cattleya Bob Betts
 

You are correct. I pulled it out of the pot and the roots are a mess. It should have been repotted. I bought it only a year and 1/2 ago and did not realize that it was pot bound. I cut the tangled,white roots off and it will probably not survive but I will give it a shot.
the tag on it said Cattleya Bob Betts x c Maxima. I bought it at a orchid show and I think it is potted in volcanic rock .

If you do not have any viable roots left water culture might give it a good chance.

I still believe the heart of the matter has not been addressed.

How was it being grown?

What factors of cultivation need to be tweaked in order to prevent this disaster from happening again?

How do you propose to make your cultural adjustments other than the proposed idea of water culture?

If none of these are addressed, in the future the same problem(s) will roll around and the same disastrous results may reoccur.

It looks as though that catt was stressed at the time of flowering and that the flowering might have been a last gasp attempt to propagate itself. I agree that the root system is most probably the problem ,I find that these large catts grow a lot better in wood slat baskets,also when potting on ,it is just a case of placing the whole plant old basket and all into a larger basket
If you are wanting to save that plant you will have to trim off all the bad parts soak it in a 10 liter bucket of tepid water to which you add 2 drops of Physan and one drop of KLN or superthrive overnight . Then put the plant into a suitable clear plastic bag with about two spoons of the liquid, seal the bag and hang it up in a cool part of your greenhouse and wait for roots to appear take it out of the bag and repot when the roots are about 10 mm long
I agree that it is not Bob Betts .

c bob betts x c maxima....it got the lavender from the maxima parent.....i agree with the advise des gave....good luck willa, you dont have much left to work with...in the future, soak the roots really well when you water, and water only when the roots dry, as soon as they dry....

What kind of water are yo useing? When I used well water of softened water my plants would do the same thing, now I only use rain water.
Chuck

This is typical of fusarium fungus.

Fusarium is everywhere in the world and good culture care is needed to avoid problems.

Bark in the US has become very poor quality and re-potting every year or at least every two years is a must. Bark used to be baked before sale but the increase in fuel cost has led most manufacturers to sell raw wood.

Normally nursery care is to re-pot every two years. Your bark was probably two years old when you bought it. Employee cost causes most nurseries to go from 2 to 4 inch pots and sell the plant on first flowering. This will normally be about two years in the same bark.

Fusarium fungus attacks the plant at the roots. It effectively acts like putting a plug into the water conducting vessels. As the vessels collapse the leaves shrivel and die. The symptoms look much like root rot. It can often take a year before the fungus finally kills the plant.

If you cut the rhizome on an infected Cattleya there is a distinctive red-purple ring in the rhizome. It is easier to say then to recognize until it is pointed out to you on a plant.

There is no cure.

If the plant is important to you you can try to cut back through the rhizome until you see healthy tissue and then cut off one more healthy pbulb.

I think it is too far advanced in your plant. It is not uncommon for me to cut an 8 inch pot to a 2 inch pot trying to save a plant. Usually I just send them to the burn pile.

A warning - it is highly contagious and can spread simply by splashing water from a diseased plant to it next neighbor. Your hands and pruning tools also spread the disease.