Repotting disaster/root decay

[kameliya]

Hi everyone!

I am very new to growing orchids and I am so thankful I found your forum. I got two orchids from the Home Depot in late Feb/early March. One of them was done blooming (had no unopened buds), the other one had one bud which grew but subsequently dried up and fell. One of the orchids was losing leaves (healthy ones!) and I eventually figured that there was root decay due to the lack of proper draining and due to the fact that the medium (sphagnum moss) was stuffed in the pot really tightly not allowing the roots to breathe and dry up. So I decided to repot them, using Miracle Gro's special orchid medium which in texture looks like a mixture of bark, soil and ash(?). I soaked it for a few hours, cleaned the plants from the moss and cut off dead roots, which I then sprinkled with some cinnamon as my mother who has about 10 very happy orchids advised. I put the orchids in the medium (removing the extra water and left them in a dark corner for about 10 days). In the last couple of days, we got a lot of rain and I thought it might be an okay idea to put them on the window after it had rained to get some moisture. I also started spraying the roots with water as the soil looked very dry on the surface. The orchids after the repotting continued losing leaves (now both of them!) with one losing 2 out of 4 and the other one which is an extension of a healthy plant losing all of them despite my cleaning the crown with hydrogen peroxide. I decided to take them out and look at the condition of the roots. One has lost a substantial number of them but I can see a really tiny green bump which may be a new root. The other one has retained some healthy roots but has also lost quite a few. I am not sure what I am doing wrong but I would really like to save those orchids. Please, advise.

Thank you so much!

Kameliya