Thank you for the references. I always wondered how they handle the problem of pathological organisms since many of them reproduce best with alternating wet/dry cycles.
Fortunately for us as long as the parts with systemic infection are kept under water constantly sometimes the disease can be kept from spreading to the new growth. I have an example of this on my gallery and included the thumbnail.
The picture shows that the plant had extensive rhizome rot as can be seen on the scraped area in the middle. The bottom of the first new growth was also affected by black rot and could not produce any roots. However, it put out another growth whose rhizome developed clear under water and produced all healthy roots. The plant was without roots for months and I just kept it to see what would happen. The following year all new growths were normal and they produced normal flowers.
