Re: N. tobaica

Perry Malouf (pmalouf@access.digex.net)
Tue, 18 Oct 1994 22:49:18 -0400 (EDT)

Terry wrote:

> At our CP meeting last evening, some members commented that
> N.tobaica was particularly hard to strike cuttings from. It seems
> that most cuttings fail to root and success is the exception
> rather than the rule. Has anyone out there in electron land had
> any success striking cuttings of N.tobaica? I'd like to hear from
> you.

Sorry if this misses the mark--I've never tried rooting N. tobaica.
But, I have tried rooting N. khasiana which is also reputedly a
difficult plant to root. Have you tried using Superthrive? I
water cuttings with a very mild dilution of it. After two and a
half months, two N. khasiana cuttings had no roots although they
were still green. I tried something radical. I poured some
Superthrive into the cupped palm of my hand, added some water
to dilute it about 50%, and dunked the calloused ends of the
cuttings in the solution. I then replaced the cuttings in
damp sphagnum, sealed the whole pot inside a white translucent
plastic bag, and placed the arrangement in a sunny place.

Two months later, both cuttings had several very stubby growths
coming from the calloused ends, about 1 cm long each. I
understand that these are the beginnings of true roots.

I wonder if this very unscientific application of Superthrive
would work on N. tobaica?

Perry