Cattleya new lead amputation - black rot

[kbishkin]

Hi there!

I'm wondering if anyone can give me some advise on this trauma patient.

A few days ago I noticed black rot developing on a new lead. I think what happened was, I was trying to water the aerial roots you see in the picture and got water in the new lead.

There was a spot on a new leaf and an interior leaf was black. It looked like the interior leaf rot went pretty far into the psudobulb so, not wanting it to spread to the rest of the plant, I cut it off just under the rot. It turned out the rot went about an inch into the p-bulb.

I applied physan to the cut with a q-tip and let it dry out in the sun. (I'm out of cinnamon). The wound looks black and nasty but I would imagine that is just dead tissue. I'm trying to keep the circulation up and the new lead totally dry.

My question is: what now? Can it survive the surgery? I've probably removed the "stem cells" where the new growth originates just under the leaves. So I would imagine that the p-bulb won't grow to maturity. I was wondering if the immature p-bulb - which just started putting out new roots - might live. Or is it a lost cause? If so, what should I do?

Here is my culture, since people tend to ask:

Temp.

Day:70-85 f
Night:65-75 f

Humidity: No idea. It's low

Lighting: south facing window

Air movement: Ceiling fan on high

Potting: bark and a lot of inert material. I put some sphag on the aerial roots to increase humidity around the plant.

Thank you!

p.s. I've included a picture of the flowers it put out in April. This lady is my favorite so I hope it's ok!

Katie