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Cutting Cuts

xvart

Doing it wrong until I do it right.
Staff member
Moderator
A while back I was having a conversation with someone via private messanging and decided to go ahead and post the gist of that conversation here, with some minor experiment and observation.

I had done a lot of reading about Nepenthes cuttings recently, and decided to try a little experiment. I received a cutting of N. ventricosa from ilbasso and decided to cut it up a little more and root in water. I had three total, one with the top growth point and two mid sections (of approximate equal size). The two middle sections went into water. The difference in the two cuttings was how the bottom of each section was prepared prior to being submerged in water.

Some of you may have read here or elsewhere about cutting up into the stem/vine. The thinking behind this is, I've learned, to expose more tissue and surface area to promote more root growth.

On one cutting I made two vertical slits up the stem (see next picture) while on the other cutting I just left as a straight cut through the stem. I made the cuts around 6/7/08 and both cuttings currently have two activated nodes.

Cutting002.jpg


About a month later there is already a noticeable difference between promoted root growth on both cuttings. The straight cut has no noticeable root growth while the crossed vertical cuts have obvious root growth.

Straight cut:
Nventricosacutting-7808001.jpg


Vertical cross cuts:
Nventricosacutting-7808002.jpg


You may see a little point on the first picture that could be mistaken for a root. It is not a root; but rather, where I sliced through a leaf attachment. I've read and heard of others doing other types of vertical cuts in including multiple parallel cuts and as many vertical cuts as possible.

Disclaimer: I'm not endorsing the water method of rooting for all types of Nepenthes, but it certainly has worked for N. ventricosa. I've read and heard about mixed results with other species; but, I just wanted to show one example of comparable differences in cutting methods.

It seems obvious to me that no matter how you actually root your cuttings (water, media, LFS, etc.) exposing more tissue will only be of benefit to promoting substantial root growth.

There are plenty of other examples floating around out there and I encourage you to find other, more experienced cutters "testimonials."

xvart.
 
A while back I was having a conversation with someone via private messanging and decided to go ahead and post the gist of that conversation here, with some minor experiment and observation.

I had done a lot of reading about Nepenthes cuttings recently, and decided to try a little experiment. I received a cutting of N. ventricosa from ilbasso and decided to cut it up a little more and root in water. I had three total, one with the top growth point and two mid sections (of approximate equal size). The two middle sections went into water. The difference in the two cuttings was how the bottom of each section was prepared prior to being submerged in water.

Some of you may have read here or elsewhere about cutting up into the stem/vine. The thinking behind this is, I've learned, to expose more tissue and surface area to promote more root growth.

On one cutting I made two vertical slits up the stem (see next picture) while on the other cutting I just left as a straight cut through the stem. I made the cuts around 6/7/08 and both cuttings currently have two activated nodes.


About a month later there is already a noticeable difference between promoted root growth on both cuttings. The straight cut has no noticeable root growth while the crossed vertical cuts have obvious root growth.

Straight cut:

Vertical cross cuts:

You may see a little point on the first picture that could be mistaken for a root. It is not a root; but rather, where I sliced through a leaf attachment. I've read and heard of others doing other types of vertical cuts in including multiple parallel cuts and as many vertical cuts as possible.

Disclaimer: I'm not endorsing the water method of rooting for all types of Nepenthes, but it certainly has worked for N. ventricosa. I've read and heard about mixed results with other species; but, I just wanted to show one example of comparable differences in cutting methods.

It seems obvious to me that no matter how you actually root your cuttings (water, media, LFS, etc.) exposing more tissue will only be of benefit to promoting substantial root growth.

There are plenty of other examples floating around out there and I encourage you to find other, more experienced cutters "testimonials."

xvart.

I have always scored Nepenthes cuttings before planting in media but have never attempted to root them in only water. Are the cuttings simply in a glass of water in bright light? Are rooting hormones used or fungicides? Also, in which species would this method be risky?
 
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Also, in which species would this method be risky?
Any that you really want to root. Nepenthes don't like to root when the cut is exposed to light. If you have 100 cuttings in water, and 50 were in a black container, and the others had their cuts exposed to light, you'd have a much higher success rate in the group in the dark containers. Someone actually did that experiment on Nepenthes, but I can't find it anymore :(.

Water rooting also takes a long time. Guess how long the plant in my pic took to grow all those roots?
(it was ~3 weeks)
 
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Any that you really want to root. Nepenthes don't like to root when the cut is exposed to light. If you have 100 cuttings in water, and 50 were in a black container, and the others had their cuts exposed to light, you'd have a much higher success rate in the group in the dark containers. Someone actually did that experiment on Nepenthes, but I can't find it anymore :(.

Water rooting also takes a long time. Guess how long the plant in my pic took to grow all those roots?
(it was ~3 weeks)

Thanks for the info. Good to know. It took a couple of months just to get some Nepenthes hamata cuttings off and growing last August in standard LFS media, though I've heard horror stories of just how long it can take -- even under the best conditions -- to get some other species going . . .
 
I root most of my cuttings in water and they root easily. Some species take longer than others. I have the cuttings in recycled plastic 1.5L bottles and they are put in a place with good light, great air circulation but no direct sunlight. For more precious and rare species, I prefer to use perlite for rooting.

The longest I have waited for roots is N. gracilis. Six months...but I think it is just that particular plant. Other N. gracilis cuttings rooted within 2-3 weeks.

I also split the stem like xvart does but with a little modification. I leave the core of the stem intact and split only the outer ring of plant tissue.

My growing conditions are lowland year round, with little day/night temperature difference.
 
Nepenthes don't like to root when the cut is exposed to light. If you have 100 cuttings in water, and 50 were in a black container, and the others had their cuts exposed to light, you'd have a much higher success rate in the group in the dark containers. Someone actually did that experiment on Nepenthes, but I can't find it anymore :(.

I'd be interested in reading whatever format of results from that experiment if you ever come across it again. It makes does make sense, though.

xvart.
 
Someone should also experiment with the size of the container that holds the water and cuttings. I had heard that plants release a chemical that promotes root growth. The more water the container holds, the more diluted the chemical becomes and slows the rooting process? I suppose constantly changing out the water would also slow down the rooting process. I also heard that roots that are formed in water are different than roots that are formed in media. And when cuttings are switched from water to media, the plants have to expend energy and regrow their roots.
 
Thanks for sharing your findings! I may try crossing the cuts.

I had no idea that the plants also realease a hormone and that more water would dilute the chemical.

Nonetheless, I have 100% success with rooting cuttings in water, like vase or plastic container. It is less so when sticking the cutting in media. Below are a few pictures:

HPIM0857-1.jpg


HPIM0856-1.jpg


IMG_0244.jpg
 
  • #10
While we're on the topic of cuttings producing their own rooting hormone. It's either IBA or IAA (can't remember), but the leaves help in producing it. Unless your plant is becoming too dessicated by leaving the leaves intact, I wouldn't preemptively cut them.
 
  • #11
An update, which further displays evidence that exposing the interior of the cutting promotes root growth.

Cutting 1 - horizontal cuts into the stem:
Nventricosacutting2-72608.jpg


Cutting 2 - Straight cut:
Nventricosacutting1-72608.jpg


You'll notice that the cutting I just cut the end straight off only has one root, compared to the multiple roots on the vertical cuts. Additionally, you'll see that where that one root started growing was from where the stem got ripped (where my cut wasn't so clean).

xvart.
 
  • #12
Probably the last update. Probably going to pot these up as soon as I find some more time. You can see the obivious differences between the two, plus a pitcher that formed underwater.

Nventricosa1-82408.jpg


Nventricosa2-82408.jpg


Nventricosa3-82408.jpg


xvart.
 
  • #13
Thank you xvart, I had no idea that people did this before!
 
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