Bionic Nepenthes grow without roots - HELP!!

[Hans Breuer]

Hi everyone,

over the past months, I've taken four cuttings of aristo x thorelii and three of raff x thorelli. All of them are doing fine, growing like gangbusters (up to double size), even vining and producing pitchers - but none of them have grown roots so far.

I'm perplexed. Is this normal/dangerous/worth a call to Kew Gardens?

They're all growing in pure LFS, and my Taiwanese friends tell me to change to a coarser, drier medium - in their eyes this is a matter of overly wet medium and too much humidity.

Anyone ever experienced this? Any tips? Comments? Open ridicule? ANYTHING!? Smile

Thanks in advance for any pointers!

Hans

 

[phissionkorps]

I've had a handfull of neps grow a leaf or two without roots before going on to form roots, so its nothing to worry about. Heres what I would do in this situation:

make a sharply angled cut in the end of the stem
dip in rooting hormone
stick in a 1:1:1 mix of peaterlite:vermiculite


There was an experiment that was done that I was reading about a while ago, and it said that if light can reach the part of the stem that has been cut, neps are likely not to make roots

 

[Hans Breuer]

Thanks for the tips, man. Alas! I've done all that

Okay, I use pure LFS, but that's because I grow them outside, otherwise they'd dry out too fast.

Nothing left to do but wait and see, I guess

 

[quogue]

Some Nepenthes in the wild abandon their roots... I wouldn't worry about it as long as they're growing

 

[herenorthere]

I've seen the same with the fruiting plant cuttings I root more frequently, such as figs and grapes.  But try to be patient because Neps can be unbelievably slow to root.  I agree about 50% with what your Taiwanese friends said.  A coarse, airy rooting medium works best and moist is better than wet.  But I think LFS is a great rooting medium because it provides a great combination of moisture and aeration.  I use it too, usually (not always) mixed with sponge rock.  I pack it more loosely than normal too, to help with aeration.

 

[phissionkorps]

i always root my cuttings as per my post above...never waited longer than a month and a half for roots...

 

[Hans Breuer]

Thanks again for the input, everyone!

quogue: "Some Nepenthes in the wild abandon their roots..." can you tell us more about that?

Phissionkorps: do you grow your neps in tanks or outside?

 

[phissionkorps]

I grow them in a large plastic terrarium-ish thing. When I am trying to root a nep, i put it very close to the lights (like 3 inches away) and keep the soil constantly wet

 

[Hans Breuer]

Thanks, PK!

 

[flytraplady5]

I have seen it take up to six months for some nepenthes to put out roots.
You could always try putting them in a plastic bag takes the worry out of watering and humidity. Inside of course may cook outside.
Lois

 

[quogue]

Quote[/b] (Hans Breuer @ Nov. 08 2006,10:08)]quogue: "Some Nepenthes in the wild abandon their roots..." can you tell us more about that?

I've heard that when the Nepenthes' vine grows up into the tree canopy or whatever, it'll sometimes die at the roots and grow as an unrooted vine getting it's moisture from the humidity and mist and water runoff from the trees absorbed through the leaves and whatnot.
Growing so tall into the canopy it "abandons it's roots"
As long as it gets plenty of moisture through it's leaves and humidity.
Wish I could give you a reference, but I don't remember where I saw that...

 

[Hans Breuer]

Wow, that's fascinating. Thanks for sharing!

 

[nepenthes_ak]

be neat if their was a source of this information

 

[quogue]

Too bad for you kiddo

 

[Hans Breuer]

I've now heard from a grower in the US that one of his vining neps once did exactly what quogue describes: lose its roots and live off the environmental humidity.

So there. No hope for me