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lesthegringo

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Was in a local plant nursery who occasionally do some CP's, and they didn't have much - until I looked up and saw a very large N Alata. I assumed it was for display only but when I asked, they wanted AUS$150 for it (about 80 quid)

 

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It has over 20 growing points, it's well over 8 foot across all intertwined. Getting it home wasn't easy, but trust me I wasn't going to leave it there.

 

I will probably do some aerial cuttings of the growing points at the back, I can easily get ten cuttings without making the plant look any smaller, and probably can separate out some basal shoots as well. I've never had a nepenthes that was so crowded, and am not sure whether they benefit from thinning out, so would happily accept feedback from everyone.

 

It looks great in my greenhouse, and although it shows some signs of not being properly cared for in the nursery, I think it will perk up and look pretty amazing in a couple of months. Winter is on us (5 degrees outside this morning) but I'll be installing a thermostatically controlled fan heater this weekend to ward off extreme temperatures at night, so hopefully we'll see some nice growth

 

Les

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Wow, that's massive! I reckon you could split that down, grow the cuttings on, get your money back by selling the cuttings, and still have a large plant at the end!

 

Good find  :dance4:

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It's certainly a thought.

What amuses me is that I had been looking for an Alata here in Aus and had not found one. It was the first type I ever got, my (then future) mother in law brought it home for me from her local market when I lived in Brazil, after me describing what they were to her. She told me that she had seen them, and of course being the sceptic that I am just humoured her. When she presented me with a plant that had 6 inch pitchers on it, I was gobsmacked.

Obviously when I left there I had to give them all away, but fondly remembered it and wanted to get one for sentimental value. After all the looking around, to find this monster by accident was so ironic!

Anyway, this weekend the cutters and sphagnum will be in action! Look out for stupid questions about propagating cuttings in the 'propagation' section

Les

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Anyway, this weekend the cutters and sphagnum will be in action! Look out for stupid questions about propagating cuttings in the 'propagation' section

You've probably already seen it, but there was some great advice given to me in this thread recently. Whilst not as directly useful (got sidetracked into a discussion on growing sphagnum moss), this thread also had some useful info.

 

Hope these help. Don't forget to let us know how you get on. And don't forget pictures, we like pictures (yes Welshy, that was your line!)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Right guys, took the advice above and have hacked away at my new Alata. Without apparently making any difference to the size of the plant, here are 11 cuttings from it, all nestling in live sphagnum.

 

I didn't get very technical with this, just made an oblique cut across the stem about an inch from the leaf below so that the very faint dormant growing point is on it, and left three leaves per cutting. The bottom leaves were cut back almost to the stem, while the other two were cut in half. The resultant cuttings were then thrust rather unceremoniously into the live sphagnum trays, which is how you see them in the photos.

 

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This approach worked perfectly for some Dionaea leaf pullings, so I'm reasonably confident it will be OK here. The sphagnum gets misted every day so never dries out. I'll probably leave them undisturbed for three months before even looking to see if they have rooted, the humidity is very high so I will only watch out for the tops dying back, and look for signs of the dormant bud developing.

 

In addition, my N. Maxima X Sibuyanensis is the subject of a trial of air layering.

 

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At five separate points along the green part of the stem, I've made cuts that I have then wrapped live sphagnum around, then wrapped some cling film loosely around that. Again, I'll leave it a few months before checking it out, but at worst nothing happens, at best I should get five new rooted plants. On the basis of the really nice looking ten inch lower pitchers this plant has given me, these cuttings will fill the greenhouse with some great fast growing plants.

 

Not that I need any more plants of course, even though I do have the newer big greenhouse. At least, that's what I was thinking.... Oh, come on, you all know the next bit, it's happened to you all as well......

 

Exotica Plants, who have supplied me with the majority of my beautiful Nepenthes, sent me an e-mail advising of some 'clearance' plants where only one of each was available, and here's a link, and by the way the photos are of the actual pitchers on the actual plants and....

 

So here are my new new additions.

 

N. Spathulata X Tiveyi,

 

20160617_131929_zpsr9beh0sf.jpg N. Ve

SPATHTRIV_zpsb89bizxl.png

 

N. Vetchii Bario

 

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VEITCHII_zpsfsnbwvoi.png

 

N. Maxima X Lowii,

 

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N. Truncata X (Lowii X Spectabilis)

 

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and N. Truncata X (Ventricosa X Trusmadensis). The pitchers are about 25 cm tall

 

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TRUNCSUMATR_zps2gcfu28p.png

 

Geoff at Exotica Plants threw in the Maxima X Lowii for free, such a nice guy to deal with, and their plants are always a good size.

 

So, there you have it. I didn't need more plants, so following that logic I made potentially sixteen more from cuttings and got five more. I think I need therapy.

 

Les

Edited by lesthegringo
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So, there you have it. I didn't need more plants, so following that logic I made potentially sixteen more from cuttings and got five more. I think I need therapy.

Join the club! I think we're all like that!

 

Please keep us posted on how the cuttings go. I decided to leave mine right now, as the upper leaves are producing loads of new pitchers, and it seems a shame to chop them off. I'll wait a bit and enjoy the new growth before hacking away at it.

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The Maxima X Sibuyanensis seems to have stopped producing the upper pitchers on the vine, which is why I decided to give it a go. The first upper (probably intermediate in truth) pitchers were big, probably 8 or 9 inches, but later ones started to get smaller and smaller until they stopped appearing. They are beautifully formed pitchers but the last ten leaves have not developed the embryo pitchers past the point of being little brown stubs. On the basis that the plant has another really strong growing point putting out some whopping great fantastically coloured lower pitchers, I thought it was a good trade off.

 

Just hope the temperatures are OK for developing the cuttings

 

Les

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  • 1 month later...

It's been two months since making the cuttings and I'm here to report... well, nothing really. None of the cuttings look even the slightest bit different, there are no growing buds from the dormant points, and there are no roots growing on the cuttings. That goes for the arial cuttings too. Going to leave it, obviously, but a little surprised to see absolutely no change.

 

I'll give another update in a month or so

 

Les

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  • 2 months later...

Bit of a more positive update today, at least when it comes to the Alata cuttings. I'll have get photosclater but all the cuttings that are not growing tip cuttings have growth from the axillary buds, about half an inch to an inch long depending on the cutting. I haven't exposed the root area of the cuttings yet, I'm in no hurry and don't want to rink them through rash action.

The two cuttings that were from the growing tips are still alive and apparently well, however no new growth is yet evident. Again,  I'll just leave them to it and see how they go. I suspect the lower winter temperature was a factor in the slow growth of the cuttings, we are heading into spring here now so maybe the growth rate will take a hike.

As for the Maxima x sibuyanensis arial cuttings,  nope, it was a failure. However as I  mentioned above, I didn't affect the main plant so some nice upper pitchers are forming.

Will get some pics to put on here later

 

Les

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