From basal or from tissue?

[fdfederation]

This N. Ventricosa 'Red' arrived bare root last week. It is potted in a 4 inch diameter pot. I forgot to take a picture of the roots, but can someone discern whether it came from a basal or was grown from tissue? There are 4 growth points. Also, when would I be able to make divisions?

 

[PsychoSarah]

You can make divisions when it starts to have vines. Although that is a lot of basals for such a small plant. My guess would be tissue culture or seed grown, cuttings from basals or vines have a sort of older look to them.

 

[hcarlton]

You can't really divide a Nepenthes, since they are all one plant with one root system. You would have to make cutting and root them into new plants.

 

[Whimgrinder]

If you purchased this plant from a well-known retailer, it's almost guaranteed that you've acquired the Borneo a Exotics 'red' clone which is always produced via tissue culture. It's irrelevant, really, how the plant was propagated before you got it; the vast majority of species available in commerce were propagated in vitro.

It would be wise to leave the plant untouched for at least six months before you take a cutting (what's the hurry?) so that it may properly acclimate to your growing conditions. Nepenthes take quite a while to settle in to a new environment, especially if that's a typical household windowsill, for example.

 

[fdfederation]

Thanks for the knowledge!

 

[Bio]

Due to the weedy and excessive growth points, this is definitely from TC. If you want, you could take basal cuttings, the equivalent of division for Nepenthes, though those basals should be allowed to get a bit bigger first.

 

[PsychoSarah]

Yeah, I thought it looked weird that such a little plant would have that many basals.