Rooting test
 

Well, after seeing some pictures on the web of people's successes with rooting nep cuttings in water I have decided to try it out. My usual method of cuttings in sphagnum in plastic cups with dome lids works fairly well but I find that it ends up taking up a lot of space for a few months whereas this allows me to really pack 'em in tight! I'll post again when I see signs of progress! Anybody else ever try this method? These are all N. tricocarpa, as I had a bunch of tall plants that finally leaned over and snapped! Added some other species yesterday as well.

~Shawn

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...p_IMG_2394.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...p_IMG_2395.jpg

:biggrin:

Re: Rooting test
 

Good luck with your Experiment Shawn, hope it is a sucess, I will follow soon if your's show a higher than 50% sucess rate.

I wonder if it will work or if it is better if you used an aquarium or something that has some window so you can see if there are roots forming without lifting the whole "tray"?

Also obviously you have lots of nepenthes to spare to try this out :) hehehe! I also like the photo as it shows how you do your cuttings and how you cut the leaves right down that way. Thanks for sharing.

TTFN
Arvin

Re: Rooting test
 

Interesting experiment. I'd like to see how cuttings thrown together in a jar of water compare with the setup you have.

Re: Rooting test
 

Arvinn - I don't know about the aquarium setup - some plants really need 'dark' in the rooting zone, but I know some neps can do just fine in a glass jar (see below). There doesn't seem to be much hassle lifting the styrofoam sheet out of the cooler though, for now. I cut the leaves that way as it gets too crowded otherwise and I've never really noticed any improvement in rooting by leaving more leaf.

Well JK, I did put a bunch of N. mirabilis in a jar of water to root up and they have all formed nice, black roots in less than a month. Mirabilis is kind of like marigolds here - they are so common that not many people bother with them except beginners. I like to pot them up and give 'em away to newbees as they are pretty tough and aren't such a big loss if they manage to kill em off! I also find that by giving them to nearby nurseries some of them get addicted to CP's and start stocking them! I just checked the 'test' batch yesterday and can see one small rootlet starting to form...
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...p_IMG_2672.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...p_IMG_2673.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...p_IMG_2674.jpg

:biggrin:

Re: Rooting test
 

Well,what i normally do is cut the 1.5 liter plastic botel in 1/2 then put all the cuttings inside,add rain water then re-tape the bottle.Close the bottle cap to increase the humidity.Works fine for me.I change the water every week to keep the water fresh.

Re: Rooting test
 

Okay, it's been a month as of today so here's what has happened so far;

On the 'top' side, all plants have shown good growth of new shoots from the stem itself, many with more than one growing point.

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j..._2IMG_2954.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j..._2IMG_2948.jpg

And the 'under' side;
The roots have only just started to show in the last 2-3 days but seem to be going strong right now.

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j..._2IMG_2950.jpg



http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j..._2IMG_2952.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j..._2IMG_2951.jpg

Lets see if I have to transplant them before I leave for Borneo or if they can wait!

~Shawn

Re: Rooting test
 

Nice......They root well for you..About a month and a half i too tried rooting a ventrata and now the whole stem at the bottom is full with whitish 1cm roots...After seeing this thread...It made me go out and cut one of my hookeriana basals and root it...Hope the dormant node for the main basal will activate and hope the cutting will live :)

Ken

Re: Rooting test
 

Shawn, question, did you put slits at the bottom of all the cuttings?

TTFN
Arvin

Re: Rooting test
 

Good point Arvin! I did about half of them as I wanted to see if I could see a difference. So far, it is all slit ones that have sent out roots first.

Re: Rooting test
 

Somehow i still don't get how you guys slit....I tot it was something like cut the outer layer of the stem but i'm confused..I always simply cut lol...And it mine leaves the middle stem jutting out and outer layer is cut off about 1cm..So far it doesn't make any difference :)

Ken

Re: Rooting test
 

I tried that way at first as well Ken, but I didn't see much difference either. Now I just make a slit about 1 -1.5 cm deep. Some people say to insert a little fragment of sphagnum to hold it open a bit, but I didn't bother.

Re: Rooting test
 

Thanks for the clarification Shawn, hmm, that means Slit is still a good idea, based on your experiment and other people's expereinces, including your's. Good thinking that you did half slit and half no slit.

Ken yes there are so many variations of the slit as well, I also do what you did, shave off the two sides and then put a slit, but sometimes I am just lazy and just do the slit without shaving.

Sure am itching to do a water rooting test myself, but it is so darn hot here I'm afraid for the cutting.

TTFN
Arvin

Re: Rooting test
 

Use a slit. Everything you see that is black is a root: http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/DSCN0287.jpg

Re: Rooting test
 

I guess slitting or shaving of a sliver of the stem works because both exposes the pericycle/outer vascular bundle tissue; which give rise to wound-induced adventitious root and allows it to grow out easily.

Re: Rooting test
 

Hi Shawn, are you back in Thailand? Would like to request an update on your experiment with water rooting :)

TTFN
Arvin

Re: Rooting test
 

Calling Shawn, kindly please update us on your rooting experiment. I tried to root 2 alatas as I reported, one was in cocopeat the other in pure water.... result. Both dried up and died. So unsucessful, and the result inconclusive... except that I suck at nep cutting propagation. :(

Re: Rooting test
 

Still in Nepal! I'll be back next week and will check on the progress and post pics! Don't give up! Older, thick stems seem to work quite easily but young plants tend to fail.
~
Shawn

Re: Rooting test
 

I'm rooting some cuttings in water now.Do i need to place it in a dark area?

Re: Rooting test
 

The cuttings need to be in a bright area. For me it works best under artificial lights.

Re: Rooting test
 

dark area = fungus/rot :)

Re: Rooting test
 

Ok, back from Nepal and I checked the cuttings rooting in water. The growth looks good! These were cut on March 10th and have been continuously soaking in rainwater with just the styrofoam lid blocking out the sunlight from the roots.

PS I added the photos but they don't appear in the post, only as attachments...what can I do differently direct from this site (without having to upload to photobucket?)

~Shawn

Re: Rooting test
 

Shawn, think you are one of the first Nep Hydroponics authority now. When are you planning to remove them from the foam or are you gonna leave them there and introduce some nutrient into the water.

From the first picture, no pitcher yet. Wonder if it will produce pitcher. Interesting, very interesting. Might go try later on.

Re: Rooting test
 

yep, upper growth has been great! Remember that only 2-3 of those were 'tip' cuttings - everything else was just 1/2 of one leaf or else no leaf just 4 months ago. I'll transplant as soon as I get time. Figure that I'll have to break up the styroam so I might as well give the unrooted cuttings a little more time! I have been experimenting with growing neps in Hydro-culture (as opposed to rooting them) for a while now - results seem to vary with species.
~S

Re: Rooting test
 

Hi Shawn......They don't even look like cuttings at the 1st pic...Looks like a normal healthy plant...Anyways how often do you change the water???? Do you change the water???

Re: Rooting test
 

It's terrible to admit but... I just let the rain overflow it and always topped it up with hose during dry spells! These in the photos are almost all N. trichocarpa with possibly a few N. tricho x kuchinensis

Re: Rooting test
 

I am now a convert to rooting Nep cuttings in water -- at least until I try it. Thanks for documenting your experiment in photos, Shawn.

Re: Rooting test
 

Hi JK, well I used to do all my cuttings in sphagnum in plastic cups with domed lids...but I usually only got about 50% to root and they took up a lot of space and required regular checking up on. This was the easiest, most successful and compact batch of rooting cuttings I've done - there are about 40-50 separate plants in that one Styrofoam cooler! It did take a little longer but I think that will be made up for by not disturbing the roots when I transplant them. Good luck!
~Shawn

Re: Rooting test
 

Well i cut off a little vine from my ventrata today and atempting to root it in water.....I just place normal drinking water in a transparent cup and place the cutting in..I've tried rooting my ventrata in pure peat/perlite and its now pitchering..

Re: Rooting test
 

Ken, would like to comment on your rooting experiment in transparent cup. I recon roots are photophobic (dont' like light). So I would suggest you put it in a "Non-transparent" cup. 2 cents worth.

Re: Rooting test
 

Ow......Okay thanks for the info BA....Sooo....okays i shall figure out something..

Re: Rooting test
 

Shawn, thanks for updates, just saw these posts....

1. If you want the photos to show up, I think best to not uplaod through the forum, but through free sites like photobucket or flicker, then just post the link as image links. If I remember correctly you were able to do it before haven't you?

2. I found the photos very funny, because one thing I remember from Elementary school is when the class was asked to draw the parts of the plants, I used a ruler as I am bad at drawing, and so the roots were straight just like in the photo that you posted. I actually didn't get a 100% mark though I got all the parts correctly labelled, when I asked the teacher, she said that roots are not stiff like that. That made me sad and I still can't forget it. I'd like to track her down and show her that photo and ask her for a 100% score :)

3. I think that water rooting probably is species dependent, we should try a similar expereiment that you did with other species and make a database of which species actually roots nicely with your water rooting system.

I suspect, just a hunch of course, that species that like wet roots will do very well with this system, compared to the epiphytes or those that live in well drained medium.

4. As I mentioned I tried 1 alata cutting (tip of the vine to boot) in water, but died after only a week, also must mention that the bottle was clear also, so yeah even if it rooted the roots might have not been happy with the light as Bactrus mentioned.

TTFN
Arvin

Re: Rooting test
 

Wow! this area is very informative. I learned so much here. Thanks guys for sharing all your knowledge in propagating this plants.

Just a question, did anyone put any chemicals on the water like growth hormone or fungicide?

Re: Rooting test
 

Some1 try root hormon at water, and he got a good result from that. And it really help to increase the speed of "root forming"

Re: Rooting test
 

Honey!