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Cutting Questions

I'm kinda hesitate to do this because I never tried hacking a nep before
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. I'm only doing this because the plant keeps tiping over since it's heavy.
1.Too early to do cuttings?
2.I want to try air layering, does the stem have to be a certain diameter.
3. The plant just started producing uppers, will the cuttings produce uppers also because I hope so.
4. I know it's customary to cut off the bottom leaf and trim the top leaf and make vertical slits on the bottom of the stem, but what if the leafs have full grown pitchers, even if they are dead or dying. Can I still use the pitchers and add water?
5. Is two nodes per cutting enough?
6. Will the remainder of the plant grow back? I'm not talking about the cuttings or the basal shoot that the nep has, but the part of the nep that is still attached to the plant:p
7. Will this affect my basal shoot, make it grow faster, cause it's growing fast even with the main nep still growing.
8. Does the nep have to be vining or can it be done with rosette neps too?
9. Do the internodes need to be a certain length?


and the nep I'm talking about is N. x edinensis
 
1. once its in the vining stage and there is at least a basal shoot
2. dont know about layering
3. they should but later might produce lowers
4. you should always cut the bottom leaf. if pitchers are on there keep them on and yes fill with water
5. 3-4 nodes to be safe
6. i dont know
7. the plant will put most of its energy into the shoot so ya
8. already answered
9. if internodes are farther apart then less nodes ccould be used for the cutting
 
2: I haven't had much luck with air layering, but plenty of people have. Supposedly the further the layering is done from the base of the plant the less likely it is to root. Has to do with hormones or something (search air layering on the CPUK forum for some good info). I've never tried layering close to the base, so I guess that's why it didn't work.

3: You'll probably have to wait until you get a basal from it to get lowers.

4: It seems easier just to cut the leaf down. Why keep replacing lost moisture when you could remove the reason for the loss in the first place? The pitcher's probably a goner anyway.

5: I personally think it's pointless to do multi-node cuttings. I think you have better chances of getting a new plant by rooting two single-node cuttings rather than one double-node cutting. The only reason I can think of to do multi-node cuttings is simply not having enough room for a bunch of single-node cuttings. Plus I think the plant looks funny with a compact plant growing out of the top of a leggy vine.

6: It should produce a new growing point just like a cutting would. You want some leaves left on it so it can sustain itself until that happens of course.

7: It might even encourage another one to appear.

1, 8 & 9: As long as it's mature I personally wouldn't even worry about it.
 
You're about to enter the wild and wonderful world of producing nep cuttings! It's hard to do at first because you love your plants but it's a necessary evil when plants get large and unmanageable. It's not bad for the plant, only setting it back a month or two and then you'll have plenty of clones that will be just like the parent which you can trade or sell. You will inevitably loose a few cuttings (nothing to be overly concerned about) but those who survive should be nice and healthy.

1) It's never too early to do cuttings, all Nepenthes stems have nodes inbetween leaves.

2) I've never bothered with air layering, in your case it wuld likely just make your plant even more top heavy. Bite the bullet and cut the vine, it can take it!

3) The tip cutting portion of your plant will continue to create uppers. This is also the olderst part of your plant i.e. the portion which will flower first so mark it with a special plant tag so you remember not to trade or sell it.
The cuttings from lower down on the stem which sprout from the dormant nodes between the leaves which were creating lower pitchers will still create lowers for a while until they get older/taller and then they too will create uppers.

4) It's painful but it's best to cut off the entire lower leaf next to the stem and about half of the upper leaf as the pitcher will rapidly dessicate and needlessly stress the young cutting. Mist the cutting leaf and stem daily instead to keep it hydrated until the new roots grow. Go easy on watering the cutting soil, just keep it barely moist, this will encourage roots which are strong and seek out water and also delay rot/fungi in the soil than keeping it wet (there's no roots to soak up water anyway). Make sure to pack the cuttings snugly in LFS so they do not wobble when moved. Wobbly cuttings will not have strong roots. I usually take a handful of moist LFS and wrap the slit portion of the cutting and stuff into a 2 1/2" Jiffy seedling pot pack extra LFS in around edge of the pot if it needs to be tighter.

5) Two nodes is good, unless you have a large gap between leaves. My hamata for instance had up to 4 inches between leaves on the vine so these were made as single node cuttings.

6) I'm honestly not sure what you're asking on this one? Do you mean if you cut off the basal shoot and the main stem will the roots produce a new plant? Sometimes it could happen, I remember a guy who ran "CP Jungle" reporting a Nep died away from being too cold I think and he kept the pot and eventually a basal came up.

7) If you cut off the main vine and leave a basal shoot it should grow faster by having a far larger root system than it needs.

8) Like #1, all Neps are capable of reproducing from cuttings at any age. The smaller they are the more careful you need to be.

9) No, see #1 and #8.
 
For question #6, I meant if I hack the nep, will the main stem grow back? Thanks for the questions. I just need some empty pots and it's time to hack it
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. Too bad this is a sterile plant
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I have one more question, does it matter if it's a normal cut or does it have to be angled?
 
Ah, I see! Yes, the main plant will generally grow back at the next internode betwen leaves if the stem is not too old and woody. Sometimes two or more nodes will sprout.

I think it's more important to make it a clean cut, i.e. use a very sharp razor blade and not a scissors which will crush the plant as it cuts. I usually do cut at a 45* out of habit. The reason for that is to increase the rooting surface area to make a sturdier plant. But even better than the 45* angle rule is to make several slits around the part of the stem you plan to put in the soil. This breaks the thicker epidermis of the plant so the roots can come out easier/faster and better stabalize the plant with horizontal roots as well as vertical.
 
how is air layering done? and what is it?
 
What you do is cut around the stem (but not all the way through), put some rooting hormone on the cut, wrap LFS around the cut and tie it in place and eventually some roots are supposed to grow.
 
  • #11
How much water does a cutting need, can you use the tray method or just keep it damp?
 
  • #12
I finally did it, I hacked the nep
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. I did it with a knife, as I couldn't find a razor. All of the cuts were perfect expect one where I completely messed up and had to throw it away
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. It was also sad, cutting off the newest pitchers. I planted most of them in a 4 inch pot of lfs and 2 of the biggest ones in another nep pot. Now to wait 1-2 months for buds to grow :p
 
  • #13
so is air layering taking a cutting without hacking it? thats pretty neat it might be the way ill make cuttings later on
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  • #14
No, don't keep the cuttings on a tray! Keep them in bright warm conditions and mist the cuttings every day or two to keep them hydrated. Watering the soil outright when they don't have roots is an invitation to rot below the soil line. Water the soil about once per week. Just enough to keep it from becoming completely dry. Once new growth has started on top and you have a couple of fully fledged leaves with pitchers or at least pitcher tendrils then you can begin to water normally as there should be a good start of roots by then.

As the cuttings recover and start to grow it's normal that a few will blacken in a week or two. Pluck these out as soon as you see them so they do not take up your space as they are dead inside and will not grow for you.
 
  • #15
Success!!!!!!!!!! I think
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Today, I went to check on my plants and on one of my nep cuttings, I noticed a tiny green bump on it that I haven't seen before. If this is the plantlet, then wow it budded in just 2 weeks. I don't know if it rooted. I don't want to uproot it to check it
 
  • #17
Right, top portions of the plant grow FIRST, roots develop lastly. Its just the opposite of how a seedling develops.
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  • #18
*bump*

Another one of my cuttings has produced two growth points on one node, is this possible. It is a two node cutting, but there's two growth points on one of the nodes, the other one I do not know if it has any growth points since it is buried. Maybe it has either one or two growth points or maybe I am just seeing things.
 
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