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N. tobica
- Thread starter Phil traper2
- Start date
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- basal
Hi Phil,
I have no experience with N. tobaica but I have removed basal offshoots from a variety of my neps including N. rajah and I rooted a N. macrophylla which arrived in the mail as a nickle sized diameter plant with a brown and shriveled stem where roots should have been I had to remove almost every leaf to get enough good green stalk to plant the N. macro. Now it's growing along just fine. I don't think eps are as extremely fragile as people think, but they do have to have the correct environment.
As long as you have good growing media and proper environment (highland or lowland temps, good light & high humidity) size of the shoot or cutting does not matter. I have even rooted and grown a Nep ventrata from a 2" piece of stalk with no leaves at all on it just the dormant node!
The only things you need to remove the offshoots is a very sharp knife and some rootone. For the knife, a new long thin retractable boxcutter blade is good. If you have them, a forceps and scalpel is even better.The forceps gives a firm gentle hold on the tiny stalks and the scalpel is sharp enough to sever the shoot effortlessly. I preffer the forceps and scalpel because I've smashed a few tiny leaves with my clumsy fingers by removing them without a forceps but the plants were still fine however.
I preffer removing the bottom leaves until there is enough stalk that there will be at least 2 or 3 nodes beneath the soil surface (even if this only leaves me with 2 or 3 leaves above the soil). Then I make a few vertical slits on the outer skin at the cut end of the offshoot to assist in roots getting through the callus layer into the potting medium and then dipping the cuttings in rootone with fungicide. Then simply plant them in pure long fibered NZ sphagnum moss in a plastic net pot (a plastic pot which has it's sides full of slotted holes). Plain plastic or clay pots are fine but I seem to think the net pots help speed the rooting/establishment of cuttings and offshoots. I have no data to back it up, just a lot of net pots!
The offshoots (depending upon their starting size and your growing conditions) will grow quite slowly at first but it's likely this is due to the plants energy being directed to rooting. So long as the growing tip does not turn brown or black or mushy leave them be, don't uproot them to check for roots, plant them in clear deli containers that are used for salad dressings if you want to watch root development, just be sure to punch a few holes in the bottom for drainage. It's best to plant them and then just forget about them for about 2-3 months, the less fidgeting the cuttings get the better. Just remember to flush the pots at least once a week (I water directly over the plants using a fine rose watering can) with R/O or distilled water. I have had 100% sucess with all the basal offshoots I've removed thus far, they're simply kept in the same environment as the plants they came off from with no special attention. If you don't have a very humid terrarium for the offshoots (at least 85% preffreably above 90% RH) you will have to mist them to be sure they stay hyrdated while they are rootless or you can place the pots they're rooting in, inside clear plastic bags.
hope that gives you some ideas!
I have no experience with N. tobaica but I have removed basal offshoots from a variety of my neps including N. rajah and I rooted a N. macrophylla which arrived in the mail as a nickle sized diameter plant with a brown and shriveled stem where roots should have been I had to remove almost every leaf to get enough good green stalk to plant the N. macro. Now it's growing along just fine. I don't think eps are as extremely fragile as people think, but they do have to have the correct environment.
As long as you have good growing media and proper environment (highland or lowland temps, good light & high humidity) size of the shoot or cutting does not matter. I have even rooted and grown a Nep ventrata from a 2" piece of stalk with no leaves at all on it just the dormant node!
The only things you need to remove the offshoots is a very sharp knife and some rootone. For the knife, a new long thin retractable boxcutter blade is good. If you have them, a forceps and scalpel is even better.The forceps gives a firm gentle hold on the tiny stalks and the scalpel is sharp enough to sever the shoot effortlessly. I preffer the forceps and scalpel because I've smashed a few tiny leaves with my clumsy fingers by removing them without a forceps but the plants were still fine however.
I preffer removing the bottom leaves until there is enough stalk that there will be at least 2 or 3 nodes beneath the soil surface (even if this only leaves me with 2 or 3 leaves above the soil). Then I make a few vertical slits on the outer skin at the cut end of the offshoot to assist in roots getting through the callus layer into the potting medium and then dipping the cuttings in rootone with fungicide. Then simply plant them in pure long fibered NZ sphagnum moss in a plastic net pot (a plastic pot which has it's sides full of slotted holes). Plain plastic or clay pots are fine but I seem to think the net pots help speed the rooting/establishment of cuttings and offshoots. I have no data to back it up, just a lot of net pots!
The offshoots (depending upon their starting size and your growing conditions) will grow quite slowly at first but it's likely this is due to the plants energy being directed to rooting. So long as the growing tip does not turn brown or black or mushy leave them be, don't uproot them to check for roots, plant them in clear deli containers that are used for salad dressings if you want to watch root development, just be sure to punch a few holes in the bottom for drainage. It's best to plant them and then just forget about them for about 2-3 months, the less fidgeting the cuttings get the better. Just remember to flush the pots at least once a week (I water directly over the plants using a fine rose watering can) with R/O or distilled water. I have had 100% sucess with all the basal offshoots I've removed thus far, they're simply kept in the same environment as the plants they came off from with no special attention. If you don't have a very humid terrarium for the offshoots (at least 85% preffreably above 90% RH) you will have to mist them to be sure they stay hyrdated while they are rootless or you can place the pots they're rooting in, inside clear plastic bags.
hope that gives you some ideas!
