Spreading black withering leaf after orchid knocked over

[salford]

Hi everybody! I have been proud raiser of a baby Phalaenopsis orchid since June, when I bought it in bloom from the grocery store.

I've been getting growing advice from my grandma up to now but I thought I'd ask you guys for advice to make sure I'm doing things right.

In particular, in January I damaged my orchid leaves after an accident caused it to fall over against some heating pipes for the night. It recovered alright for a time, but now the leaves are dying some more.

For full details including photos, I made a slideshow outlining my orchid growing situation:

Orchid tales - Google Slides

My main questions are:

What should I do about these leaves turning black?
Is my windowsill giving enough sunlight?
Are my roots okay? Is the soil okay?
Is my watering schedule (once a week, ~1-2cc/wk, a smidge of fertilizer every other week) okay?
When do you think it'll bloom?

Thank you guys for the help.

[Ray]

You have an infection in the leaves.

Cut off the affected tissues, doing your best to NOT damage that newest leaf.

Sprinkle some cinnamon powder on the wound. it is a bactericide and fungicide and will dry up and protect the wound. Put some on the spot on the newest leaf, too.

That light level may be OK; maybe a small amount of supplemental light is in order.

That plant is desperate for repotting; I'd go for a pot at least 2 or 3 times that diameter. Orchids don't grow in soil. You want a very airy potting medium that holds moisture. It's currently in sphagnum moss, and fresh moss, loosely packed may be the way to go.

The roots I could see don't look that great. Another reason to repot.

1-2 cc/week is probably OK in that packed sphagnum, but likely not nearly enough when you repot it.

Forget fertilizer for now. You need to get that plant on the road to recovery first, and it probably won't bloom until you bring it back to overall health.

[WaterWitchin]

And if you need more direction in how to repot, just ask on this thread. If you have no idea how to repot, ask first, repot after. Depending on how you repot, you'll also need to change the amount of water you use to water it.

[salford]

Thank you so much for the responses!

You won't believe this, but I have some bad news. An instrument fell off my shelf on the wall and knocked over my orchid again. Now all of the leaves but one have gashes going about halfway through them. I'm not super optimistic for it's future but I'll do my best anyway because if it survives I'll be so happy.

I cut off the black parts of the leaves and put cinnamon on them. I'm going to try to repot it this weekend. I've never repotted before but it seems like it's a matter of: getting the right size pot (2-3x diameter!), getting the right material (loosely packed sphagnum moss!), and then safely/carefully cleaning off my roots and putting into the new one. I guess a question I have is: I read you should cut off dead roots when repotting? what should be my criteria for cutting them off? Because I'm guessing a lot of mine might be in-between alive and dead.

[Ray]

If they are rotted and soft, trim them. Don't worry too much about that. The plant will be so much better off after repotting.

You can put cinnamon on those new wounds, too.

One last piece of advice: stop trying to destroy that plant!

[Keithj]

Viable roots will be hard to the touch and, with luck, have a green or, perhaps, red tapering growing tip. Dead areas of root will be soft, though it may be viable/hard nearer the plant. In that case cut the root just into the hard part. Do not put cinnamon on any roots that you cut, though. Leaves are fine but roots are a definite no-no.

Keith