Small Nepenthes with two basals--how to proceed, if at all?

[RandyS]

I was at the California Coast today (Half Moon Bay) and picked up a little Nepenthes at one of my favorite nurseries, Half Moon Bay Nursery. The plant originated from a well known carnivorous plant nursery about a mile down the road. I was also there, and probably saved a dollar or two.

Here's what HMBN's carnivorous plant display looked like:



They were selling N. ventricosa, N. Bill Bailey, and N. Vivid Machine (Nepenthes (veitchii × platychila) "MT" × maxima "Tentena") for $16.50 in 3 inch pots. They also had some nice B52 VFTs for the same price.

How many VFT plants is this??

I left with one of the Nepenthes Vivid Machine:


The small plant already has two basals, which are of significant size relative to the original rosette. They seem to originate at the level of the medium or below.

From both sides:






How should I proceed?

1) Let the plant grow, and just get a bushy plant?
2) Consider removing one (or both) of the basals once the plant gets larger?
3) Remove a basal now (which one)?

Beyond those basic questions, I'm curious about a number of things. Does the plant possibly have an increased tendency to produce basals? Will the basals inhibit growth of the main rosette (or vice versa)? Related: will the 3 growths crowd each other too much? Will removing basal(s) lead make the plant more likely to produce more? Would survival of a removed basal at this size/stage be high?

I'm pretty aggressive about propagating new plants, but if there are sufficient reasons not to I can certainly let this grow.

 

[RandyS]

I’ve rooted Nepenthes cuttings many times, but never removed a basal shoot.

 

[Tigerscott79]

maybe leave til bigger if wish to root but if same rooted plant (2 basals) on a cutting most energy will still go into main root so i would leave it personally . if one grows better faster later can always use it as rooting material

 

[RandyS]

maybe leave til bigger if wish to root but if same rooted plant (2 basals) on a cutting most energy will still go into main root so i would leave it personally . if one grows better faster later can always use it as rooting material

No growth really dominates. Here's the approximate length in cm of the largest leaf in each rosette: original rosette: 4cm, largest basal: 3.5 cm, smaller basal: 3 cm. It's hard to measure diameters as everything overlaps so much.

 

[Grey Moss]

I usually leave them. But if the main plant is impeding the growth of the basals I like to cut that and let the basals take over

 

[RandyS]

I decided to removed the largest basal, for a few reasons:

I decided I had a "spare" if it didn't make it.

I've never tried propagating from basals before.

The plant was just moved to "out of stock" on the seller's website.

I removed it by hand, it was pretty easy. It came with minimal roots, so I imagine it will be straightforward to establish.



I potted it up in sphagnum in a 2 1/2 inch pot:

 

[RandyS]

And here's what the remaining original plant looks like. The other basal is on the left.

 

[RandyS]

These have been growing 3 months now and look great. I don't have a photo of the original plant, but it also looks fine.

I forgot to add that I went ahead and removed both basals at about the same time.

I don't know which of the original basals these are:

 

[bluemax]

Congrats! 3 plants are better than one.