Cymbidium Disease

[rodrigo]

Rainy season just ended in Costa Rica in November.

Now, on several of my Cymbidiums rotten growing shoots have appeared.

You cannot tell from just looking at the growing shoot as it looks perfectly healthy (in its begining stage), but if you pull on the youngest leaf it comes out with a rotten inner part that has a foul strong tobacco-like smell

Here are some pictures that illustrate my problem:

This is how the base of the shoot looks after separating from plant. "Wet" looking with foul strong tobacco-like smell:


The shoot looks perfectly healthy to the untrained eye


The inner leaf comes out easily if you pull on it. Look at the "wet looking" bad and smelly inner part of shoot:


This is the emergency treatment I followed:
1- "Amputated" the bad bulb from plant.
2- Treated wound with a systemic fungicide for about 5 minutes.
3- Sealed wound with a fungicide / bactericide sealer paste.

This is the plant after treatment:


Observation:
It seems to attack "juvenile" foliage shoots. Bulbs seem to be immune at the initial stage.

Questions:

1- What disease is this? It looks like a fungus but which?

2- How can I effectively treat the diseased plant? The plants seems to be recuperating after my emergency treatment. You can look at new shoot coming out. But I'm not sure if plant is still contaminated.

3- How can I prevent it from happening again? Or at least minimize the chance of re-occurring.

Thanks for all your help on this issue.

Regards,

Rodrigo