Question
I have a trichocarpa that I got from you last year.  I keep all my plants outside during the spring-fall (march-november)for the most part (as i live South of Houston TX it's warm those months).  After I got the trichocarpa and placed it outside the vine grew like a weed, and basel ground shoots started forming.  the end of last year we had a trobical storm come through really late with alot of wind.  alot of the leaves on the vine were killed off.  Now that i've taken them out of the winter warm house, it still only has 3 green leaves on the vine itself.  I was wondering if it would be best for the plant as a whole if I clipped the vine at ground level (or above the ground shoots anyway) and tried to root it or see if the comming spring/summer promotes the same growth it did last year?

Thanks again
Alex

Answer
Hi Alex,

This hybrid is very easy to root, so you could also clip the vine and root the upper portion of it.  You will need to make sure that the lower portion has a few leaves, however.  Since you only have three good leaves on the plant, you'll need to wait until new basal shoots appear before doing this process.  You could also lightly fertilize your plant with a quarter strength fertilizer.  Add it to the soil every two weeks.  This will help increase leaf growth, though you won't have much pitchers.  I suppose that'll be a reasonable trade off since you need those leaves before doing any sort of propagation with the plant.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin