humidity problem?? aerial roots drying

[Dri312]

Hi nice people!!

I have 2 Phal and I'm currently having some difficulties to make them thrive. I live in Bakersfield, CA. Here in the summer, the temperatures reaches triple digits very often and, for example, the humidity today is 28% and the temperature is 80F.

My first Phal was a gift. I made the most common mistake and over water it. After searching on board, I repoted on bark and cut rot roots. It lost all the blooms and cut the spike close to roots to focus on roots recovery. (I still need to get the fertilizer to help it out. The only thing I had in hand was Miracle Gro spikes for orchids. Broke one in half and place under bark, close to pot as possible).

My second Phal I bought from Costco. It was beautiful! 6leaves (not very big but very green, shine, no signs of damage or infection), 3 green spikes with a lots of unopened buds. The roots as far as I could see, was green, plump, and even had a very beautiful aerial root coming down. When I got home, I checked the roots. They were in moss, super wet. I repoted in bark. No even one root rot or mushy. Great!

Yesterday they looked dry so I soaked both for 10 mins in water, let drip as much as possible and put them back on the east side near a window. Today I noticed the aerial roots aren't doing so well like before. They look wrinkly, not soft pump green like couple of days ago.

It's hard to see this happen... I even thought about to replant them in moss and bark, instead just bark. I don't know if the humidity isn't ideal here, if I under water... I hope I don't kill them.

To help with humidity, I place then under gravel in a tray with water on bottom. What else can I do!?!?

I was kind of desperate so I took a small piece of cotton ball, wet it and placed on top of the aerial roots (of my bigger Phal). I left for few hours and, to be honest they look much better. Is that ok to keep doing it?!?

I'd looked for threads with problems similar to mine but maybe with my pictures someone will be able to give me some more specific advice.

Thanks for reading though..

Feeling overwhelmed...

Thanks!