New Nepenthe Growth

[maryplainjane]

A couple weeks ago my Nepenthes fell in my pool as a heavy hailstorm pushed it in. It sat at the bottom of my pool for 30-40 minutes until I got home from work to fish it out. I had to clean its roots with distilled water and repot it in new soil. Over the past weeks it hasn't shown any signs of dying but instead I looked a bit closer at it today and noticed it had a little baby growing in it. Is this because of the trauma and stress it has gone through or some other reason because I cannot explain this.

 

[Cthulhu138]

Perfectly normal and more than likely has nothing to do with it's dunk in the pool. Unless of course the growth point was damaged as that will usually coax the plant into producing a basal shoot.

 

[maryplainjane]

Perfectly normal and more than likely has nothing to do with it's dunk in the pool. Unless of course the growth point was damaged as that will usually coax the plant into producing a basal shoot.

So Nepenthes typically grow more clones like this, or is it a basal shoot?

 

[Cthulhu138]

This is a basal shoot.

 

[maryplainjane]

Oh okay, does that mean I'll have to discard its bigger form?

 

[Clue]

Oh okay, does that mean I'll have to discard its bigger form?

While some say that basal growths sap the main vine of energy and will use the main vine for cuttings, I haven't found it to be a problem in more mature, healthy, or hardy Nepenthes (like Ventrata).

 

[Dexenthes]

Just a basal forming. It is essentially a clone of the main plant. You can keep the main growth and the basal, or when the basal is big enough you can trim it off and try and root it to make a separate plant. I wouldn't be surprised if the plant made the basal because of its little escapade with the pool - but they do make them frequently even when they don't go for a swim.