Black base of leaves cymbidium orchid please help 🙏

[Rosita-Ana]

Hello
I'm new here, I absolutely love orchids but my knowledge is small, I'm learning as I go but so far the orchids I have are blooming.
But a new orchid has just joined the family, I bought a cymbidium orchid off market place which should of been lovely but once home I have seen it isn't well at all.
It has mealy bugs which I plan to use rubbing alcohol to wipe off then rinse.
But worryingly the base to the leaves are very black, I have searched online and can't find what it could be and if and how to help nurse it back to health.
I would love some help please, and sorry if the description is off, I am no expert but have added a photo to help.
Thank you

[Roberta]

First, Welcome!
Hard to tell from the photos... but it is possible that the infestation of mealies has attacked those particular leaves - they like to hide in the crevices between the leaf and the pseudobulb. It is late in the season to be repotting, but if the medium is really bad you could do so. Rather than alcohol, I would suggest putting a few drops of dish soap in some water, and spray down into those crevices. You could even dunk the whole plant (medium and all) in some soapy water, let it sit for an hour or so, then allow to drain. The idea is to drown mealy bugs, scale, and whatever else might be living there. If you lose a few leaves, no worries... I do see a new growth, and likely you will get more in the spring (which is the best time to repot Cyms) This winter, you will want to keep it moist but not soggy. No need to fertilize until spring when the new growth really kicks in. Cyms are tough. You may still get flowers from it. But the primary goal is to have a healthy plant. They typically do like a little bit of a chill - cool evenings and warm bright days are ideal but yours will have to take what it gets...

[Roberta]

If you're thinking of repotting now, it's a "between a rock and a hard place" sort of decision. You are heading into cool weather, when the plant will be slowing down new growth considerably, and if it is inclined, might even be "thinking" of starting a spike. So disturbing it is not ideal. BUT if the medium is bad and potentially infested, the small setback of potting out of season may still be the better choice. Giving the roots a good bath under running water will tend to clean up potential problems (bugs, rot, etc) without the need for any further treatment - new medium will provide lots of air, which can cure a lot of potential problems. If you decide to repot, don't be aggressive about trying to remove all the old medium, or bad roots - you can gently tug on roots, the ones that are truly no good will break off. But no cutting, especially this time of year. Especially if you don't see a lot of good roots, a bad root is better than a "no root". If the black stuff doesn't appear to be spreading, you may not have to repot (a task that is really better in the spring) but you don't want to lose that new growth. So I would watch it for another week or two (giving just the soapy water dunk), if it's not getting worse then you can safely wait for a better time. If it does look like you're lose more than the outer leaves with the issue, then go ahead and repot.

[estación seca]

The growth with black at the base is dead. On my desktop monitor I can see the pseudobulb is also black. This is unusual for Cymbidiums unless they get very much too hot, or very much too cold. It happened before you bought the plant.

Despite the season I would remove it from the pot. I would use a sanitized garden shears to cut off the black growth at the base. I would sanitize between cuts with 10% household bleach in water.

I would try to cut off at least 3-4 connected pseudobulbs in good health, and repot them into fresh medium. Care for them as has been mentioned above.