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Speaking of cuttings...

schloaty

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Hi,
I think it's time to cut the x coccinea. But I don't want to kill it, it's one of my most successful neps! So I'd like to run my process by the experts, mostly to make myself feel a little more confident.

1) clip the growth point off two or three nodes down, with a diagonal cut.
2) place in moist LFS, in a ziplock baggie.
3) Place about 1 foot from flourscents.

Pretty much the same way I would treat a gracilis cutting. Is there anything I should be aware of with this particular hybrid? Thanks!
 
Here are some tips I picked up at LACPS to add onto that list...

-For leaves connected to your cuttings - cut the leaf in half (cut off the tips)
-Add some rootone if you can

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I would place the cuttings a bit closer, like 6". Unless you have a LOT of light. Then one foot should be fine. Good Luck with you cuttings.

Mike
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I am by no means a cuttings taking king... but I have heard from multiple sources over the last few years that cutting of leaves is no longer considered to be that beneficial, that in fact, filling any pitchers on the leaves is good.

But who am I to say, since I am just to lazy to take cuttings!
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Go with what works!
 
One more thing, many cuttings won't root just from the cut base. They must have a notch or slit about 1/4 of the way into the stem above the cut end. This increases surface area and gives more room for roots to develop.


Mike
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All good points..

I will add that you want stem that is not overly young and soft or odds of rotting are increased.  So depending how fast your plant is vining, you may need to go longer than 3 nodes.  Also preferable to leave the remaining bottom stem with a few leaves.

Sometimes I cut the leaves sometimes I don't.  Honestly I don't think it makes too much difference.  My main reason for trimming is to deal with large leaves and pitchers flopping all over and trying to fit them in baggies.  Once they are in position though I try not to disturb them.  New roots just emerging can be easily damaged if the stems are wiggled around a little accidently.

Tony
 
My cuttings have just rooted (YAY! ) out of 8 I now have 8 rooted cuttings (beginners luck?)

Here's what I did.

1) agonize over wiether or not I can do this without kiling the plant.
2) cut off the growing stems where I wanted them in relation to the parent plant.
3) cut individual pieces to be rooted
4)soaked them in a superthrive solution for about an hour (over-kill maybe, wanted to make sure they were nicely hydrated)
5) dipped them in rooting hormone powder.
6) planted them in chopped, wet LFS in clear film canisters with holes poked in the bottoms
7) Cut off enough of the ends of the leaves to make them fit in the little cubes my father-in-law obtained from Lowes (the ones that Lowes kills the CP's in, they thought someone should get some use out of them) one cutting per cube.
8 ) added 1/8 inch water to the bottom of the cube, put the tops on and set them in a bright window.
9) forgot about them for 3 weeks (unfortunately I did forget them <eek!>)
10) checked on them last week and added a bit more water.
11) Now 4 weeks after I took the cuttings I have visible roots in the film canisters.

That's just what worked this time, and I have never done this before so I probably did a million things wrong. Just thought I'd let you know what worked for me.
 
Wow! Thanks everyone. I will probubly cut the plant this weekend, when I do some more re-shuffling in my plant room. I may have to cut the leaves, because they're getting pretty long. I don't think a 2' diameter plant will fit in a zip lock....

Good point about using and older piece of stem, too. I may add one extra node for safety.
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One last thing to remember is that not all nepenthes root easily or at all. Sometimes things just don't jive. Chances are if you cut off the growth stem you will get the nepenthes to grow from the base or from the stem, just below the cut. Nepenthes really like being trimmed back.

Sooooooo, Go For It! I haven't killed one from trimming. I have not been 100% succesful in rooting though. Still experimenting on different species and different techniques.
 
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