have Myrmecophila and sushi knife, what now?

[Pconch]

Thanks again for the ID Cynthia, It is an "ant plant" indeed. I would really like to divide this plant in an attempt to have more of it in hopes of sharing and doing the plant the honor of happy and well placed offspring. I wonder if I should use some of the old tubes in the back or the new ones or if I should just wait for another growth spurt?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Wait for the start of new growths, and a little longer yet until you just start to see new roots coming out of the new growths. You need to look closely at the pattern of growth. All sympodials (your plant) grow as a chain, with one or more new growths each year coming out of the previous years growth, and sometimes an older growth will also start a new growth. You want to divide the plant so that you have 3 mature growths in a row (sequential growths). Now this may actually be 4 or 5 bulbs total, because some of the growths may have started more than one growth when it was its time to start another member of the chain. My guess is that you will likely want to divide that plant into two strong divisions. If there are more than 3 mature bulbs in the chain going backward, you can remove these bulbs and try to start them as back bulbs. Spend some time counting backwards from the newest growths, and you can figure out how old each bulb is and which are the 4 and more year old bulbs that can be removed. Sometimes you will leave these bulbs with a forward section, if an older bulb produced a growth and you need the old bulbs to give that division the 3 bulb minimum. Unfortunately, Myrmecophilas often grow in such a way that it is very hard to see the pattern and you may not know for sure what the continuity is until you start to separate the pieces. If you do get backbulbs, don't separate them into individual bulbs. You will have better results with multiples connected. Good luck.

Be sure to sterilize your sushi knife.

[Pconch]

I have 13 bulbs total; 3 grew this year, 2 grew last year.
Of last years 2, it seems one grew one and the other grew 2.

I tied it on this tree 2 1/2 years ago but now it is a stick (hurricane wilma).

I have never fertilized this plant but it has a team of ants running in and out of the old, hollow tubes. I decided they were working with the plant after they proved too resillient to eradicate.

Should I start the old fertilizing and fish emulsion routine? Would it in any way decrease their abilities to fend for themselves?

The oldest bulb seems on its last leg (dried out and hollow on the bottom but green on the leaves) and about falling off. It's sympodial root-runner is pretty much dry-rotted away from the rest of the plant.

My Main Question
Is there an experimental procedure I could attempt on this old guy while I wait for new growth? (blooms in spring grows summer to winter)

Again thank you so much and Cynthia you sure are welcome for a garden tour anytime!

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

If the old guy has no roots (likely), go ahead on remove it and do the sphag & bag routine on it. If you are not familiar with this, try the seach feature on this site, as it has been discused before. The important thing is: are there any live eyes at the base of this bulb?