Date: Tue, 11 May 99 22:45 EDT From: Dave Evans <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1638$foo@default> Subject: Re: Nepenthes propagation and breeding
Dear Cliff,
> Vines however are a different matter. I am uncertain about
> Nepenthes but
> in many vines the xylem and phloem are arranged in bundles throughout
> the stem rather like a monocot (i.e. a palm or grass). This protects
> a climbing plant from total damage and stem death as it is bent,
> kinked or banged about along the host plant during wind or falling
> limbs. Therefore I think what is happening in Nepenthes is that you
> cannot completely cut off the phloem and initiate root development.
I'm not trying to be mean-spirited, but this is simply not
accurate. About a xylem and phloem in vines I agree, also I
don't know if it applies to Nepenthes either. However, I have a
100% success rate for airlayering. It has been the easiest and
fastest method I have found to make clones, especially of very
large plants. BTW, like you, I have no experience with TC. Make
sure you cut into a node, as the internodes are no good, and
make the cut about two thirds of the way through. Also, I don't
like using rooting hormones, it always seems to take longer for
roots to start, but I get more callus--in place of roots I guess.
I simply don't understand why you have had bad luck with air-
layering. I know all about different conditions for different
growers, but it really ought to work for you and work good at that.
> Often I am reluctant to take any cutting from a plant with a
> single stem
> unless it is very common or has started the production of a basal
> rosette.
i Here is an interesting observation made by Ron Determann of ABG and
very
> useful. If you take a climbing stem of a Nepenthes and pull it down
> below the media level of your container (easy if the plant is hanging
> high in the greenhouse) the plant often will soon thereafter start a
> basal shoot. We believe this has to do with hormones and gravity and
> their transportation within the plant.
This will work on just about any plant, even an oak tree, if you could
get the stem to bend. Much easier to affect on Nepenthes. :) Ron
was surely not the one who first noticed this. And yes, it has to do
with the effect of gravity on the flow of auxins within the stem. Infact,
the lowest node (i.e. the one closest to the floor, not the soil of the
pot) on a stem bent as such will also be the easiest to airlayer because
that's where the auxins will be instead of flowing down the stem into
the roots. It's this constant flow of auxin which keeps dormant buds
dormant. Sometimes I don't even make a cut after the basal has started,
but rather just bend the stem at the low node until it cracks more than
half way through, this method works on stems that have 'gone to wood'
since they are easier to crack than cut.
Dave Evans
P.S. I just love that photo of you on the back of CPN, the one
where you are showing off those great _N.lowii_! Whenever my
plants are looking drab and I'm feeling low, not wanted to re-pot
but knowing I must, I look at that picture and it gives me faith
that someday (plus a greenhouse plus five years) my plants will
look as good as yours.
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