Establishing N. bellii

[Rob-Rah]

I know this is reputedly hard to establish from bare root, but does anyone know how long approximately it takes? Are we talking weeks, months or years?

I have had mine for a couple of months and it's still sitting there, lower leaves shrivelled, static. Do I rejoice that it's not dead, or should I have expected growth by now if it's not a goner?

Thanks.

[swords]

Does it still have roots?

Your statement that it "just sits there" makes me believe that the roots likely rotted off (or there are roots and they are dead) and you have simply a bare stalk under the soil. What kind of soil is it in? I only use large cut pieces of sphagnum moss and almost 50% fine orchid bark so the soil dries out faster and is full of air. Peat based soils rot plants in my growing conditions.

If you unpot it and see that dead roots / no roots is the case then here's what I do:

cut away at the farthest tip of the blackened underground stem until you see some clean white flesh inside. The white flesh is healthy so cut off all the blackened stem around that white flesh. If there is no white flesh anywhere in the stem underground then you will need to remove the underground stem completely. You will then remove some lower leaves on the above ground stem and prepare it as a cutting and root that. I've had this happen with an N. lowii and an N. inermis who for some reason didn't dry out as fast as they should have. After this treatment they are doing fine now.

After you've cleaned the blackened part off or prepared the above ground stem as a cutting, then wrap the rootless stem in long fibered sphagnum. Stuff the wad of sphagnum tightly into a small seedling pot. You want it tight so that the plant does not wobble in the hole when the pot is picked up. This helps make a strong root system.

While the plant is not actively growing (putting out new leaves) water it only half or even a third as often as the other plants so that the new roots do not rot like the last set. Be sure to mist the leaves on the rootless plant every day or two so that it can absorb enough water to stay alive until it develops new roots. Once the plant has produced 2 or 3 new leaves you can assume there was also some root growth as well and can begin to increase watering as normal. Leave in small seedling pot until the plant is slightly rootbound, this will ensure that you do not overwater again while the plant is small.

I hope that helps!