Question
Someone gave me a giant n.alata ( I think its one of the deroose ones you've
mentioned). There are two of them in the pot I think. One produces huge 6"
pitchers , but the other is still small. The big one has a long heavy stem that
is bending pretty flat against the soil, and in places the stem is splitting
under its own weight. Should I be concerned about this? Its a thick woody
stem, and it seems the nursery that sold it already cut off portions of it.

I am planning to try and separate out the smaller plant, unless its okay to
leave the two of them in there together.

thanks as always!

Answer
Hi Katie,

Yes, it's likely that what you have is the Deroose Alata.  This particular hybrid is extremely easy to propagate.  There are labs in Europe and China that clone these plants by the hundreds of thousands each year.  Ironically, finding a true Nepenthes alata is sometimes impossible.

This hybrid grows very quickly.  When it enters its vining stage, which I imagine it's in right now, the lower portions will become woody, jsut as you've noticed.  Sometimes the outer brown layer may crack when the vine bends over, but it's nothing to worry about.  In fact, sometimes the cracking will stimulate lower shoots to form.  

Whether to keep both plants together or separate them is mostly a judgment call.  If you would like to have multiple plants in the future, I'd recommend separating the two now rather than later.  It's a lot easier to do this when one plant is smaller.  If you wait until much later, the roots will get further entangled and be much harder to separate.  On the flip side, there's nothing wrong with both plants growing together.  You'll have a really large bushy plant in the months to come.  Next summer it'll be a fantastic display!

If you want to separate the plants, carefully unpot the entire soil mass and set the soil mass in a large bowl of water.  Use the water to gently remove the soil around the roots. When you've removed the soil, place the root mass in another bowl of clean water.  While the roots are under water, carefully untangle the roots.  I've found this technique to be a lot gentler on the roots.  When you have sufficient roots untangled, gently pull the plants apart.  If you feel resistance, continue to untangle the roots.  When you've separated the plants, repot them in the recommended soil mixes as outlined at:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

Good growing!
Jacob Farin