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Seperating basals? how do I do it.

I have a basal and it just happens to be the second largest nepenthes that I own, it's starting to vine for me and it's slowing down the mother plant.
I heard that basals don't have roots of their own but I imagine this one might it's about 8" in diameter and its in a 6" diameter pot. There is also too smaller basals that are about an inch or two in diameter they are growing rather vigorously but no pitchers.
What do I do if the basal has no roots, can I keep it on my window? does it need more humidity?
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I really think that basal shoots are best left alone... I haven't seen anything personally to suggest that they slow down the mother plant. If you really want to separate it, unpot it, remove the mix, and find a point to cut that leaves roots attached to both shoots. If you can't find one, cut the mother plant off and treat it like a cutting. It will shock and stop growing for a while, but once it roots it'll be the same plant; just as mature, but with a new root ball.
~Joe
 
Well, my ventricosa slowed down when it made a basal and started burn out. So I cut the old stem off and mad it a cutting and let the basal grow. I am much more pleased with the basal because it has already surpassed the old stem and it has larger leaves. Since I have cut the old stem I also have another new basal! I say if you want the mother plant to grow still I would just make it a large cutting and let the basals grow so you end up with 2 plants!
 
I really think that basal shoots are best left alone... I haven't seen anything personally to suggest that they slow down the mother plant.

Since I just read this post I thought I would throw this in:

Oh yeah, one more thing.LOL. You know those basals that these tc rajah love to produce? If you want your plant to get really big you will need to remove them all. Pot them up separately but don't let them grow attached to your main plant. My big plant was producing them by leaps and bounds and I just picked them off and tossed them into another pot of mix until I was left with only the one main plant. That's when it started to get really big. Works for vft too...but that's another story!

xvart.
 
I've had basals slow down my main vines before. I remove all my basals once they get to about 6". Plus, my plants usually activate multiple basals at once (anywhere from 2 to 6) so that could be the cause of the slowdown.
 
I have never taken a nepenthes cutting before I don't know what works for me and what doesn't but I have heard perlite is great.
can I cut the main vine off at the base? I want it to keep it's woody part of the vine it makes the plant look rather gnarly and I like it.
who knows maybe that will activate dormant nodes or something.
 
I suggest cutting only the green portion because it roots much easier then the stem. I am using the water method because then I will know when it is reay to be planted in good substrate.
 
I want to repot the basals instead then instead of rooting the mother... I don't have to remove the two small basals just the large one. I just don't want to lose a nepenthes as I have only re potted one of my nepenthes before and it stopped pitchering for several months. It's recovered fully now,it was a sanguinea this is a spectabilis. I have tried the water method with a D. capensis and it lasted for about a month and then started to rot. I had it floating in a quarter inch of water with the tentacles facing up.... I used a faq from the ICPS website on drosera cuttings so I am not really confident with the water method. I I have plenty of perlite like 8 4 quart bags of it. I can reuse the perlite later in soil mixes RECYCLE!!

I don't know how to take a cutting, could someone explain to me what do do step by step I need a process. I have some rooting hormone with fungicide.
do I need a sharp knife do I slice the basal off from the main plant at an angle?
should I move it off of my window and under flourescents?
 
Search the forum. I've explained that at least 20 times.
 
  • #10
I used a pair of scissors and put a ventrata cutting in a vase of distilled water. I waited several weeks and saw that the thing had roots. I then just planted in with the rest of my Neps

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This was unsophisticated and maybe i got lucky, but the cutting is sending out new leaves. No pitchers yet, though.
 
  • #11
I prefer to cut the main vine and use it for cuttings and just leave basals alone. My plants from these basals tend to bulk out faster and more readily produce larger pitchers straight off.
 
  • #12
I prefer to cut the main vine and use it for cuttings and just leave basals alone. My plants from these basals tend to bulk out faster and more readily produce larger pitchers straight off.

Ditto!
 
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