Question
I live in southern Spain and I got a Cymbidium last January. It was huge, in a big pot full of speudobulbs and with three stems that bloomed fine.
In spring, after the flowers dropped I reppoted the cymbium to slitly larger pot, but it was the first time I was doing this and it was all wrong I think. I just changed it to the larger pot, I was to scared about cutting off old roots and I just added a normal plant still instead of orchid potting mix. Since then there are a lot of new growths but they are very weak and some dye. the older pseudobulbs just dry up and when I have taken them out they were rotten. I think that I was underwatering the plant at the beginning but I think that the problem now is that the roots are maybe not healthy. Yesterday I dug my fingers in the earth and I saw new roots, that looked very healthy. Do you think I should dig the plant out and clean it, plus put some orchid mix in, or just leave it like this and not give more stress???

Answer
Lily, thanks for your question. Since you have new growth coming, this is the ideal time to repot.  Use a standard fir bark based potting mix after you have screened out the fine, dust-like particles.  Then soak the mix for at least an hour before use. Before repotting, clean the plant and remove any dead roots. Cymbidiums, like other orchids, prefer a potting mix that allows good drainage at the root zone so a standard potting soil or moss could produce the symptoms you have observed.  Be sure the pot you use has good drainage.  When in active growth, cymbidiums are heavy feeders so each watering should contain some plant food. Most cymbidiums like to be grown on the cool side and do not tolerate well temperatures above 85 degrees F for an extended period.  As the new growth gets larger, you may expose the plant to increasing light levels.

Also, if you would like to divide the plant, this is the ideal time to do so. Remember that cymbidiums tend to set their buds in the fall when it is cool-- for spring blooming.