Late xmas present!

[MrFlyTrap2]

Finally! I got something I wanted for xmas! hehe!

I was so bummed out, during my move I just wasn't able to keep up with my Gymnamphora. It hated the new apartment, forced air, beyond dry air, (even I was getting sick), it just ended up being too much for this guy. The new green house was too late for him, but I always water my dead plants for a few weeks / months just incase crazy things happen. I kept at this one for about 4 or 5 weeks perhaps, and today I was going to throw in the towel.

But I figured, might as well learn more about Nepenthes such as root structure and such, since I never wanted to tick off a living one. Yea for learning...

I was really surprised by how dense the roots grown for the season I had it going, when I first got it, the roots were so fresh it barely was able to anchor itself in the media. Also while cutting the stem away to look for any green signs of life, I was also amazed by the spider web / cotton ball tissue that pulled from the stem. I'll have to do some research the cell layers of Nepenthes, haven't seen something like that before. So far everything was brown and uber dead. I got down to the roots and wanted to look at what basal shoots were like as this one had produced 2 for me during the summer.

And look what I found!!!!

I cut away the rest of the dead plant, took the root ball and placed it back into the media, but tilted slightly so the shoot is now on the surface. Does anyone think maybe I should put a really thing layer of moss over the shoot since it was under ground? I tilted it to the surface since I figured, the plant has struggled so much, while it was unearthed, might as well give it a push.

I hope for the best, I love this one, he's been a super trooper the entire way doing all sorts of crazy things for me. heh earlier today I even moved him to the dead section of my grow list, gotta change that tomorrow. 8)

-Nate

 

[upper]

WOW, Congratulation, that means its still alive right?
that's the same thing i did for my VFT.

 

[MrFlyTrap2]

Yup, but in this case I somewhat feel just barely. Here's a link to read up on what a basal stem is:
http://www.cpjungle.com/nubasal.htm

-Nate

 

[D_muscipula]

thats great news

 

[glider14]

it aint over till its over great job! gymnamphora is known for being a great basal producer! i wouldnt be surprised if you found more later on!
Alex

 

[Clint]

How did you get the original plant so big? Mine is in some weird, perpetual miniature stage. Grows fast, compact, tall, but refuses to grow larger in diameter.

 

[Slurm]

N. gymnamphora is an extremely varied species. Some forms get large and some stay tiny.

 

[Jefforever]

It wouldn't hurt to put a thin layer of live sphagnum strands over it.

 

[Nepenthes]

Very cool share. Awesome to see these plants come back with a vengeance =D. Congrats!

 

[MrFlyTrap2]

Well it's been just about 2 months since I made this post... This plant has done -nothing- for me. It won't die and it won't grow. The basal turned green and now is just sitting there... is there something I can do to make help make it active?

I'm curious if it's working on another one under ground again. What do you guys think I should do with it? Dig it up and repot it again? Just let it keep doing nothing? Something else?

-Nate

 

[Nepenthes]

Hey Nate,

This is just anecdotal evidence, but I have noticed with my Gymnamphora that when stressed it can REALLY slow down. Also, I recently rooted some basals and they seem to just sit there, green, but doing nothing. If the potting medium is good, I would just leave it and give it time. It could just be slow from severe shock, and from a lack of pitchers for nutrients. Perhaps a more experienced grower can suggest whether or not you should apply a very light fertilizer. Good luck with your plant, and keep us posted .

Daniel

 

[Clint]

Water the pot it's in with quarter strength fertilizer (since it looks like you use LFS, I wouldn't go past quarter strength) twice a month. Flush with pure water the next day. Hopefully the roots the basal is connected to are still alive, and that can help. If the basal is not connected to any roots from the original plant, I wouldn't bother; just wait it out. You can try foliar feeding but I've learned it doesn't do much at all compared to root/pitcher fertilizing. You can water with Superthrive if you want (I do) but some people think it's snake-oil (I don't). Just dump a cap full in a cup of pure water and water with that.

Once it makes little tiny pitchers, use a syringe and put half strength fertilizer-water in the pitchers twice a month. I'd stop fertilizing the media at that point. Don't want to over do it

The simplest thing to do is nothing, however. It'll pull through on it's own! I do highly recommend fertilizing ALL Nepenthes bi-monthly (or 4x a month at more dilute levels if you want.) I don't recommend fertilizing the media of Nepenthes grown in LFS unless they have no pitchers to fertilize, and even then flush a little extra. LFS degrades quickly when you fertilize the media.

 

[MrFlyTrap2]

I've been reading up on that maxsea stuff. Do you think using that as the fert for this situation would be suitable?

 

[phissionkorps]

LFS degrades quickly when you fertilize the media.

I have two or three plants in LFS that I got that way and never took out. I've fertilized them twice a month with full strength Schultz orchid twice a month some of them for 8+ months, and the LFS looks exactly the same, even underneath the top level of it.

I flush my pots once every three days or so, and I've never had a problem.

 

[Clint]

Then you're far luckier than most people's experiences. IME, no matter how much I flush, it still degrades quickly.

 

[MrFlyTrap2]

What are some of the signs of LFS degrading? I can only access dried at the moment, so it doesn't look that awesome to begin with.

 

[phissionkorps]

Just moisten up the dried and use it for like 2 weeks, then start fertilizing.
If you use organic ferts like seaweed, you can definitely do full strength into the media every two weeks with no problems. The only problems you might encounter are when using inorganic ferts like Schultz Orchid. Like I said, I've never had a problem with my LFS degrading, and I use Schultz Orchid 2x a month at actually about 110% strength. I think the thought of "if you use fertilizer on LFS it'll definitely turn to mush almost immediately" is entirely too alarmist, but probably not totally unfounded like the "vermiculite/perlite" is bad crusade . Personally, I've heard lots of people propagate that info, but I've never seen a single shred of evidence for either. No one has shown me a "before" and "after" pic where the LFS turned into complete mush. I'm not saying it never happens, but I certainly don't have magic LFS or anything....oh and when I say I "flush" my pots, I water until something drips out the bottom. Sometimes its a lot and a pot will drip for a couple minutes, and sometimes it's only a drop or two.

Oh and the signs of it degrading is that it will transition from a normal LFS look to a slimey/sludge look.