Grafting Nepenthes

Steve Grigg (sgrigg@ultra.net.au)
Fri, 27 Dec 1996 21:04:00 +1000

Hi Everyone,
I trust all my fellow cp.er's had a safe and Merry Christmas. I
have been too busy to reply to the question asked before about grafting
Nepenthes and the possible benefits of doing so, so I hope it's not too late
to add my thoughts on the subject. I have just got off the phone to a friend
of mine in Cairns who I was sure had a grafted Nepenthes in his collection.
It was purchased some time ago from a local nursery so it is anyones guess
where it origionally came from. It looks like a N.tobaica was successfully
grafted on to a N. wrigleyana. There were two distinct plants growing from
the one rootstock, each with their own different traps on the seperate
leads. I can only assume that this was done as an experiment by someone ages
ago, but I can see some possible advantages comming out of this. Take for
example a very hard to grow highland Nepenthes grafted onto a lowland
Nepenthes. Now most highland plants need only keep their roots cool to
survive while the growing leads of the plants can tolerate much higher
temperatures. Following this line of thought, a highland plant could be
grafted onto a lowland rootstock giving a plant which, in theory, would be
hardier and easier to grow in hotter climates. As most people are aware,
this has been working successfully in the fruit industry for many years, so
I can't see why it shouldn't work for us here as well. As Dave Evans pointed
out, grafting male and female plants together may pose a problem in trying
to get them to flower at the same time, but I can see possabilities in
grafting a highland to a lowland and visa versa. I now wait for your
thoughts on this subject.
Have a Happy New Year everyone.
Steve Grigg.