Saving my cymbidium

[Olga]

Ok, I am finally ready to admit that I need some help here. I am rather new to orchids. My only previous experience is limited to 1 Phal that I am failing to kill for quite a few years now and it just keeps flowering. Anyway, this October I bought a cymbidium from a rather reputable vendor (or at least I think so) on a show. It was in flower and I just fell in love with it. So much so that I didn't pay attention to the fact that the plant itself didn't look too great. A few days later I noticed that most of the new growths were rotting from inside. It also had 2 old backbulbs and a big bulb that was slowly drying out. Now, two months later I think the rot has stopped. 2 or 3 of the new growths are gone. One still has a few young leaves, but at some point I was pulling a rotting leaf from the middle and accidentally pulled out the whole central part of it, so I doubt it will continue growing. It is the only green part left, except for a few inches of a single leaf on the big old bulb that was not affected by rot. After researching all the orchid forums I could find, I figured that at least I have a chance of getting some new growth from the backbulbs, but today when I finally decided to separate it, I noticed that one very young growth that lost all its leaves to rot before the bulb to speak of was formed, is sending up 2 tiny green shoots. Now I just don't know what to do. I planned on removing all the rotted bulbs and keeping just the dry bulbs that looked like they had a chance and probably the green growth, but now that one of the rotted ones has sprouted, I am not sure. Can the new sprouts grow without an old bulb to rely on? Should I still repot it? The mix (bark and perlite, from what I can tell) looks fine but I am not sure about the roots as they are too deep to see without complete repotting. Thank you in advance!

Olga

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

If there has been no further leaf loss or bulbs to rot, I would just leave the whole thing as is. If the older bulbs have any roots, it could make a great deal of difference in the rate of growth of any starts. Repotting may disturb the effectiveness of these roots. Keep the plant on the dry side, but don't let it dry out completely. You could give it a little water every so often to keep the plant damp but not wet. In spring, if it looks like you have gone for some time without rot and there is growth activity, you can start to increase the watering, but I would wait for warmer weather before increasing the water. Are you growing this outdoors? If you kept this in the house after purchase, it could be the cause of the problem, since Cymbidiums are not good house plants. If out doors, I would keep it protected from the rain, so you control the wetness. Cynthia, recent escapee from Glendale, California

[Olga]

Thank you, Cynthia! I will keep it as is for now. I kept moving it from my patio to the living room while it flowered, then it spent about a month outside, and finally now that we have a construction project going on in the courtyard, I brought it back inside but it still goes out when there is no work going on. I don't think the whole thing had anything to do with the conditions in my house though. It looked like it had some dirt dumped on it and then thoroughly watered from overhead resulting in muddy water sitting between the leaves. But I have my lesson learnt - no more plants bought just because of the pretty flowers, it has to look healthy, too.

Olga,
actually, in Glendale at the moment, but since we are renting, I just keep LA as my location.