Bllra. loosing leaves, yellowing.

[Laelia purpurata]

I bought a large Bllra. a month ago. When I received it it was very pot bound so I removed it and pried out all the potting medium. It was almost completely root with very little bark in between. The roots did not look particularly healthy, in fact I couldn't tell that there was anything live in there but since the tops looked so great I figured that the roots must be alright. I repotted it to a slightly bigger pot but I couldn't really get any potting medium into the root ball, just around the edges and underneath. I figured that was alright because the roots were so dense they could hold the moisture themselves.

Over the next few weeks however, it has slowly been loosing leaves. They gradually turn yellow and fall off. This seems to be happening just to the pbulbs that had only one leaf to begin with but I'm afraid it might continue to the larger pbulbs. Does anyone have any suggestions about why this is happening and how I might be able to stop it? Can I expect it to continue, or do you think it will stabilize soon? I see one new root growing and there is a new growth, that was there when I received the plant, and it is growing too.

I was also wondering: if I remove a pbulb that has no leaves and pot it up separately, will it put out new growth?

Thank you for any advise you can give.