Question
Happy New Year to both of you

I have an unknown nepenthes. It had gotten close to three feet long and the stem had few leaves on it. A basal shoot started to grow. As the basal shoot grew the longer vine seemed to die back. I waited till the leaves on the basal shoot were at least two and a half inches long and the long vine looked totally dead. At this point I cut the dead vine about an inch above the basal shoot. Shortly after the basal shoot started to die and I can only assume that it has something to do with cutting the vine. It is not dead yet .. but things don't look good. This is not the first time something like this has happened to me. The question is ... why does this happen and how do I prevent it in the future.  

The second question is a lot shorter ... I promise. How do you know when pygmy sundew gemmae are ripe enough to harvest ?

Thanks
Nicole
90 miles north of NYC  

Answer
Hi Nicole,

I see this quite a bit on Nepenthes ventricosa and N. truncata.  Often if it looks like the plant is going to sacrifice a vine, I'll take a cutting while I can still root it.  It may be a response to environmental conditions, light, etc...  I don't have an explanation as to why the basal shoot would start to die after cutting the vine.  I've found that the basal shoots usually take off after cutting a long vine off.  You may have some soil issues going on, or possibly temperatures.

With pygmy gemmae just take a pencil and gently poke at the gemmae.  If the fall off easily, they're ready.  If they resist some, they need a little longer.

How are you surviving the snow?  I just saw on the news how much upstate NY has.  I'll take our torrential rain. :)

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com