Expert: Christopher Littrell - 4/9/2009

Question
I have two nepenthes, 5- and 4-year-old plants. Both have healthy new leaves and pitchers at the ends of their long stems, but leaves near the base are brown and the stems themselves are developing a "woody" look. Any other plant, I'd take stem cuttings from the new growth, root and repot. Can I do this with nepenthes? I've been unsuccessful so far.

Answer
Hello Chris,

You can clip the brown leaves off and look for new vines to grow from the bases of each plant. You can prune the plants to expidite the procedure and place the cuttings in an opaque vase of water under the same lighting as the parent plants. I have successfully rooted some cuttings in this way, but it can take over a month to do so.

Clip 8-12 inch sections of vine and clip off the pitchers. Remove some of the leaves on a basal section of vine to place in a vase. Sarracenia Northwest suggests cutting the remaining leaves in half as that reduces loss of water while the vine sections grow new roots. I tried this method with two vine sections and one rooted in 3 months and is now potted on its own while the second is still alive in the vase, growing new leaves, yet possesses no roots as yet. Another section I simply clipped off the parent plant with no alterations to its leaves or pitchers and planted it in the Nepenthes mix near the parent vine. That section wilted and looked half dead for months, however; recently began growing again. It takes months, but according to species, most Nepenthes can be grown from clippings. Some species may take longer than others and some may only produce new roots a small percent of the time. In any event, it is well worth the time and effort, which is virtually nil to keep themn in a simple vase for a few months and check for roots every few weeks. Make sure to leave the parent vines plenty of leaves and pitchers to continue photosynthesizing capturing insects with. The parent vines will grow new vines eventually.

Christopher