Date: Wed, 19 Mar 1997 18:10:39 -0600 (CST) From: Chris Teichreb <teichrch@MEENA.CC.UREGINA.CA> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1002$foo@default> Subject: Re: rooting Nepenthes
Hi John,
> Has anyone tried rooting Nepenthes in just water, or is this the sort of
> thing that everyone tries for themselves and gets dead cuttings?
Oh, this can be a sore spot for people. Much has been
debated over whether or not to root Nepenthes in water due to
roots being more or less brittle etc.
Anyways, yes, many people have rooted Nepenthes in
water (myself included) with success. I did this with N.alata.
I just dipped the end into a rooting hormone/fungicide and
placed in a small container of water. I placed this inside
a 2 gallon aquarium with some water at the bottom, covered
it, and forgot about it. It sprouted a growing tip
within about 4 weeks and is still growing today (of course,
it's in proper media now!).
>
> How well does gibberillic acid work for CP, especially Neps.?
GA works well for species such as B.gigantea. I can't
recall anyone using it on Nepenthes though I imagine it has
been done.
>
> As you may surmise, I have a N. mirabilis (Thailand) which is taking over
> my terrerium but still has no pitchers! It had them a year ago until they
> became "kitty salad". So far 8 gorgeous leaves have sprouted but no
> pitchers. I believe that I overfertilized last August but now I am getting
> frustrated. I have it in a pot of peat:vermiculite:sand in a 2:1:1 ratio
> with live sphagnum on top. There is always 1-2 inches of R/O water that the
> pot sits in and I sparay twice a day. I have two orchids as well as the
> other CP, and the orchids are verry happy.
Don't keep Nepenthes pots sitting in water, they won't
like you very much! They're similar to the orchids in that they
need fast drainage. They also need very high humidity to pitcher.
When I say high, I mean upwards of 90-100% for some species.
Also, make sure that they're getting enough light. I
have my N.alata in the greenhouse where it gets all the afternoon
sun. I spray it everday, twice, keeping the humidity around
95%. It was growing before, like yours, but didn't pitcher until
I increased the humidity.
Also, I wouldn't advise using that much peat. Try
more of an orchid mix such as 4:2:1 orchid bark: perlite: peat moss
(or even less peat moss). The root systems of Neps are very small
and the vines themselves get almost no nutrition from the soil,
so a very sterile, light, fast draining mixture is best.
Make sure that all the fertilizer was rinsed out thoroughly.
A few gallons of distilled water poured through the pot should do
the trick!
>
> My N. ampullaria which I received in the mail in January died back to 1/2
> of one leaf and a shoot that just sits there.
Don't give up on it. My N.alata grew very little in the
first 8 months! Now, it puts out new leaves about every week and
a half, and it's not even summer yet!
>
> My Sarrs came in from outside,turned green,then started to die back.
Sounds like low light conditions did them in. Sarracenia
are light hogs, they'll take as much as you can give them. Also,
they may have been shocked from the sudden change in environment.
Don't give up though, if the rhizome system is still intact and
healthy, they'll come back!
>
> My CPs don't love me any more.
I've often said that if you neglect your CP's
for more than a week (ie: don't stare at them every day)
they rebel by dying, or getting some infestation! Don't
worry if they do die though, everyone here has killed a CP at
one time or another (don't deny it!).
>
> John "Feed Me Seymour" Cavanaugh, MD
> Fellow of Forensic Pathology
> Indiana University Medical Center
> Indianapolis, IN
>
>
>
Best of luck,
Chris Teichreb
Department of Biology
University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan, CANADA
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:31:00 PST