Expert: Christopher Littrell - 4/18/2011

Question
How do I reproduce this plant.  Thank you.

Answer
Hello Sharon,

Nepenthes require cross-fertilization to produce seeds as they are divided into male and female sexes like figs. You would have to know which sex your plant is by looking at its flowers, when and if it flowers, and then hope that you can find a plant of the same or similar species to cross-pollinate with it and that just so happens to be flowering at the same time.

An easier method would be to wait for the plant to reach a large enough size, when its vines are out to one to two foot length, and then to take cuttings of about 8 inch lengths from the vines. Ensure each cutting is made between leaves and that several leaves are on each cutting. You can place the cuttings in an opaque vase of mineral free water and just wait a month or two until they root, then pot them in Nepenthes soil. You can also just pot the cuttings in moist soil and wait for them to root, but you would need to ensure they are watered enough to keep them moist or they will dehydrate easily.

There are up and down sides to each method, but the cutting method is generally the fastest and easiest way to go. The cuttings will take some work as sometimes a cutting will grow a long brown vine with a single green nepenthes sprout at the end or may grow several sprouts from above each leaf. The good thing is that after some work and several cuttings made from the cuttings, you can eventually end up with one or more nice looking young plants that are growing from ground level. Another up side is that your adult Nepenthes will bush out more and grow more vines as a result of taking cuttings from it. Each leaf has a growth node above it that will activate when the end of the vine is cut or when the plant has reached a maximum growth potential in a particular vine. That growth node will develop into a new vine. Often Nepenthes activate lower growth nodes near ground level after they reach a particular age or size, however; upper growth nodes will activate when a vine tip is damaged as with taking a cutting.

Christopher