Nepenthes cuttings.

[daan]

Thanks for sharing the foto's. i have learned a lot today.

daan

[Richard Hole]

Hi Shawn

Thanks for sharing the photos. With your water rooted cuttings is that white material polystyrene foam or Coolite that is commonly found in packaging?

I assume that you punch small holes in it to push the cutting through and use the polystyrene foam to support them. Is that correct?

Your help is appreciated,
Regards Richard.

[shawnintland]

Hi Richard, Yep, plain old styrofoam. I use a pencil to punch a hole through it. If you cut the styrofoam just a tiny bit smaller than the water container it floats in, it moves freely up or down with the water volume. Later you may have to break away the styrofoam to avoid damage to the roots when you want to transplant them, but hey, it's cheap and abundant anyway. The water rooting seems to be much slower than media rooting with some species but has the advantage that you can easily lift it up to check on progress and you can pretty much just forget about them for weeks/months at a time without worrying. Good Luck!
~Shawn

Originally Posted by Richard Hole

Hi Shawn

Thanks for sharing the photos. With your water rooted cuttings is that white material polystyrene foam or Coolite that is commonly found in packaging?

I assume that you punch small holes in it to push the cutting through and use the polystyrene foam to support them. Is that correct?

Your help is appreciated,
Regards Richard.

[Richard Hole]

Hi Shaun and those interested,



Do you have the cuttings outside in a greenhouse and do you have clear plastic over the tray to build up humidity? How much shade or light do you give them?



Have you or anyone you know ever included the broken up polystyrene foam in the potting mix for Nepenthes or other carnivorous plants and if so, do the plants grow well with it? I have heard it can produce a toxic gas and break down in sun so I would like to know if anyone has successfully used it for years.


Your help will be appreciated,
Regards Richard.

[shawnintland]

Hi again,
The box is inside my shade house sitting on the ground. It gets misted automatically a couple times a day along with everything else.The shade cloth is about 60% over the entire building.
I generally hate styrofoam aesthetically so have never used it in my media. I have bought plants (orchids and an occasional nep) where it is in the media but I usually transplant them immediately.

[marvin1997]

Shawn you're "mass producing" them in the traditional way!

[arvin555]

One thing Richard, is you have to be careful, I am not sure where Tolga Australia is, but I imagine you are in a temperate region/climate and Shawn and the rest of us are in Tropical climates, so when it comes to humidity, etc. or lack of additional precautions about humidity, be careful, you might have a way more drier and cooler climate than we do.

That said, even in tropical climate like Shawn's Kho Samui, he has this nice automatic mysting system. I don't have those, and even though relatively humid in my area, I do still put some of my cuttings in a humidity bag or something I use 2 liter pet bottles (softdrink) cut to make a tall humidity dome.

TTFN
Arvin