Nepenthes flowering

[monkeyman]

I was thinking, you know how when you want a
Pineapple Plant to flower you seal it in a bag with a ripe apple.
I was thinking this might work with other bromeliads like tillandsia. But then I thought I might try this on my Nepenthes
just to see if it would work. I haven't tried it yet and I really don't think it will work but if it does you'll definately be hearing from me. Do you think this will work? Why or why not?
Have you tried this before? What about on other CP?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Tim]

The chemical involved is ethylene. It's used in agriculture for lots of things. It is primarily used as an aging agent. So, if you have table grapes that aren't turning black or red enough, you spray on ethylene to hasten the cell breakdown which releases the colouring chemicals in the plant.

With bromeliads, including pineapples and tillandsia, it's the same thing, you speed up the aging process, which brings it into flower sooner.

Let us know what happens. Any fruit will work, bananas are nice, as are apples.

 

[lithopsman]

SCIENCE PROJECT!

 Sounds like alot of fun, but sadly I can't say anything that hasn't been said...

Sorry, I know I don't help, but please post the results, you could really change CP horticulture!

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Vagabond]

You could also try grafting a leaf from a flowering plant onto a non-flowering plant, supposedly that works for tobacco flower induction. I know neps gon't graft well but you probably don't need a long term graft, just a short term chemical transfer.

Also water stress might be a helpful factor, but be careful with something like a Nepenthes.

Andrew