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Pruning n. ampullaria

  • #21
I give my plants all the light I can fit over their growing environment. Over my 75 gallon terrarium I use six 40 watt tubes, 240 watts. This colors the leaves very nicely and N, northiana does very well with this intense light. To add to the brightness I surrounded all sides of the tank with tinfoil to reflect the light back at the plants. The tinfoil also helps to insulate the tank and the temp inside gets extremely hot (great for lowlanders) You will burn the leaves if you jump to this much light right away. The new growth will be acclimated and new pitchers nicer and bigger but your old leaves may get all spotty. I'm of the opinion that more light is better (especially if you are using artificial light). I can not comment on real sunlight as I have zero experience using sunlight for growing neps in a green house situation. I tried a garden center hybrid in the kitchen window (only good light in the house) but the house is so dry they wouldn't pitcher even with twice daily misting so I never tried it again.

On the other large sized grow chambers I use metal halides and large power compact strips for saltwater reef tanks.
 
  • #22
N. ampullaria is very malleable.  It can be trained or pruned to a variety of forms to suit particular growing environments from small terrariums, to large greenhouses.  The photos beow are of plants grown from tissue culture which both started out with a single growing pint but have been pruned back twice but at different stages to achieve a desired effect.  The first photo shows a plant intended to be less than 4" dia. but squat, with as many pitchers as possible and the second is intended to be less than 4" dia. but tall.

The pot by the way is 8cm (3") in diameter

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Oh and yes, the cuttings are available, you just need to come and pick them up  
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  • #23
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Borneo @ Oct. 14 2003,11:3
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</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Oh and yes, the cutting are available, you just need to come and pick them up  
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You've got a mean streak, you know that?  Sure, just let me hop on a plane...

Beautiful plants!

I guess if those are in a 3" pot, my cutting is fine.  Rob, do you have an opinion on how much difference pot size can make, and how much that varies from one species to another?  It seems my gracilis will fill anything with roots, but does it grow better because of it?
 
  • #24
I think the importance of pot size really varies from species to species and even more so with the particular environment you are tryig to grow the plants in. Some Nepenthes, especially lowlanders will grow a root system that will fill just about any pot.  Highlanders are rather different, some have even evolved a mechanism for collecting water in the pitchers (N. lowii and N. ephippiata for example) and may have almost no root system in the wild.  N. rajah has a strange desire to put out roots laterally and therefore does well in a wide pot or tray (This may be because in the wild it grows on a thin layer of media bedded by impenetrable rock).

We've accidentally grown 4' dia. N. bicalcarata in 3" dia. pots (really).  The plats have appeared perfectly healthy and not stunted at all.  Of course they have a tendency to fall over!  It seems to me that so long as the roots can collect enough water in the heat f the day (and that nursery is very humid) then that is the most important thing.  I can take a photo right now of some large highland hybrids that are in 3" dia. pots and are not happy because they suck the media dry since the nursery they are in is designed to promote flowering and is harsh on the plants.  Smaller plants in 3" dia. pots in the same nursery remain wet, so the amount of water the plant sucks up is relevant to the sze of pot you choose, it seems.  Of course all sorts of other factors come into play, how often you water, how you water, how much water the media retains, etc. etc.  Fungal pathogens that attack roots can severly inhibit root function too.  These are probably more common than many people might imagine.

I'm indoors ramblng on.  Should be in the nursery.   Naughty Rob!  
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  • #25
Wow Rob, Nepenthes Bonsai!
I imagine to do something like you showed in those photos you would be weilding the pruning shears every month or so? Actually, I'd like to just have my 6" ampullariaria pot with a mound of basal rosettes and no long ropy vine but perhaps to see if that's possible I'll just have to experiment a little! if I could keep the leaves under 2-3" but the pitchers remain 2-3" then it would be cool. I'm not fretting over space so much, I just like the look of the ampullaria "pitcher carpet" from photos in the wild.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I can take a photo right now of some large highland hybrids that are in 3" dia. pots and are not happy because they suck the media dry since the nursery they are in is designed to promote flowering and is harsh on the plants.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

So does lower humidity, brighter light and less of watering cause flowering in Nepenthes? How do you know when a Nepenthes is "ready to flower" or rather mature enough to flower? All the books I've read describe Nepenthes flower but no "triggers" are ever really discussed.
 
  • #26
Definitely want to know about promoting flowering. We can never get the right combination of plants to bloom at the same time to make the hybrids I want. Right now, it's pure chance (at this time we have three different males in bloom).

As for potting: we find Nepenthes do better if overpotted. If you give them lots of room, they'll take it-at least in our greenhouse!

Trent
 
  • #27
Well, I know Nepenthes gracilis has a N. x rokko flowering right now, and its a female. You should contact him. You might also want to contact Dean Cook, as he has a hybrid N. thorelii x truncata in flower right now, if you're interested.
 
  • #28
yes, female N. x Rokko just sent up a spike, flowers are FAR from opening so there is alot fo time before the first one opens, to see a picture go under my topic "Pictures" here: My topic

You cna see the rokko and flower spike here as well as a portion of my collection.

Notify me if you have any interest.
 
  • #29
Josh,

It's strange being on the other side of the world to you guys.  I go to bed and wake up and lo!  There has been lots of activity on the forums  
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There will be many people around on this forum that know more than I about the technicalities of trigger mechanisms for flowering in Nepenthes, I can only relate what I have observed, not what actually makes it happen from a technical viewpoint.

The age at which a Nepenthes can flower seems to vary dramatically from species to species.  For example, N. ampullaria seems not to flower until it is realy quite mature, as with other swamp dwellers such as N. bicalcarata.  This may be to do with mechanism for seed dispersal in relatively windless habitat, the plant has to be quite tall to disperse seeds efficiently.  However by contrast, N. campanulata will flower at less than 1 year out of tissue culture and keep on flowering.  This species grows excusively on limestone cliffs, so the seeds would probably not need to travel too far, therefore small plants are just as efficient at seed dispersal as larger ones.

As to trigger mechanisms, if a plant becomes suddenly stressed and is mature enough and has sufficient reserves, it will likely flower.   Some orchid growers put their best orchids outside the greenhouse for a night in the frost to promote simultaneous flowering for a show a month or so ahead.  

With Nepenthes a suden increase in light levels is certainly a trigger.  We are now planting Nepenthes outdoors all over our land and yes, the leaves do burn in direct sunlight but the plants also flower immediately if they are mature.

I'm not entirely sure about drop in humidity or change to other envronmental factors but they probably will promote flowering if the change is sudden enough.  It's a survival mechanism, "Oh I'm going to die!  Must reproduce!"   It's probable that a sudden change (for example increase in light level) can be made for only a day or so before restoring normal conditions and flowering may result.  This is probably safer than making the change permanent which could kill the plant.

Nepenthes adapt to gradual changes in their environment very well and won't necessarily flower as a result.  Sudden change seems to be the key and the change has to be in a particular direction.  For example, lowering the light levels dramatically will stress the plant for sure but is unlikely to flower as a result.  

I do hope Christian Klein won't mind me mentioning his collection specifically but it's a good example of a collection with a very high proportion of flowerng plants.  Chris grows his Nepenthes in greenhouses with little or no shade and natural light in the summer.  Summers in Germany (like elsewhere in Europe) can be overcast for long periods then followed by periods of bright weather.  Chris' conditions are harsh at that time, with the result that his plants are hard and they flower all over the place.  I believe that the year I visited him he had counted over 120 flowers that summer.

Having said all that, sudden environmental change may result in a terrible looking plant or even losing your plant without the desired flowering, so do be careful and try it with plants that are not too valuable first!  If you want your plants to look flawless, nurture them but don't expect many flowers.

Final example:  Earlier this year I visitied a botanic garden that had recently had a staffing shortage to it's CP collection which had resulted in the Nepenthes being neglected.  Compared to a year previously, the plants looked generally terrible and many appeared to be suffering from a fungal disease evident underneath the leaves.  Dead and dying plants were still amongst the relatively healthy plants (presumably for administrative reasons, plants cannot be simply thrown out quickly as they would in a commercial nursery or private collection).  The notable thing is that nearly moribund plants were in flower.  The previous year I had visited when the plants were in a lot better shape and don't recall seeing any flowers at all. So, near-death experiences for the plants may be good if all you want is flowers!

Better stop here I guess before this turns into a book. Sorry, do get carried away sometimes!  
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  • #30
Fantastic article!
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  • #31
That was more than I knew about flowering, in total. Thanks, Rob.
 
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