- How to take cuttings from the pitcher plant
- Proper care of the offshoots
- Growing offshoots from seed requires a lot of patience
Once your interest in carnivorous plants like the pitcher plant has been piqued, you will surely want to grow cuttings of your own. With pitcher plants (Nepenthes), it is best to grow new plants from cuttings. How to do it!
Propagation via offshoots is most promising for the pitcher plant
How to take cuttings from the pitcher plant
- Take cuttings of 10 - 15 cm length
- Fill the growing pots (€16.68) with nutrient-poor substrate
- Insert shoots into the substrate
- Set up pots bright and warm
- water regularly or
- cover with plastic wrap
The pitcher plant has its growth phase in the summer. Now is the best time to take cuttings. Use a clean, very sharp knife so that the cuttings do not fray and you do not transfer germs to the interfaces.
Take cuttings that are between 4 and 6 inches long.
Put the shoots in prepared seed pots filled with nutrient-poor substrate.
Proper care of the offshoots
In order for the cuttings to root quickly, place them in a light and warm place, but not in direct sun. Water regularly, but be careful not to get the substrate too wet.
If you don't have a convenient location, wrap the pot with the offshoot in a clear plastic bag. This keeps the humidity constant.
With the right care, the first tender roots form on the cuttings within a few weeks. Now you can plant the offshoots in sufficiently large pots filled with substrate for carnivores.
Growing offshoots from seed requires a lot of patience
In order to grow offshoots of Nepenthes from seed, you need a lot of experience in handling pitcher plants. It starts with the fact that seed can only be obtained if you tend the plants outside or pollinate them yourself.
The seed must be very fresh if it is to germinate. This means you must harvest the seed and sow it immediately.
It can take months for the seed to germinate. So you need a lot of patience if you want to grow offshoots from seeds.
tips
Offshoots of the pitcher plant can also be grown from leaf cuttings. The leaves are cut off with the stalk and placed in the substrate up to the lower edge of the leaf. However, this form of propagation of Nepenthes is not quite as successful as that of cuttings.