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Cuttings

I've been doing some cuttings in my spare time and I've been wondering if I'm doing everything right. I know your supoused to cut the stem, cut the leaves in half and stick the cutting in a pot fill with sphagnum moss to keet it moist and keep the pot inside a bag for humidity.
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Looks good to me!! Is that an alata? I am currently doing a cutting with a gracilis, which is said to be easy to root by cuttings, and so far so good! Tony's website has some awesome info about cuttings, you should take a look! GOOD LUCK!!
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Hi Erick,
I assume thats a ventrata cutting for our trade? Looks nice. One thing though, you should use a bag that is clear so the plant can still get light, also I usually cut a tiny hole in the bag to let some air circulation in while keeping the humidity up. That way its less likely to mold. Also as far as I know the growing tip should be cut off so the side shoots start to grow. That's one healthy looking cutting though....Can't wait.

-Jay
 
I hope so, because I have some ventrata cuttings I did just like that.  It looks like you used more than three nodes?  I think if you can afford to it increases the chances of it taking.

I probably would have cut that bottom leaf sticking out of the medium completely off, scraped the side of the stem, and hit that area with rooting hormone.  I'm guessing that's a good place to try to develop roots?

It's a mystery.  Well, to me.
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 Some of mine have taken over the last two weeks, a few are really brown, while a lot look like they are still going to take.  

That particular cutting looks like a good bet under good condtions based on the ones that have taken so far.
 
Here is the basket which contains my first cutting to root (center).  There is another which rooted a couple days later (top).  There is another which has a growth point too small to see (left, front).  The fourth, well, it's pretty brown (right, front).  For a brown cutting, it might make it though.  
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Yeah, I just cut them and stuck them in hanging baskets outside.  Thanks, Florida!

It seems to take a long time, one.  Then, they don't all root at one time.  

That terrarium does in fact have about one inch of rain water in one end.  That happened in about 20 minutes today.  The VFTs at the other end are OK though.  I have the rocks at the other end for ballast.
 
Thanx guys!
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That was some really useful info. I'll change bags tomorrow, make a lil hole on it, and I'll cut the tip off too. I'll post some pics afterward.

Thanx,
Erick
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You can cut the tip off but really no need. Most likely it will only produce one shoot from a lateral branch anyway.
Tony
 
Hey Tony,

Though nobody ever does it this way, isn't a safe way to make cuttings to cut the growing tip off and root that, and then when a node activates on the old vine, cut that off and root, and so forth? It's slow, but I would think a node that sprouted wood root easier than normal cuttings.

Joe
 
Hi Joe,
I've never done what you described, myself. I know Bruce Bednar does. I would like to hear Tony's experience on this too!

Trent
 
  • #10
Hi Joe and Trent,

From my experience the newer tissue at the top of the vine does root faster and more successfully than older sections.  (as long as it is not so young that it is highly susceptible to rotting) They also recover faster and produce a larger plant faster since it already has a growing point vs.  waiting for a lateral node to break growth.  I also prefer this method because then you don't end up with a long rooted stem with a small rosette at the top!

I believe this is from several factors.  Younger tissue is able to dedifferentiate easier into callus and form roots vs older tissue.  And auxin is produced in the tip of the plant where the youngest leaves are growing.  A cutting from the midsection of the vine has no growing tip to produce auxin initially.  And the tissue is older and takes longer/more difficult to form callus because of the age and lower auxin levels.

When I do use cuttings from lower down I try and use rooting hormone and keep the upper most node near the soil since it is usually the upper most lateral node to form the new stem.

Tony
 
  • #11
Tony,

How much of the growing tip would you normally need to take to use it as a cutting?
 
  • #12
Had a weird thing happen. A four(ish) node cutting just started making a pitcher on an OLD WHOLE leaf over a month after I planted it. That is an exception to the general rule. I would guess, overall, that the whole leaf experiment caused two cuttings to die. The experimentation was worth it, to me anyway.

As you can see in the picture I shot, the one whole leaf cutting is lagging behind the others, and may not take. Not a good idea, but interesting.

None of my older stem cuttings took. Since the leaves were mostly yellow and I was cutting it back for vertical growth anyway, eh, not so bad or surprising.

I bet if I'd used Nick's technique some of them would have taken. I wasted them by placing a lot of the ugly stem above the peat. Don't know what my illogic was there. Photosynthesis through osmosis?

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  • #13
And, of course, by "Nick" I mean TONY!
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*SMACK!* That was my forehead. Sorry.
 
  • #14
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">One thing though, you should use a bag that is clear so the plant can still get light[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

That is unless the light source is too intense, which you can use a colored bag to shade the plants.
 
  • #15
My technique for rooting N. ventrata cuttings is as follows:

1. I take several cuttings that have 2-3 leaves each. This is done so that the cut is made closest to the bottom leaf leaving a long stem.

2. I cut half the leaves off.

3. I place the cuttings in cups of water so that there is at least one inch of water covering the bottom of the cuttings. Normally this will cover the stem and not the first leaf.

4. I check the water regularly and change as needed.

5. After 1-2 months, new roots will have formed and I then transplant the rooted cuttings into 3 inch pots. The pots are then placed in a 10 gallon terrarium under grow lights.

6. After an additional 3-4 months, there should be 2-3 new leaves with pitchers on them.

Ask Ozzy and/orTechnoracer as they each have one of my plants rooted using this method.

Hope this helps.
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