Date: Wed, 12 Feb 97 17:00 EST From: dave evans <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg573$foo@default> Subject: Re: Re: rooting nepenthes
> From: Perry Malouf <pmalouf@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>
>
> > usually Sphagnum moss is great for rooting them, though not
> > good for cultivation of established plants...
>
> Dave, I've always used sphagnum mixed with a generous amount
> of perlite to grow Nepenthes. The plants do very well in
> this mix.
Err, *living* Sphagnum is not good to grow Nepenthes in. Sorry I
didn't include this bit, but I was very tired at the time.
Nepenthes are only found rarely growing in the stuff which shows
they are not very compatible. Some Sphagnum can be grow near by
on the soil surface, if you keep the soil wet enough, but it will
often get moldy in Nepenthes conditions as Sphagnum grows in bogs
(at least the types of the moss I have) and Nepenthes don't. So
if you're cultivating them together, you'll have either happy
Sphagnum or happy Nepenthes. Dried long fiber Sphagnum does work
well in Nepenthes mixes, though. Ditto for Heliamphora. Living
Sphagnum will suffer in conditions Heli's really like, but the
dried long fiber stuff is can be mixed into the soil with very
good results.
> This is interesting. What purpose does it serve to leave the
> pitchers on the cutting? As a reservoir of water? When you
> do this, do you have to keep refilling the pitchers because
> the cutting slurps up the water?
No, generally you'd want to place them somewhere the humidity is
high enough so you'd only need to check on them every week or two.
It works like this: If the pitcher is filled with water and the
plant is kept in 95-100% humidity, the soil can even become nearly
dried out for days without the cutting suffering stress. If you
want to keep filling them with water, I suppose you could leave
them in drier conditions. But why? :-Q (the last two sentenses
are NOT serious)
> Well, there's a reason for this. The idea is to reduce
> transpiration. A cutting has no root system and so cannot
> absorb water at a fast rate from the potting medium. But the
> leaves will continue to transpire moisture into the air as much
> as possible. There is no balance between loss of moisture
> through the leaves and the uptake of water into the cutting,
> since the water absorption is severely curtailed for a cutting.
> If you reduce the leaf area, you cut down on water losses.
And I think you then loose a lot of the plant's natural rooting
hormones, as well.
> Also, keeping the cuttings in very high humidity helps to
> prevent their drying out.
Right, Perry. That's why I put them under plastic. Sometimes they
are too big to fit into a Ziploc baggie so I'll make a larger
chamber with a couple plastic bags taped together. If you put
water into the pitchers there is no way the plant can dry out
unless you don't check for a month or so. I suppose, after
cutting off large sections of the leaves, the auxin production
goes down a lot, so then rooting hormones may then become benefical.
I have also taken very small cuttings, with a pitcher or two
and placed the whole thing inside a clear glass. I, again, add
more water to the pitchers and fill the bottom of the glass with
water so as to cover a couple cm.s of the stem above the cut.
I don't cover the top of the glass, as the glass' wall provide
enough humidity and place the glass in light (I don't think
were you put it matters so long as the light is strong enough,
also the longer the day it gets, the faster it roots).
Chris, I didn't really mention any "one way to do it." I tried
to describe how the plants work so as to provide the list with
ablity to figure out better ways of rooting plants. Most dicots
are controled by auxins in the same way and if you know what is
going on in the plant, I hope you'll be able to find (figure out)
several good methods to rooting plants in your conditions, not
just Nepenthes. For nearly all cuttings, it is helpful to let
the wound dry, but I'm sure there are several exceptions out there
too.
Dave Evans
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