Question
Hi there I was just wondering if it's possible to divide a Nepenthes because I have noticed that my Nepenthes Ventrata has developed several basal shoots that have been growing for several months. Is it possible to divide the basal shoots and grow them as new plants?

           Thanks in advance! :D
                       Eric Nguyen

Answer
Hello Eric,

What you are seeing are new vines growing at the base of your plant. They are not really separate plants themselves. What you can do with Nepenthes, much like other vining plants like Ivy, is to take vine cuttings and root them in a vase of water or even in just moist Nepenthes soil (sphagnum peat, orchid bark and perlite are the usual mix in 1:1:1 ratio). It is according to the Nepenthes species as to how easy it will be to propagate and there are several different methods of rooting vines sections that can be used, but the easiest for most of the tougher Nepenthes would be simple vase and water strategies.

What you would need to do for generating vine cuttings for Nepenthes would be to clip off 8-12 inch sections of healthy vines and clip off lower leaves for a few inches at the base of the vine. Then simply place the vine in an opaque vase of water for a couple months and let it grow roots, then plant it in a pot of Nepenthes soil. Nepenthes often take a month or two to root, sometimes longer. So long as the vine is green and growing new shoots over one or more leaves, it is alive and capable of rooting. What you often see is a long segment of brown vine from the base up with one or more new vine shoots growing over one or more leaves. They are still being fed water through the browned section of vine and usually will develop roots along the base of the browned vine section. After potting, it might look rather messy with such long, brown vine sections and just a small green vine growing from a random leaf growth node. What I do over the course of months of growth is to continue clipping the new vines back and just leave the rooted section of brown vine, sometimes rooting the new vines if I want. Eventually, a very tiny new node will begin growing near the base of the old rooted vine and will produce a new plant that will grow from the ground level up, making for a nicer looking plant altogether. I have noted this type of growth in my Nepenthes sanguinea and would probably be similar in species that grow similarly, like N. alata, N. ventrata, N. ventricosa, and such.

Christopher