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Medium for Nepenthes cuttings


vincent

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Hi everyone,

I'll have to make some cuttings of some of my Neps soon, and I was wondering what is the best "rooting medium" for the cuttings you've succesfully used so far.

I've read about sphagnum moss (dead), living sphagnum, pure perlite...

What is the best, from your own direct experience?

And by curiosity, how did it take from the day of the cutting to the first root appearance?

Cheers

Vincent

Edited by vincent
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Hi!

Thanks to all, very usefull info.

@Rodrigo: I saw this link in the past, but I'm not really sure what is meant by "Sphagnum moss" that is described in this article. Hence my question.

@Dimitar: very interesting video. However, I did not really get the reason for leaving the cutting into water. Did you?

Edited by vincent
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@Dimitar: very interesting video. However, I did not really get the reason for leaving the cutting into water. Did you?

Yes, this affects for better rooting, in my experience. Placing the cuttings for at least 24 hours in water, help to absorb more water for easy rooting during this process.

But of course, everyone has his own way of view about this issue...

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  • 2 months later...

Hi all,

FYI, I made 2 cuttings and one air-layering using living sphagnum. The cuttings rooted in 3 weeks(!) but the air-layering did not produce any root, so I just cut it to see if it helps.

Thanks all for the advices!

Cheers

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  • 1 year later...

Hi everyone,

I had quite some succes with air-layering and with cuttings recently (in living sphagnum and in water).

 

I'm having some doubts about the kind of grey "mouldy" thing that develop around the cutting in water. See the picture (sorry, I tried to have a better one, but it's so fuzzy that it's difficult to see correctly on a pic).

For people who have experience in putting cuttings in water: do you wash that thing or you just leave your cuttings alone until it has roots, whatever happen in the mean time?

 

clipbo11.jpg

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Ive rooted quite a few cuttings in water and always get that slimy fuzzy thing. I try to change water once in awhile and then I usually rince the cutting gently. Dont know if it helps or not. Ive also had cuttings where I just leave it in water till it roots and dont cared avout the slime.

For me rooting in water is almost 100% sucess Ive tried rotting cuttings in sphagnum but that has never worked for me.

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Even though i've only been dabbling with nepenthes cuttings for less than 12 months, i've had 100% success rate so far dipping in Clonex and plonking in my usual chunky mix of orchid bark, charcoal chips, and live sphagnum. I don't split the base of the cutting, i just cut at 45 degrees. So far i've got 29 actively growing cuttings this summer, including 17 maxima's from a vine Manders sent me a few months ago. Anyone need a maxima or two ? Pleeeeease !!!! :laugh2:

Edited by Welshy
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Even though i've only been dabbling with nepenthes cuttings for less than 12 months, i've had 100% success rate so far dipping in Clonex and plonking in my usual chunky mix of orchid bark, charcoal chips, and live sphagnum. I don't split the base of the cutting, i just cut at 45 degrees. So far i've got 29 actively growing cuttings this summer, including 17 maxima's from a vine Manders sent me a few months ago. Anyone need a maxima or two ? Pleeeeease !!!! :laugh2:

You should start a nursery :D

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  • 1 month later...

has anyone tried cuttings in washed rockwool cubes?  I ask as I have some very large vines to turn into cuttings, I have hundreds of rockwool cubes and clonex by the litre.

can someone who knows their stuff give me some pointers please as all im going on is in the savage garden

regards paul

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Paul, while I've never rooted cuttings in rockwool, I can certainly see the benefit and ease of using it. I'm starting to grow Nepenthes again and going the inorganic substrate route with rockwool and epiweb cubes. I soaked a batch of Grodan cubes in RO water adjusted to pH 5.5 for about 2 hours, rinsed, then soaked again but this time in a solution of DynaGro KLN rooting hormone (an idea I got from semi-hydroponics for orchids). I drain that off as well and use it as and when I need, for both some of my orchids and all new Nepenthes acquisitions. So far the one Nep I've planted in it is growing quickly (burkei x hamata) and I'm hoping the KLN-infused rockwool is helping with root establishment and growth. Of course this probably means more work in the long run as I'll be taking full responsibility for the nutrients as it's such an inert substrate, providing fertilisers, additives and the correct pH for the majority of waterings (I haven't needed to water yet due to the random proportion of rockwool to large epiweb cubes). I will increase the proportion of epiweb for future pottings now that I've painstakingly chopped all the cubes up to match the size of the rockwool cubes in order to get a more even mixture, meaning more air and drainage. I don't know if you've seen this article but it encouraged me to pursue this method: http://www.carnivorousplants.org/cpn/articles/CPNv19n3_4p75.pdf

Cheers,

Amaury

Edited by Amori
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has anyone tried cuttings in washed rockwool cubes?

Tried once but it did not take, probably the cubes soak too much water. Anyway should work for some easy sp.

Since years i prefer to use a peat-perlite mix.

Edited by bux
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If the rock wool cubes are rotting cuttings, you just have to cut the cubes into smaller pieces.  This prevents them from holding too much water.

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Some people also make the mistake of squeezing the cubes to wring out excess water, effectively closing the open structure that they're renowned for. I would hesitate to use only rockwool for any Nepenthes but the likes of mirabilis and other tolerant swamp dwellers, hence why I mix in Epiweb cubes for highlanders. I may even attempt pure Epiweb on some plants.

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  • 2 years later...

I know this topic is quite old now but I have been trying to propagate some stem cuttings from my N. Alata since June. I tried the water method as I saw a video of it on YouTube which the guy said gave good success rates. I also don't have any sphagnum moss. However the cuttings just don't seem to want to sprout roots. The bud nodes on two of the cuttings have started to develop small leaves and are now 1cm long, so they are alive and growing, but just not growing roots. The other two are also growing nice green leaves from the cutting tip, but again no roots. I change the water occasionally, swilling off the algae like growth.

Any suggestions?  Any good alternatives to sphagnum moss for rooting cuttings? Does pure perlite work? Not really sure what the rooting medium needs: open, well drained, ...?

Up till now they have been in my greenhouse in a propagator so have had plenty of light and heat. I'm going to bring them inside soon as the night temperatures are dropping.

Thanks

20171028_155625.jpg

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