Dying nepenthes cuttings

[Eden Marel]

I have 3 cuttings that I cut from my mother plant several weeks ago, but now the leaves are turning soft and limpy and yellowing.

What should I do?

 

[GrowinOld]

Do you think we are psychic here?

What conditions do you have them in?
What did you do to set them up to root?
What containers do you have them in? Media? Drainage?
Covers? Humidity? Lighting? Temps?

Might even be nice to know what kind of plant you are referring to!

How can anyone answer that question without knowing at least something about what you have done and what conditions they are under? While it now sounds like they are rotting, it is hard to tell how to correct the situation without knowing ANYTHING at all about what is going on!

(Didn't it even occur to you to provide SOME information?) This is like calling a doctor on the phone and saying "I feel sick! What's wrong with me?" and then expecting him to give you the right diagnosis! NO matter if he is the best doctor in the world, he can't answer your question! Unless he is also a psychic!!

Perhaps even a picture would help. Something? Maybe even knowing what kind of Nep Plant it is? Something?

 

[Lucanidae]

@GrowinOld: Eden simply asked a question, perhaps not even knowing that anything else mattered other than the fact that they were Nep cuttings (it happens). If we treat newer people like this, maybe they aren't going to come back. We need to remember that not everyone has been here long or knows as much about the subject as some of us do (I haven't even been here very long). While I can understand your frustrations, this certainly does not warrant such a post.

That said, information IS needed for us to help you out, Eden.
What media do you have the cuttings in? What are your temps, humidity, etc?
If you can provide us with info on your growing conditions, then you can rest assured knowing that we'll have better chances of saving your cuttings.

 

[Nepenthes101]

I have 3 cuttings that I cut from my mother plant several weeks ago, but now the leaves are turning soft and limpy and yellowing.

What should I do?

Hi there. I'd like to start off by asking on what species/hybrid are your nep cuttings of? Also, whats your humidity?

Another good question is what cloning gel/powder do you use? I prefer using the gel, as its much more quality than the powder. The powder just washes off during watering, while the gel stays on indefinitely. Thats why I've never even bothered to use the powder, LOL.

The brand of gels that are best are Clonex cloning gel and Olivias Cloning gel. I've used both with fantastic results.
On the media, Make sure its a well drained media. Same mix you use for all your other neps, mother plants, etc....

Also, be sure to place your cuttings in a location that has higher humidity than your mother plants, etc....

When I take cuttings, I place the cuttings in a 100 gallon aquarium under Agrosun grow lights. I also mist them to keep up the Humidity. Mixing some superthrive in the water you water and mist them with helps greatly. Thats how I rooted my Female Tenuis and Female Truncata x Aristolochioides cuttings.
Make sure to not keep the soil too moist, otherwise it can cause rot at the base of your cuttings.

I hope this will help you in your cuttings technique.

 

[lizasaur]

I can't remember the species, or what you did afterwards, but I do believe you had made a thread about this before, right? If these are THOSE cuttings, well...You mentioned using a serrated steak knife, didn't you? That's probably your problem right there. Your cuttings were too chewed up and damaged- next time use a smooth edge (i.e. razor blade or clippers), and from there, do what Nepenthes101 said.
Good luck in the future =)

 

[Eden Marel]

Ohh, sorry. I thought it was kinda like aquatic plants where if they started yellowing you start dosing Iron. Or if you started getting pin holes in the leaf it was a Potassium or CO2 problem.

But anyways, humidity, I have no clue. I don't have a humidity-meter. I put it on the low setting on my humidifier so that way the leaves aren't covered in water. Even on the lowest setting sometimes the leaves are covered in water.

I originally thought of using a serrated knife (good memory!) but I ended up using a kitchen knife that didn't cut very well, so on my other two cuttings I bought an x-acto blade kinda thing.

For rooting hormone, I used Dip N Grow liquid concentrate.

Temperature is room temp.

It's a N. ventrata.

The cut ends are wrapped and tied in Mosser Lee LFSM.

I cut them several weeks ago, but they started to get sick last weekend, around October 9.

 

[UnstuckinTime]

Something I actually learned as a horticulture intern for a botanic garden is it matters more HOW you use the rooting hormone then WHAT type you use.


A little Plant Bio 101, if I may.

Where each leaf connects to the stem is a node. Here, there are stem cells. These have the amazing power to be whatever the plant needs them to be (another shoot, roots, a flower) but obviously this is regulated by the plant. Rooting hormone, when placed on these nodes, makes the stem cells differentiate into roots.

If you put the hormone on the end that you cut, you actually stand a high chance of clogging the vascular tissue, which leads to a drying out effect, and the cutting dies. SO! (the thing I actually learned) avoid putting rooting hormone on the incision site, but rather on a node or two above it.

Hope that helps with your future cuttings!!

Cj

(P.S., I just reread and saw that you used a liquid concentrate, so my lecture probably doesnt apply quite as much... though from the picture it seems like you have very little in the ways of nodes wrapped in that moss....)

 

[Tony Paroubek]

I would just trim off those lower leaves that are starting to yellow. They are a minor concern. They look like smaller older leaves that are perhaps just dying a little prematurely due to the cutting. The problem I see is the cuttings are dessicating pretty severely. This is probably also contributing to the leaf issues. The plant is trying to reduce the leaf mass to make up for the lack of moisture.

I would do a few things. Make sure the sphagnum is nice and moist but not totally soaking wet. Trim the green leaves in half crosswise to reduce the transpiration loss. Put the cuttings into a ziplock bag and seal it up to increase your humidity.

 

[GrowinOld]

From the pictures, they don't look bad at all!

I agree with bagging or keeping the humidity up.
I am not sure why you are wrapping little bundles of LFS around the cuttings.
This is usually done when "air layering" (trying to root a vine that is still attached to the mother plant), but otherwise I have not seen it done like that at all. Even in air-layering, plastic or wet burlap is wrapped around the LFS to help keep the moisture in. Indeed it will lead to moisture loss with the LFS bundles exposed like that.

I agree, bag them or put them into pots, and then bag them anyway, to keep the humidity real high.
Or if a lot of moisture is being lost, cut half the leaf back, as moisture is lost thru the leaves,
and with no roots to make up for the lost moisture, the plant dries out before it can make roots.

As far as whether you have a node inside the LFS, only you know that as it isn't visible in the photo. If you can find a few books on propagating plants (even if not about CP's, it will help.... but indeed one on Carnivorous Plants would be perfect) at the library, it will help a lot to understand what to do, and how.

I apologize if I was rude, however I don't understand how anyone can be expected to answer questions about something, without knowing anything at all about the situation. I have seen so much of this lately that I am a bit testy about it.

The best way to learn things is by reading up and studying about it, and TF and the internet is filled with plenty of information, in case there is no library around. Learning by asking opinions is not really as good as people hope it is, as a lot of conflicting information will be presented, and it seems everyone has an opinion, even those people who haven't been growing plants long enough to understand how to do it themselves. (I believe we had a youngster here recently (banned) who did this on a regular basis.)

Well, good luck.

 

[fly-catchers]

Something I actually learned as a horticulture intern for a botanic garden is it matters more HOW you use the rooting hormone then WHAT type you use.


Where each leaf connects to the stem is a node. Here, there are stem cells. These have the amazing power to be whatever the plant needs them to be (another shoot, roots, a flower) but obviously this is regulated by the plant. Rooting hormone, when placed on these nodes, makes the stem cells differentiate into roots.

If you put the hormone on the end that you cut, you actually stand a high chance of clogging the vascular tissue, which leads to a drying out effect, and the cutting dies. SO! (the thing I actually learned) avoid putting rooting hormone on the incision site, but rather on a node or two above it.

Hope that helps with your future cuttings!!

Cj

That makes for interesting reading. I stopped using any sort of rooting powder/liquid as very few cuttings rooted. While I have had far better sucess when using nothing whatsoever. However I have had a few Neps such as my BE Species #2 that has never rooted from cuttings. So will give this idea a go when it starts to vine again.

So you just coat the node with the powder? And pot the cutting with the coated node below the surface of the compost?
Anything else you do?

cheers

bill