Date: Fri, 28 May 99 01:36 EDT From: Dave Evans <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1870$foo@default> Subject: Re: Re: Nepenthes propagation, air-layering, et al.
Dear Cliff,
> ... I only was reporting the poor success rate other growers
> had had using this method. I think that discouraged me from
> risking my plants... ... One problem I have had in air-layering
> other plant species is in maintaining a proper moisture level at
> the incision, it is usually either too wet or too dry and neither
> is good for rooting. It is difficult also to keep ant and
> other bugs out unless you really seal it well.
Ah, here's where the different conditions start to affect the
out come, I see. I'm growing my _Nepenthes_ in large, over-sized,
terrariums, so I don't have to worry about bugs. Getting into the
dressing--I have to worry about most others, of course. I use a
fistful sized wad of living _Sphagnum_ moss, it holds on to water
for a couple days, even with the top open. I use clear plastic
sandwich bags and cut then to size and shape depending on the vine
and seal off the bottom with packing tape. Usaully water drips
out of the bottom anyway, but the moss soaks up a fair amount.
I leave the top partially open so I can add water every couple
days. By the time the moss starts to grow into a small hummock at
the open top, I can see lots of black, spidery roots throughout
the wad of moss.
>> Ron (Determan) was surely not the one who first noticed this.
>> (About vines producing basal shoots when they are layed lower
>> than the pot tops.)
>
> While probably not the first, I think Ron noticed this
> accidentally... ...He simple yanked the whole mess down and
> was letting it hang until he could do something with it. I
> believe that it was a few weeks later that he noticed new basal
> growth breaking out in most or all of the baskets of the plants
> in question... ...I think it was to Ron's credit that he
> noticed this and put it into practice considering his many duties.
Cliff, I think all the people at Atlanta Botanical Gardens do
a fantantastic job!!! I was there for the first ICPS international
meet and I haven't seen another Gardens so well kept yet. My memory
of the place is akin to a horticultural paradise.
Seriously though, anyone with any schooling in horticulture ought
to know about this effect and that's why I recommend that people
who really love plants take a course in horticulture. I took a
four credit lab class at a community college and gained an incredible
insight into how plants work. Even though we didn't study CP's,
just about everything I learned has helped my with my plants.
Dave Evans
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