Prosthechea Cochleata brown psuedobulb top.
 

Hi all, new to the forums here. I have a nice Prosthechea Cochleata that I recently acquired. I learned a beginner's lesson the hard way: don't repot a plant in bloom. The issue was that the clip came off the stake when I was fiddling around with it and the inflorescence flopped right over. Should have left well enough alone. Anyway it died so I cut it off.... And then the top of the p bulb started getting brown. I excised the whole thing with a flame and alcohol sterilized blade and put some cinnamon on the wound. Plant is otherwise totally healthy.

Was this warranted and is it possible I caused this when I cut off the inflorescence with a less than sterile blade?

Thanks for reading.

A picture of the bisected pseudobulb.

This looks like rot, so I'd say you did the right thing by not only cutting off the bulb, but also cutting well into the healthy part of the plant.

I've never heard of rot resulting from cutting off an inflorescence with an unsterilized blade, but it certainly seems plausible.

Rot has a tendency to be found in more than one place, so I'd be sure make sure you the site of pruning with cinnamon (to dry out the cut), have good air circulation around the plant, and be sure to let the media in your pot dry out before you water again.

Thank you! It was rot. I was misting a little too heavily, and at night. I'll bet this had something to do with it.

No idea if the cutting or the misting caused it, but the course of action you took was the right thing to do.

FWIW, with this genus, I think the mist ing is probably not needed unless your air is really dry.