35 replies to this topic

[AntsGodzilla]

Here's a sarracenia root cutting that I recently planted.

 

Edited by AntsGodzilla, December 10 2024 - 12:55 PM.

[rptraut]

Hello AntsGodzilla;

 

Nice work!    What have you used as a planting medium?

RPT

[AntsGodzilla]

Hello, I use a mix of perlite, professional grade peat moss, and new Zealand long-fiber sphagnum moss.

[rptraut]

Hello AntsGodzilla;

I sometimes add a bit of coarse granite sand, but otherwise I use the same mix.
RPT

[AntsGodzilla]

Nice! I'll have to try that sometime. 

[antsriondel]

Couldn't resist a few more pictures.

 

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Pitcher plants in my greenhouse catch any escapee ants as well as any wild ants that might have raiding on their mind.

 

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There's a great amount of diversity in colours and shapes of Venus flytraps making them even more interesting to grow.

RPT

Wow, pitcher plants in windows to catch unwanted bugs is such a good idea! Might be something I look into doing.

[rptraut]

Hello antsriondel;

Those pitcher plants were in my greenhouse where I kept a Campononotus colony. Wild ants kept wandering around the area and I worried they might find a way to invade my colony. Pitcher plants are ant catching specialists so it was a natural way to reduce their numbers and it worked a charm. Plus, I didn’t have to feed those plants all summer!
RPT

[AntsGodzilla]

Here is my newly made terrarium! I will still be touching up on some thing, so let me know what you think!

 

[ANTdrew]

Nice! Adding some springtails would be a nice touch.

[rptraut]

Hello AntsGodzilla;

 

Nice planting, did you grow all those seedlings yourself?    

RPT

[AntsGodzilla]

Hello, most of these plants are tissue-culture with only one or two of the fly-traps being seed grown.

[AntsGodzilla]

I got the idea from rptraut to grow C.Ps next to my ants, so please welcome nepenthes ventrata!

 

Edited by AntsGodzilla, December 20 2024 - 12:26 PM.

[MyrmecologyMaven]

I used to have a lot of carnivorous plants. Back a few years ago I had a highland nepenthes grow tent with rare nepenthes species like edwardsiana (seed grown horticultural specimen from Jeff), villosa (BE clone, and BCP clone), macrophylla (BCP clone), hamata (3 different localities), rajah (BCP clone), Aristolochioides (Seed grown specimen from Jeff), Lowii (Seed grown specimen from Jeremiah Harris), and more less notable species. My automatic system broke down during a trip and all of them dried out and died. One malfunction in my watering system and years of growing rare expensive nepenthes gone. I'm a little traumatized from that experience so I only keep lowlanders on my windowsill now. I also have a nice collection of Mexican pinguicula and I used to grow lots of sarracenia and flytraps before they got killed in an awful 115f heatwave this summer (bummer). Besides Carnivorous plants I keep a lot of cacti and succulents. I have a large collection of South African mesembs (hobby nickname for aizoaceae because the old family name was mesembryanthema), and geophytes (winter growing bulbs that die back during the warm months). 

[rptraut]

How I Propogate Nepenthes Pitcher Plants

 

Nepenthes are tropical pitcher plants that grow well if given adequate rainwater, heat, light and humidity.   

 

 

 

 

Mine do well under my grow lights where I have humidity trays of wet wood chips.    They grow as a vine; the leaf extensions wrap around any available support before they make a pitcher.   Once established they can grow two or three feet long and can soon overwhelm a plant stand.

 

 

 

 

 

Mine eventually grow so long that it's possible to take cuttings and produce new plants.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

To prepare these cuttings I cut sections of the stem that contain three or four nodes (the swollen parts of the stem that leaves emerge from) and cleaned the leaves off the bottom two nodes.   I cut the leaves on the remaining top nodes by half to two thirds.   This reduces evaporation from the leaves and reduces moisture stress through the rooting process.   Rooting hormone speeds up rooting as does bottom heat and bright light.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

To root the cuttings, I place them in a lidded terrarium in soil which is a mix of chopped sphagnum moss, peat moss, perlite, vermiculite and granite sand.    I moisten the soil mix enough that it contains all the water the cuttings will require to root.    Soil won't dry very quickly in this closed system, so watering isn't usually required until the cuttings are growing.    Water carefully to reduce the chances of waterlogging which can lead to molds and root rot.   Propping open the lid, or removing the lid completely, is usually beneficial as the plants grow to accustom them to lower humidity air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cuttings may take a month or more to root and produce their first stem from the axle of the top leaf.    They grow very slowly at first and won't outgrow a terrarium very quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the cuttings are adequately rooted, they can be repotted into a larger container where I usually put two or three plants together.   To keep humidity high, I often put these new transplants in a plastic bag.   They should only be watered with rainwater, and they're natural ant catchers.   They'll benefit from a diet of ants and mine enjoy being outside or in the greenhouse in the summer where they can catch all the ants they like.   They're also great at catching any accidental ant escapees so I keep a couple in my workshop too.   

Enjoy your time.

RPT

 

 

 

 

 

 

[OhNoNotAgain]

Funny, just read up on Nepenthes bicalcarata and its mutualistic association with Colobopsis schmitzi, with C. schmitzi even dumpster diving ... I mean pitcher diving for things like mosquito larvae.

 

And since it appears I never commented on this thread, I have the easy-to-keep-on-a-windowsill collection of Drosera capensis (been so many years they have blown through their substrate and I need to repot them) and Mexican Pings that (if provided enough artificial light) don't go succulenty. Outdoors I have a single pot of random Dionaea.

 

Here's Pings de-succulenting on my windowsill. This winter I saw the Cal-Carn Red starting to succulent while it was still doing poorly, so I pointed my LED lights at it ... and it went back to normal. So this winter it hasn't gone succulent at all. It needed help after flowering (have a separate video about the flower) ... the flower really took a lot out of the poor Ping.

 

Edited by OhNoNotAgain, January 13 2025 - 2:04 PM.

[MyrmecologyMaven]

How I Propogate Nepenthes Pitcher Plants

 

 

Very nicely written post! I have a few things I would like to add!

 

1. The woody part of the stem almost never roots, better to just leave it for basal shoots

 

2. Try to let the fresh cuttings sit overnight to allow the wounds to dry a little. This reduces the chances of getting rot.

 

3. Remember, some nepenthes species do not like to be propagated from cuttings. A lot of highlanders will just rot and never attempt to produce roots.

 

And a little note on nepenthes care. If one of you sees this and goes out to buy a nepenthes make sure to understand the temperature requirements! I have seen it over and over, beginners going online and buying a pitcher plant that isn't suited to their climate. Use this interactive guide to find out what temperatures your nepenthes needs to thrive https://tomscarnivor...eractive-guide/

 

If anyone has any nepenthes related questions feel free to pm me! I have a lot of nepenthes growing experience