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N.miranda

Hi,

I’ve got a huge miranda and it’s doing fine in a normal room but I want to bring it down in size and make lots of cuttings.

I still have an empty terrarium I’m building for highlands. (Working on the cooling, and getting plants
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So I was wondering if placing the cuttings in the terrarium would be beneficial for them.

Current stats:
Terrarium is 160x50x50 cm
Lights: 232 wattage of florescent light. (4 tubes of 58 watt)
Temperature: Normal: ~22. With lights on: ~29
I have an ultrasonic mister installed. So humidity can be as high as I want.

So my question is:
1) Does Miranda prefer semi-lowland or –highland conditions? In other words: Are the current temperature ranges better (optimal?) than in a normal room? (No heating so cooler at night (and day too of course))
2) Also, which humidity levels should I maintain during day and night?
3) What would be the absolute best soil type for a N.miranda?
(I have supersphag and life sphag only atm)
Like I said it's doing fine already but I wanna see if absolute optimal conditions make a lot of difference.
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Any related information about this specific plant is appreciated.
 
N. Miranda seems to prefer lowland-intermediate conditions. If you're taking cuttings, then very high humidity is a necessity. Typical of most hybrids, cuttings strike easily. If you're under lights, give them a long day with warm temps, and let night temperature drop into the intermediate range- say 18 to 22 degrees C.
N. 'Miranda' is not fussy about growing media, just about any Nep mix will work. For cuttings, I use sphagnum moss. I soak it in water, and then grab a handful from the bucket, and squeeze it out like a sponge. I take the ball of moist sphagnum and wrap it around the base of the cutting. This is then placed in a 6 inch pot with all the other cuttings from the plant (3 to 4 cuttings). Your terrarium sounds ideal. Do watch out for fungus, however.

Trent
 
Thanks Trent.

So ~30 degree Celsius isn't a problem?

Oh and about the cuttings.
When you take a section that is not the original growing point on top, it will create a new (ugly) stem sideways right? I assume you cut off this piece later on when it has like 2 leaves and re-plant it separately so you have a normal cutting that grows straight up?
 
30 - 35 C is no problem during the "daylight" hours.
As for the cuttings: We cut a segment of the vine that is about three leaves in length. The leaf at the bottom of the vine segment is cut off, and the other two cut in half. We like to have at least two "eyes" or nodes, available to sprout. Sometimes both will sprout, giving you a nice sized cutting. Once they start shooting off the side of the old vine segment, we leave them alone until the new growth produces a pitcher. It then gets potted and place out on the bench in our greenhouse in a shady area to help establish the "new" plant.
The old vine segment carries the root system, so it cannot be detached from the new growth. The sideways growth always turns upward, and after a year or so, the old vine is lost in the new growth. Once the root system is large enough, you will even get ground shoots.

Trent
 
Ah ok.

Some more Q’s though:
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Why cut of the 3rd leaf?
Why cut the other two in half?
Can you see where the nodes/eyes are?
And What is the success rate of a cutting?

I understand that it’s faster to leave the new stem on the old cutting but won’t this be very ugly?
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If you re-cut and -plant the new stem it at least grows staight. (But yea.. it has to develop a new pair of roots twice... Poor guy
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We really need to get some pictures of cuttings on our website. Maybe by this weekend, if all goes well.

Why cut of the 3rd leaf?
It interferes with the sphagnum ball. If there is a leaf too buried in the sphagnum, it may rot and spread to the vine.

Why cut the other two in half?
It reduces transpiration. A full sized leaf will sap the cutting of strength.

Can you see where the nodes/eyes are?
Yes, they may be as small as a little dimple, or appear as a raised, oval nub, or even as a soft, fleshy horn-shaped growth along the main vine.

And What is the success rate of a cutting?
Our success rate runs about 90 percent. Murphy's Law often applies. The cutting that will fail is the one you've been most anxious to get to take
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We also use rooting hormones on most of our cuttings, but the more common plants like ventrata and coccinea we don't even bother. Another point to keep in mind is not to move the cuttings around. They are very sensitive to position relative to their light source. We find that if we pick up a cutting in our cutting chamber, to always place it exactly in the same position and orientation it was in before. It really can throw them off to have their orientation changed.
At first they seem a little ugly because the stump of the old vine is there, but once the plant is established, you could cut it off. We find it ends up buried for the most part, as the new plants are moved up to bigger pots or baskets. Sometimes that ugly old vine segment will push out a nice new rosette of lower traps once the plant is established.

Trent
 
Thanks for the explanations. I find it difficult doing things without knowing the exact reason why.
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I see you also already jumped onto my next line of questions about hormones...
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Which products do you recommend? Even though I don’t really need it for a Miranda I still would like to have some for future plants.
From what I’ve understood there are two hormones you can use: Root hormone (superthrive?) and something to promote new node/stem growth right...?
(And if you happen to know some websites which sell it, please tell me.)

Thanks again for the replies Trent.
 
We use 'Rootone'. I use it because it's sold where we buy our nursery supplies. I mix a small amount with water to make a paste or batter, and dip the cutting end just before I wrap the ball of sphagnum around it.
The stuff you put on the nodes is KeikiGrow. It's used for orchid propagation, but works on Nepenthes too. You apply it to the node in advance of taking cuttings to spur the plant into growing a lateral shoot. Once started, take the cutting above the new shoot, and the original plant will have a new vine started.

Trent
 
i like to snap off the growing tip, then each node is activated and grows. after they are big enough i just pop the new rosettes off from the nodes and stick them in some LFS with in the same environment from which they came.
 
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