Reported Miltassia Shelob, in trouble now

[GreyThumb]

Hey, everyone. I have a Miltassia Shelob 'The Weed'. It had filled its pot and was growing out of it.

I decided to repot it and divide it. I've never divided it before. I've only cut old shriveled bulbs off the back end. Some of the bulbs were on the way out, but I divided it with 4 bulbs on the back end and 5 bulbs on the growing end.

I try to water once a week and they've been getting a little too dry and shriveling. After repotting, the youngest bulb half, the youngest bulb plumped up really nicely. Now it's starting to shrivel. I'm worried about it.

Previously it was in straight bark. Because it was drying out quickly I added some sphagnum to the new bark. Like I said, it plumped nicely, but now it's shriveling. I let it dry out before watering again, but I don't know if it will recover or if the sphagnum is keeping it too wet. It stays in the bathroom and it isn't drying out as fast as the one in my room. Thanks for any help you can provide.
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[theflowerbread]

Hi! I dunno about the conditions and drying (as my problem in my current house always have been not drying fast enough)
I just wanted to ask - why have you decided to divide instead of having a larger plant with more stems?
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[GreyThumb]

Mostly because I wanted to duplicate the plant incase anything happened to the original and because I wanted to be able to move one around to different conditions that I think are more favorable and test that without risking the entire plant.

As an update, the bulb I mentioned does still have three lines in it, but it's plump besides that. The spike is pretty much done growing, I can see coloration through the outside of the buds, and I expect it to open any day now.

[theflowerbread]

Two plants steal the space hehe, just my personal opinion

Mmm, for the pseudobulb situation a pic would be very helpful here!

[78Terp]

I'm with Joel.

If I divide an orchid. I will try the new plant in a different media and see if one is better for that orchid or the other media is.

[theflowerbread]

That's a great point! Personally I'd give a try mounting the division plant to see where it grows better in my conditions (and mounts take less space, for us windowsill growers space matters).