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Nepenthes Truncata doesn't produce a climbing stem?

Wolfn

Agent of Chaos
I'm looking at an online carnivorous plant nursery right now, and it says this about Nepenthes Truncata:

It has a non-climbing, compact growth.


Really?
 
I'm pretty sure it does. Either that, or my eyes deceived me when I saw the N. truncata in the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
 
I'm pretty sure it does. Either that, or my eyes deceived me when I saw the N. truncata in the Atlanta Botanical Garden.


Well, in many pictures I see of cultivated N. Truncata, they very large lower pitchers but the stem is fairly short. These could be cuttings, but I think that they produce a stem very slowly.

So perhaps the ones you saw at the Botanical Garden must be several decades old in order to produce a long climbing stem.

You know?
 
My truncata has been with me for a year, but the stem is still ultra short compared to my other neps. I believe they will vine eventually, but slower than most neps.
 
My truncata has been with me for a year, but the stem is still ultra short compared to my other neps. I believe they will vine eventually, but slower than most neps.


True. I've been looking at pictures of Truncata and it appears the shape of the base of the leaf prevents it from producing a stem too fast.



I'm probably going to buy one with my Christmas money. I think I'll name it "Beast" :D
 
Yes they do climb, theres a picture in stewart McPhersons book Pitcher Plants of the old world of a monstrous truncata that climbed onto a tree from its base all the way up to its canopy.

I suppose they just take a long time to reach the vining stage.
 
They do vine eventually. Mine has a stem of about eight inches now. The internode space is non existent.
 
They 'climb' slowly, my lowland is about 5 years and has a two foot stem.
 
The truncatas at the orchid shop are large heavy vines but they're also probably 20+ years old too. IME truncata was a very slow grower compared to many others.
 
  • #10
They probably say that so people don't complain. The customer support at those places has to pay for customers' improper care-I think, at least.

This is no wisdom though! LOL, so many cps are killed each year. Like the time my mother wanted to give "good" soil for my first venus flytrap. It didn't last 3 days.
 
  • #11
Not mine, but here's a picture I found on Google.

1578028127_ba1215a82d.jpg


So yes, it does produce a climbing stem. However, N. truncata probably produces a scrambling vine in the wild. Also, it technically wouldn't make sense if N. truncata didn't produce a vine.
 
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