Cymbidium "backbulbs"

[Afid]

I recently repotted/divided/completely deconstructed a large cymbidium. It was suffering from persistent scale so I opted to break it up so I could get rid of all the bugs. During this process I also encountered some rot and other issues and ended up with a bunch of single bulbs instead of a whole plant (I may have gotten a little carried away). For the leafless bulbs I am going with the usual spag-bag method, but a handful of them still have large leaves on them. Should I pot up the leafy (but nearly rootless) bulbs as if they were normal divisions? Or would it be better to chop the leaves and treat them as backbulbs (this would also make it easier to get rid of scale hiding in the leaves).

Thanks in advance

[Roberta]

I would pot up the "leafed" p-bulbs with the leaves on. We're headed into spring, new growth and new roots are going to be coming along soon. Having leaves to photosynthesize will improve the odds of getting a viable plant in a couple of years... the odds on the back bulbs aren't great, and if they do sprout it is likely to be a long time before the plant grows big enough to flower. The single-growth divisions will be slower than multiple-bulb divisions for sure, but the odds are much better.

[Afid]

Sounds good, thanks a bunch!