Question
hello jim, i have 12 pots of cymbidium ive cared for a couple of years now. i'm here in the philippines, my cyms our outdoors during our wet and dry season and ive no problems with them for more than 2 yrs they have bloomed beautifully. currently it is our wet season and when i went to check the cyms some bulbs have become soft, leaves wilted i uprooted some bulbs and found them smelly. i did not encounter this before could they be virus or bacteria infecting my plants? help i need to save them. will it affect the other pots? ive transferred to other locations some pots for fear of transferrable virus... i need your insight on this. thanks a lot. -flor

Answer
Hello Flor,

I do not believe a virus is causing the bulbs to rot but probably a bacterial infection of some type.  The unfortunate part is that unless this is taken care of soon, it can spread to other bulbs in the same pot until all of the bulbs are dead and rotten.  

To stop the spread, you will need to unpot the ones that show signs of infection and begin removing bulbs.  Keep removing bulbs until you cannot see any black or purple areas or spots at the base of the bulbs where they were connected.  When removing them, do not use the same cutter more than one time without sterilizing the cutting blades.  If it is used but not sterilized, you can transfer the infection to healthy bulb tissue.  To sterilize my cutters I heat treat it with a propane torch until the blades are red hot.  I've also used single-edged razor blades that I buy at paint and hardware stores that are used on paint scrapers.  Use it to make a cut once then throw it away.  The blades are cheaper than having to throw away the cymbidium plant.  

I hope this has helped.

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.