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Questions on..

I read somewhere about pruning

It said that Nepenthes form vines from long climbing stems and that we should trim them. It also said that it will encourage the development of basal shoots and produce more lower pitchers. It says that we should prune to keep the plant in good form.

I have some questions

Are the "long climbing stems" the ones that produce upper pitchers?

Is it really necessary to prune?

Can someone just please explain long climbing stems and pruning

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Thanks in advance
 
Yes, the climbing stems are where the plant produces it's upper pitchers and also it's flowers (at the tip) but some people do not have the space to grow their Nepenthes very tall. Mine are able to climb about 3 feet high before they start to grow sideways under the lids of my large terrariums and must be cut back. Usually as their vine gets long they will automatically start to produce basal shoots - whether they get cut back or not. Maybe not every species will but most of my climbing plants also have basal shoots in their pots.

If you must prune, simply make a diagonal slice on the stem between two leaves and dust with fungicide so the cut tip doesn't get infected before it has a chance to heal over the wound. The plant will grow a new vine from a dormant node on the stem below where you made the cut. There is a change in the hormone flow from the roots to the long growing tip of the plant when it is cut. This is "why" the plant often makes basal shoots when it is cut.

Also, with the portion you cut off you can pack it tightly into a pot of sphagnum moss and root it and have another whole new plant! However, if the stem you cut is very old and has turned to "wood" then it will be difficult to root. Trim the "woody" stem and old leaves off till you reach soft green new vine which roots much easier.

Hope that helps!
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Unless your looking for upper pitchers or flowers (they sometimes will flower even from the removed rooted top section of a long vine). I would periodically cut them back. Otherwise you end up with a long scraggly vine with leaves and pitchers way at the tip and the rest a long brown dry stem.

Tony

Note that some vine faster than others, while most vine to a moderate level there are also some that stay compact for a long long time.
 
Thanks for all your information guys!
I really appreciate it.
I am really new to neps.
Thanks again
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Also, when you take a cutting from a climbing vine, you wont be able to get lower pitchers from the cutting, right?

Another question
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I just read D'Amato's The Savage Garden and it says:
"Never remove a climbing stem until a basal shoot has developed"

I thought people cut them to create basal shoots

                      ---or does he mean dont remove the whole climbing stem?

I heard that climbing stems can produce rosettes on them? How and where on the climbing stems?
And if its true, can you use the rosettes on the climbing stem as a cutting?

Also when you take cuttings, why do people cut the leaves in half, is it like a hormone thing like what swords was talking about earlier in this thread?
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Thanks again, im just wondering

Sorry for all the questions, maybe you can recommend a good book or website about nep propogation or something if you dont feel like answering
 
Yes, just don't cut off the whole vine. Leave about 6 leaves on the main stem, make sure the vine has not turned woody so there is soft tissue for the new node to grow from (the node is a dimple on the stem just above the attachment of the leaf). You plant has to be climbing before you can really see it.

My N. hamata develops basal rosettes ON the lower portion of the stem (but not in the soil like most of my other ones) and the upper portion creates thin cimbing vines. N. ampullaria is supposed to do these rosettes as well but my green form grew about a meter and did not flower or make the rosettes along the stem, just a big cump of basal rosettes in the ampullaria pot.

You can use almost any soft green stem to create a new plant so long as you have about 1-2" of stem to put in the sphagnum about 1/3 of a leaf to absorb light and a node just above the leaf attachment to the stem you can make a whole new plant! My cuttings always start out as a small "Y" shaped piece of plant or "single node cutting".
 
Another thing you can do(if you are worried about basals not forming) is let the vine grow over the pot surface and trail down. When the growing tip gets below the soil surface, this encourages a basal to form. Then you can cut away the whole vine, if you like.

Cheers,

Joe
 
Ok thanks

-Does the climbing stem grow from the mama plant like an offshoot, or does the whole plant become a climbing stem?


Thanks youve all been a really big help
 
  • #10
-when you take a cutting from a climbing vine, can you get lower pitchers from it, or will it only continue to produce upper pitchers?


yeah I heard that amps do the rosette along the vine too?

-But, those rosettes along the vine, can you use them as a cutting?

-So people cut the leaves in half because of a hormone thing?
is it necessary?
 
  • #11
If the top section of vine is producing upper pitchers it will continue to produce upper pitchers after it roots. IF you root a middle section and a new growth forms from one of the leaf nodes it may have lower pitchers or uppers. It may form a rosette but if it does it usually starts to climb fairly soon and produce uppers again.

If there are not basal shoots growing you should always leave some green healthy leaves on the lower section even if this means they are way out on the end of a long brown woody leafless stem. If there are basal shoots you can cut all the way back to the basal shoots.

As for cutting leaves on the cut section. I cut them down anywhere from removing the pitcher to cutting the leaf down in length. This is to help me pot the cuttings and fit them in big ziplocks during the rooting process. Cutting back the leaves can help keep the cuttings from drying out by reducing the leaf surface area where moisture will transpire from. However the auxin (to promote root growth) is produced in the leaves. One of the reasons I usually dip in a little rooting powder although it's not absolutely necessary.

Tony
 
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