp knife (use peroxide or alcohol to sterilize) and cut away the parts that are soft. You probably will have to go all the way below the bottom of the bulb and cut it away from the rhizome just below the surface of the pot. The rhizome is the part the bulbs are attached to. It looks kind of like a fat, tough horizontal root, but real roots grow out of it. Don't cut it apart!
Then, dust the cut surface of the remaining plant with cinnamon. This will prevent mold from attacking the vulnerable cut area.
If you have to cut all the bulbs off, there's a small chance it can slowly begin to grow a new one as long as there's enough rhizome left (dont cut the rhizome's ends) and as long as you can keep the remaining bit alive for several months.
Once you clean up the roots and bulbs, put it in a pot again, maybe a smaller one!
Then, keep it not in the brightest spot, and water it less heavily but more frequently than the rest of your orchids. Since the bulbs will be reduced or gone, it can't store up as much water and will be much more vulnerable to dying from drying out. Water it ONLY in the morning, NEVER at night. Give it very occasionally some very weak/dilute grow-formula orchid food AFTER the first two weeks. And when you water it, DON'T give it a bucket soak like you're going to start doing with your other ones. Just thoroughly wet the pot's contents and let it drain off right away. Try not to get any parts above the pot wet. Probably every 3rd day it will need water, but I would avoid ever giving it water 2 days in a row if you think it needs more.While it's all damaged and leafless like this, it will be very vulnerable to BOTH overwatering rot AND to underwatering death. Also: DON'T mist this orchid. It will be very vulnerable to mold/mildew until it's all back to full health and growing well again. It is very likely that even if this orchid survives, it won't bloom for you for at least 2 years.

So, like I said, if you're committed to trying to save it, just don't fuss all over it all the time because if you try to do too much, it just won't work. But you WILL have to be attentive to the water needs. Just take the attitude that you can't MAKE it survive, but you'll care for the basic needs as best you can and hope for the best.