Date: Wed, 12 Feb 97 00:55 EST From: dave evans <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg563$foo@default> Subject: Re: rooting nepenthes
Hi List,
> Could you please post a listing of all the Nepenthes species
> you have successfully rooted without using any rooting hormone.
> Also, could you try to give us some idea of your success rate
> on rooting each species this way.
N.alata
albomarginata
gracilis (three clones)
gracillima
rafflesiana
rajah
maxima (two clones)
mirablis (several clones)
petiolata
ventricosa/burkei (a couple clones)
and many hybrids.
Well, I think I've managed to kill my fifth victim by drying it out.
So far, besides for killing about five cuttings, all have rooted
if they were healthy to start off with (most cuttings I've gotten
from people that I can't re-cut do so-so). BTW, I don't always use
water, usually Sphagnum moss is great for rooting them, though not
good for cultivation of established plants; or I use a Nepenthes
friendly soil and place them under plastic. I never cut off the
pitchers and keep filled them with water. I wish people would stop
suggesting cutting off large sections of the leaves, but I will do
this too if I can't fit the plant into it's rooting "chamber".
It is much *better* to leave the pitchers on it, if you can.
The idea is to get the undifferentiated cells in the node to become
root cells. Auxins (hormones that change these cells into root
cell, among other things) are made by plants in their leaves and
growth tips. They travel down the stem via the plants vascular
system and with the help of gravity down into the roots where they
keep the new cells at the root tips growing into roots. If you
cut the stem at a node, the auxins will flow down and build up
at the node and cause those unused cells present to become roots.
they will have a much easily time changing and have much more
room to grow (you will get more roots, they will be stronger and
thicker) if you make a wound that exposes some of the cambium (where
the unused cells are) at the node. Drying the wound for a couple
minutes before planting (in water, soil or whatever) it helps seal
the wound to keep out fungus.
So far, I haven't killed a single cutting that I made using healthly
material, after I learned how to do it right from a course on
horticulture. Not to say they didn't die *after* rooting, but that's
a different story (Spidermites, scale and thrips can make fast work
of some varieties). Today, I noticed a N.mirablis coming up from an
old "woody" stem that I had cut the top and bottom off since it
seemed to have been killed by thrips. There were no leaves left and
the roots were all dead. I had made groove and layed the stem into
it so that the top was still angled slightly upward, covered it
with at most a cm. of soil and left it alone. Now, there are two
tiny shoots growing from the top. I don't know if it has roots,
but I'm not touching it to see.
Dave Evans
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