Myrmecophila tibicinis adventures

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In another thread, the OP asked about growing a just-arrived Myrmecophila hybrid seedling. I posted some information there about how I had grown my seedling, but am posting more information and a photo here, so as not to hijack that thread.

I have always loved the look and difficulty of spelling Schomburgkia species, and the Schomburgk brothers did some amazing field exploring. Now some Schomburgkias have transitioned and become the even more challenging-to-spell genus Myrmecophila (Mcp.) I'm not dyslexic, but for some reason my mind always wants to see that as Myrmecoprophilia, which would really be something completely different.

A seedling Mcp. tibicinis (Motes 1667) came to me in June 2015 (under the synonym Mcp. grandiflora.) It was much larger than I expected, with over a dozen pseudobulbs. The roots had been sheared off in a straight cut about an inch / 2.5cm from the base of the plant, so I suspected it had been grown mounted. It looked as though somebody had given it a flat-bottom haircut. I had previously killed (quickly) two Mcp. I tried growing in pots. I read they prefer full sun, as well as mounting or growing bare-root in an empty basket instead of pot culture. I initially tried the bare-root method.

June is the hottest month in Phoenix. Not many new plants of any kind stand a chance outside, even in the shade. I put the Mcp. where it got dappled sun in the morning through a window, and began watering it when the roots looked dry, which was about every 2 days. Humidity was 40%-60% most of the time.

One of the newer pseudobulbs promptly got a round burned spot, and the four or five smallest pseudobulbs dried up. I moved it to bright shade and began dipping it in water daily. The burned spot dried up and turned light brown. The plant made no new roots. All the other orchids I owned were in mad growth in the warm weather. After a few weeks the plant pushed a new growth from the most recent pseudobulb. It got about an inch long and dried up without making new roots.

I decided to water more, and began soaking it overnight every 2-3 days in a bucket of rain water. I sprayed it with MSU fertilizer at about 125 PPM nitrogen once a week. Night temperatures were in the mid 80s F / 28C. The plant pushed another pseudobulb, which matured about half the length of its parent. No new roots. It was now mid Fall; nights were cooling a little, and days still hot.

I wondered whether perhaps having the rhizome on a mount would create a more humid microclimate and induce root formation. I mounted it on a piece of well-aged mesquite branch. I didn't have any sphagnum so I used a thin layer of polyester batting, the stuff used inside pillows and quilts. I reasoned this would hold water and would not decompose. (I am right on both counts, and it works well as a mounting medium for several other kinds of orchids - but it does pick up dog hair and any other kind of dirt. I have black dogs so I noticed this right away.)

I continued soaking the plant in water every 2-3 days. As temperatures cooled I moved the plant into more and more sun, and then into my sunroom in later October. No new growth and no new roots. My sunroom is quite warm and bright during the winter. I reduced the watering interval, not dunking again until the mounting pad had been dry for a day.

About February 2016 the plant began making a nubbin on the bract scar of one of the back bulbs. What could this be? Soon I realized it was a new growth. Still no new roots.

That growth is now mature, about half the size of its parent. I chalk that up to the plant having minimal roots when the pseudobulb developed. Then, when this new growth was almost mature, the plant began making roots. It made lots of roots in a short time! And they grew rapidly! I have continued soaking and fertilizing. About 3 days ago I noticed this newest growth was swelling a new eye to grow. Tonight I looked at the plant and saw there are 3 new eyes swelling! See the attached night closeup with a cheap phone camera.

Why didn't it grow from the front pseudobulb? I don't know. I wonder whether sun needs to hit the plant for a new growth to develop from that spot. My polyester batting between the plant and the wood keeps this part of the rhizome in shade. In the future I would mount a Mcp. directly on the wood.

Why didn't it grow roots before this? Again, I don't know. Does anybody know whether Mcp. form roots at a particular time in their growth cycle, or only once per year, like some Laelias? This particular species gets a very long dry season, with not even dew for months. It would not make sense for the plant to grow roots when water would not normally be available.

Would bare-root culture have been just as good as mounting? I don't know, but I suspect it might have been better than mounting with a moisture pad. The Mcp. I've seen in habitat in México were growing on bare tree trunks with no accumulated leaf litter, nor moss.

I guess I need to get another one and try it bare-root in a basket.