Potting up no root orchids in S/H

[maui jen]

I've read the posts that mention it's not wise to transfer an orchid with no roots into S/H, but at this point I felt I had no choice. Many of my orchids lived at my boyfriend's house, and when he moved to a higher and dryer elevation they started to suffer from the cold. (We live in Hawaii). So I took them all back to my place at warm and humid sea-level, had been reading about S/H and decided there was a good chance I would lose them anyway so might as well give it a try - and I like the idea of a cleaner no-fuss way of dealing with all my orchids. (I'm following Ray's system, btw, with two drainage holes and watering/flushing weekly)

All of my once beautiful Dends had no live roots once I unpotted them, so I carefully cleaned and trimmed and did my best to prop them up in their new hydroton homes. At the time, I was concerned about too much rotting material. (It wasn't until after all of the repotting when I read a post that the dead material will decompose and flush out eventually...)

My Phals had good root systems and one is continuing to put out a new bloom spike despite the abrupt change in growing medium. I used KLN per Ray's advice for the first few waterings and today bought a Kelp solution which I will dilute and spray frequently near the crowns. On the Dends, some leaves are yellowing and dropping, others still look healthy. I realize this is basically a "wait and see" project, but does anyone have experience with their chances of survival??? I would SO love to see them thrive and prosper...