Probably...
> In my own case, I have probably taken 100-200 cuttings and I
> don't remember any of them having flowered. Then again, with
> the exception of the apical meristem, I typically take two
> node cuttings (maybe 85%), with some single node cuttings and
> even fewer three node cuttings.
Ok, first thing is most Nepenthes growers including me like the
lower pitchers better than the upper pitchers on the vast majority
of the species. The cutting must be in full adult hood to flower
no matter what else is done to it. on the vast majority of the
species. Many have long internodes and can be quite unpleasing
at this stage. Seems N.ventricosa stays fairly compact even in
this 'last stage'. So if you tried this with N.ampullaria you
would first need to allow it to grow past it's pitchering stage
and make room for the long internodes. Someone mentioned that
N.amp can get a couple hundred feet long. I imagine flowering
size plants of this species are rare in cultivation? Anyway,
most of us keep our plants out of adult growth by virtue of it's
long internodes and unpleasing pitchers or lack thereof.
> I will try some four node cuttings and see what happens.
The plant would need enough stored food for a flower spike so I
guess this # is different over the genus, and stem diameter and
ect. I would think some species would not be good for this because
of mechanial reasons => they would just be too long and dry out...
I remember getting a cutting of N.maxima which was over 1/2 inch
thick and the internodes were about ten inches. This was one of
the few cuttings that didn't root for me. I really doubt it would
have flowering becuase of the sorry shape it was in anyway (no leaves
just petioles and it was cut up into haphazard sections).
> Someone mentioned the red dragon vft; I have seen this and it is
> surprising. A friend of the people in Atlanta got one and I kept it
> for awhile a few months ago. It is completely dark red and at first
> glance almost looks black next to its green neighbors. Under low
> light it does loose some of its coloring and goes toward green, but in
> good light it regains supersaturated red coloring.
It's odd that crossing a red VFT with a green (though mutant) VFT
would give rise to an even redder plant... (Tom H. you're the VFT
guy what do you think?)
> Related to this someone commented on other forms of vfts (as if maybe
> they got some that were supposed to be unique and weren't). While I
> expect there are a lot of owner-named minor variations floating
> around, the red dragon and the dentate (or is it dente?) form are
> definitely unique.
It seems there are a couple others too. Like a yellow plant and
some other "strange tooth" (my name for them) plants going
around. At Alanta Bot. we saw a VFT which is fused at the end
so the traps form little cups. Rather ugly, if you ask me, but
still interesting. It's as though they got tired of moving and
decided the pitcher plants have the better idea.
Dave Evans