Repotting my first cat

[bluegardener]

Hi,
Like the title says, I'm trying to repot my first catt. I'm putting it in bark media which is similar to what it was already in. My problem is that way more of the roots seem rotten then I expected. All of the roots that were in the previous media are yellow and squishy and many of them have black areas at various points on the length. Many of them also appear segmented. Is that normal? The plant has not shown signs of being dehydrated so does that mean that these roots are still alive? I'm just a windowsill grower so humidity is lower than ideal.
How much of the roots should I take off without shocking the plant? Should I let them be and allow new roots to grow in before repoting again to remove the rest of the bad roots? Also, do I need to cut the roots back to the bulbs or can I just remove a portion of them? The plant has 4 pbs and a large new growth and has never bloomed.

I'd appreciate any help you can give me.

-Jackie

[Cjcorner]

If you go up to the search bar and look up repotting you'll find a wealth of posts that show what to do with those roots. Anything that oozes water when you pinch it needs to be removed. Cut back to healthy root. There is a whole process to go through if you find evidence of black rot. If anything is seriously black...refer to the posts about antifungal treatments with Physan 20 and other treatments such as Hydrogen Peroxide. Good Luck, I've just gone through weeks of repotting due to a similar problem that spread from an affected plant.
Connie

[cindiras]

Something I learned with my first catts: they can live without roots! (Amazing!) I also learned I overwater. After trimming very nearly ALL the roots from a catt, I set the poor thing ON TOP of the bark in a small pot, secured it to a bird perch poked down through the bark mix (Hey! You use whatcha got!) and misted it daily with water that had a foliar feed fertilizer, but did not water the bark in the pot. I put it under two flourescent daylight bulbs. Took two and a half months before the first shoot of green poked out. SCARY! But it lives! good luck with yours! Cindi

[bluegardener]

Thanks for the help from both of you. I've taken of the majority of the roots and applied lots of cinnamon.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Check out this OrchidTalk article on repotting cattleya orchids for help too: Repotting Cattleyas

cheers,
BD