Flowering neps?
 

Hi everyone,

I was wondering.Will cutting the basals and pitchers of a nep will force it to flower?

Well,i'm doing this to my ventrata now and seems the leaves are getting longer and the stems are getting thicker too.:1thumbup:

The plant is now 2 foot in height and still no flower.:glare:

Thanx!

Re: Flowering neps?
 

Ali,
Why rush things?? From my personal experience, induced flowering due to strees or using hormones/chemicals will only produce weak flowers especially on female. The seed pods produced this way will usually be smaller in size and might dry out even before it's ripe.

I don't have any exprience with pollen obtained using induced method, perhaps somebody have tried it before and can comment about the viability of those pollen? Thanks.

Anyway, flowering takes a lot of energy out of neps and it'll need time to recuparate properly from the stress.

Re: Flowering neps?
 

Rob,

I know neps do consume a lot of energy if they want to flower.So cutting the basals,side shoots and pitchers will help them save energy and finally flower.

What do you think?

Re: Flowering neps?
 

But no photosynthesis?

Re: Flowering neps?
 

Photosyntesis is done by the chlorophylls in the leaves and not the pitchers Marvin.

Re: Flowering neps?
 

IMHO induced flowering will weaken the plant and the seeds/pollen will probably be weak hence low germination rate. Just remember in nature, nep flower when the condition is ideal for factors like weather, health and maturity of the plant.

If the plant is not ready in the first place, by cutting away the pitchers, side shoots and basals, you actually cut down the nutrient intake of the plant even they still can photoynthesis. Be patient, when the plant is ready to flower, it will if the condition is right.

In the wild, in certain locality, I had seen N. ampullaria climb all the way up the forest canopy (~3-4m in height) before it flowered.

Re: Flowering neps?
 

Hi Ali.. Since we are in the topic of flowers...Hows your female gracilis doing??? Are the pods swelling??

Re: Flowering neps?
 

Still no sign on that Ken as this is my first attemp.I did correctly though.I will keep you updated.

Re: Flowering neps?
 

N. ventrata plants are nearly weeds as it is, and they will flower profusely when they're ready. You can fertilize them with a high phosperous (the third number in a fertilizer, NPK) fertilizer such as "Blosson Booster". You can also let the long stems hang over the sides of the pot so they hang down below their root ball. This will almost force basal growth. Some species seem to be more difficult to get to flower than others, and require a shift in temps combined with a change in daylength (photoperiod), but N. ventrata is not very difficult. Mine used to flower during spring. - Rich

Re: Flowering neps?
 

Thanx Rich.

Re: Flowering neps?
 

Rich,
Did you ever induce stress or use chemicals to force nepenthes to flower? If so, how viable are the pollen and seed pods?? I'm interested to find out... Thanks.

Re: Flowering neps?
 

I never used any plant hormones, or deliberately induced any stress to force them into flowering. I found that the seasonal shift in temps and day length was usually enough to get them to produce flowers for me anyway, provided that the plants were mature enough, and well rooted. They also seem to respond well to some fertilizers, especially those high in the middle number (phosphorous), and with trace minerals, (and those without urea) when the plants are in full growth. Fertilizing them when they're resting, or recovering from transplant shock and stressed is dangerous, and may even kill them. The seed was always very strong and viable, especially the N. ventrata.

This year, I put the N. ventricosa (porcelain form) outside in full direct sunlight for the early part of the morning by my driveway, nestled in the lawn after the risk of frost was gone, some time in late April. I just took it inside, and stuffed this monster inside a 4 foot long chamber in my basement nearly all by itself, (where it will spend the winter under lights at a 14 hr photoperiod), and noticed that one of the 2 foot-long stems is producing a flower spike! This is the first time I have ever seen this plant flower! I hope I can get some pollen of perhaps N. veitchii or some other wide peristome Nepenthes to pollinate it! It would be even better if I got some pollen of another N. ventricosa just like this one, which can produce pitchers about a foot tall! I wonder if the full spectrum of direct sunlight (without any glass) may have given the plant some wavelength in enough intensity to induce flowering. In all the years (about 50+ years!) that Longwood Gardens has grown this plant under glass (some really huge monster plants too!) and myself and others who has grown this plant for well over 20+ years, and let the stem grow up to about 6 ft or so, it refused to flower for us, until now! - Rich

Re: Flowering neps?
 

Rich,
Thanks for your insights into flowering neps. Glad to know your N. ventricosa (porcelain form) finally flowered after so many years... In nature, most wild neps will flower when exposed (the vining part) to direct sunlight, perhaps mother nature is still the best teacher? :biggrin: