Cattleya with no roots

[Cjcorner]

Water culture may be the answer...but you may want to be extra careful and use some fungicide/bacteriacide just in case as well. I've had this happen and wrung my hands as they slowly died. Recently I'd thrown the "carcass" of a cattleya just as you described, it landed in a dark spot that holds water a little and it grew this huge new root and then a new growth. I've placed it in an old pill bottle with hydroton and it's doing really well. you may give it a try...course, they may just end up dying anyways, but it may not. You never know...

[Lambert]

I am in the process of reviving a 3 pseudolbulbs/no leaves/rootless laelia ...
What is working for me in this extreme case is a small plastic pot, a little bit of sphag at the bottom but not in contact with the plant, clay pellets and charcoal (it is antiseptic)
on top of the sphag.
The whole thing is really a thin layer at the bottom of the pot just to keep some humidity.
"Paint" the base of the p-bulbs with a weak solution of rooting hormone, and put the pot in a humid, warm and somewhat shaded spot with some air flow.
Put the plant in the pot, no need to stabilize it at this point.
Once in a while remove the plant and wet the substrate.
General humidity is more important than a wet substrate for now.
When an dormant "eye" wakes up, be very careful not to get it wet.
As you have unfortunately experienced it, water can easily lodge itself in the new growth and rot it.
No need to mist the base of the plant anyway since there is no roots, the only thing you can do is to try and gently clean up the rooting hormone once a new growth starts
as I have read that too much of it can inhibit root growth on the new lead.
Once the new lead has grown enough, you can stake the p-bulbs in what will be the permanent pot with whatever substrate you want, and move it
to a brighter location.
No need for a big pot!
Good luck and patience, it is a tougher rescue without any leaves but your orchid may pull through. Keep us posted ...

[Sequoia]

Thanks for the advice! I'll try setting it up like that tonight and hopefully it'll pull through! Just two more questions - should I cut off the old roots? And might it work without rooting powder, or will the powder give it a much better chance?

Thanks

[Lambert]

If you have a doubt about whether the old roots are viable or not, then don't cut anything ... just the ones that are black and/or mushy.
Because there are no leaves and maybe no good roots, this is a race against time ... the p-bulbs will have to feed/sustain the new growth,
until it grows some roots, so you want to have a new growth starting as soon as possible, hence the rooting powder which will accelerate the process.
If you had leaves and more than 2 p-bulbs, the rooting powder would not be necessary.