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Cephalotus tips?

  • #21
The clump that died back that I posted about above is doing very well. Here it is today:

Ceph-72008.jpg


It just goes to show you never to give up on Cephalotus.

xvart.
 
  • #23
Well, I got little Jimmy here yesterday, any tips besides no excess water, cool summer nights, and winter?

SN850791.jpg

I would have to agree with a couple of the other respondants in that the media looks a bit too wet and letting it dry a bit will likely remove your pests. Personally, I wouldn't bother with any repotting for a while, since this is the serious growing season in the US for Cephalotus to put out its pitchers -- and I would do nothing to shock or stunt such a tiny plant at this stage.

The simplest and most successsful methods I've used for years in growing Cephalotus, simply involve using the shallow tray method for watering (and letting it dry out before adding more), a generous amount of light, humidity in the 70% + range, and Tbs that stay out of the eighties for any sustained period . . .
 
  • #24
Thanks for the advice, but that was months ago. My Ceph is growing fine. It makes probably 3-5 pitchers at a time and made a division :D. Although, I did have an accident where I forgot to water it and 3 of the oldest pitcher shriveled up and lost some mass. That or they were just old.

Plant as of today:
SN851915.jpg


Biggest pitcher (0.5 inches :p):
SN851910.jpg


New division:
SN851897.jpg


Growth point #1 (Jimmy):
SN851890.jpg


Growth point #2 (Timmy):
SN851892.jpg


Sorry about the size, they were supposed to be 320 x 240
 
  • #25
Thanks for the advice, but that was months ago. My Ceph is growing fine. It makes probably 3-5 pitchers at a time and made a division :D. Although, I did have an accident where I forgot to water it and 3 of the oldest pitcher shriveled up and lost some mass. That or they were just old.

Plant as of today:
SN851915.jpg


Biggest pitcher (0.5 inches :p):
SN851910.jpg


New division:
SN851897.jpg


Growth point #1 (Jimmy):
SN851890.jpg


Growth point #2 (Timmy):
SN851892.jpg


Sorry about the size, they were supposed to be 320 x 240




Looking nice. I see you named your Cephalotus as well. I named mine "Audrey Junior" :D
 
  • #26
I don't know if this is appropriate, but I was wondering where I might purchase a small plant like that. I've only ordeed from one place and there is only one Ceph plant available for $59. That's a little pricey for me. If someone could direct me to some place more reasonable so I could purchase my own little Jimmy I'd be very appreciative.
 
  • #27
with all do respect nancy, and i may be wrong with this, but aren't you fairly new to the CP world?

not to say that you are necessarily inexperienced but cephalotus are more of a moderate to experienced grower type CP, some people have great luck with very little effort but some people have alot of problems and the plants are more rare than alot of other cp's and therefor more pricey... its not exactly the best place to start out at...

if you search around you can find alot of info on growing this particular CP and how it can prove to be a difficult task even for the experienced grower it's got a reputation for having basically a CP verision of SID's... it just up and dies for " no reason " sometimes...

Just wanting you to maybe do a bit more research and spend alittle time with the CP world before investing in a plant like the cephalotus...

I know their amazing I'm still waiting on getting one... if you search around though you'll see posts from me about 6 months ago asking around for one also... if I'd have got it I dont know that I would have been able to take care of it as much as it really deserves...

but in direct response to your question... there are cheaper cephs' out there but not by much so if thats too pricey... build up a good stuck of stuff to trade and when your ready post a thread asking to see if someone has cuttings or divisions up for grabs...

if you get any extra's send them my way so I can try too ;)

-Chris
 
  • #28
I don't know if this is appropriate, but I was wondering where I might purchase a small plant like that. I've only ordeed from one place and there is only one Ceph plant available for $59. That's a little pricey for me. If someone could direct me to some place more reasonable so I could purchase my own little Jimmy I'd be very appreciative.

They are occasionally available from private growers via eBay. Some go for higher prices, to be sure, while others have sold for the 20-30.00 range. This time of year they seem fairly plentiful online. Cephalotus' cost is reflected in how slow the plant is to grow and, especially, to propagate (even with TC technology). I have mentioned in another thread that some cuttings took about year to root and/or callus.

I would have to respectfully disagree with one of the respondants claiming that Cephalotus is difficult to grow and not appropriate for a beginner. There are plenty of references on how to grow these plants (including this forum, I might add) -- far more resources than I had available when I purchased my first plant in the early 1980s.

Use clean water; don't keep the plant waterlogged but not dry; don't cook it or its roots with high Tb; provide a reasonable amount of light and humidity; don't **** with it, and there you go. The damn thing is from Australia after all. Anything delicate there? I don't think so . . .
 
  • #29
I would have to respectfully disagree with one of the respondants claiming that Cephalotus is difficult to grow and not appropriate for a beginner. [[/I]


I just dont want any confusion, I would be that "respondant" . I'm not saying its impossible. she can definitely do it and there are plenty of people here to help. I think it would be very misleading however to say that is a beginners plant. This exact topic has been addressed with new users and added to by many experienced users and moderators,

I understand its doable. and it is in fact. some people can grow these with ease but the general population I dont think would recommend it to a new grower

now I said to correct me If I'm wrong, but I had thought she was new to CP's and I dont think it would be fair to say boom go right ahead.

if she wants to... great! if she can do it ... great!

I think its irresponsible as a grower of any calibur to not freely give advice if they believe it will help another grower and that is what makes this forum great

I was just wanting to pass a word of warning. and merely suggest.

so I respectfully disagree as well

-Chris

anything delicate in australia? you know you could probably grow cephs' like grass if the majority of the people here actually lived in australia...

Darlingtonia grow really well over in Oregon... yet if I tried to grow them outside in Kansas I may have a wee bit more of a difficult time with it... now why would that be?
becuase well plants really are governed by their enviroment... hence why plants are particular to certain areas and climates... now taking a plant from one part of the planet and over to another could prove to make growing it somewhere alittle more challenging...

so if theres a spot by spot guide on how to make a spot on Australian enviroment encompass my backyard well then heck yeah go ahead and plant those bad boys where ever they may fall I'm sure they'll grow wicked awesome...
 
  • #30
I just dont want any confusion, I would be that "respondant" . I'm not saying its impossible. she can definitely do it and there are plenty of people here to help. I think it would be very misleading however to say that is a beginners plant. This exact topic has been addressed with new users and added to by many experienced users and moderators,

I understand its doable. and it is in fact. some people can grow these with ease but the general population I dont think would recommend it to a new grower

now I said to correct me If I'm wrong, but I had thought she was new to CP's and I dont think it would be fair to say boom go right ahead.

if she wants to... great! if she can do it ... great!

I think its irresponsible as a grower of any calibur to not freely give advice if they believe it will help another grower and that is what makes this forum great

I was just wanting to pass a word of warning. and merely suggest.

so I respectfully disagree as well

-Chris

I don't think it's a matter of being "irresponsible" -- and I simply think that there is just far too much mystique attached to growing Cephalotus and some others, and it still even pervades some of the newer books I've recently seen. I know far more people, for example, who have routinely killed-off Dionaea in their collections (but they're now dirt-cheap and we don't give that much thought), while their Cephalotus fill their pots to overflowing, and send shoots and new plants out of the drainage holes.

When I began growing carnivorous plants, Nepenthes were then considered the purview of only expert horticulturists and very difficult to grow -- and then, even harder to come by. Now many are at Home Depot, dozens of formerly-rare species are routinely grown by legions of people, and many have mature flowering plants thriving above their kitchen sinks.

None of the so-called experts I read as a kid ever anticipated that -- not by a long shot . . .
 
  • #31
well back in the day when those things were hard to get a hold of dont you think they were not exactly suggested to new growers? due to the fact that they were difficult to get ahold of?

sure all these things have become more accessible and I understand that the level of difficulty to grow these plants is the same through time...

but if a plant is harder to come by and more expensive and is a picky one sometimes would you recommend it to a beginner?

if cephs show up in homedepot for $7 sure their every bit as "difficult" to grow but if you kill one its not a big deal... plenty of people kill VFT's and vft's natural range is alot closer to here than australia is for most growers on this forum...

my intent is to scare her from growing one, its to make sure when she does have the money to get a more scarce and expensive plant that she can grow it successfully... therefor leading to a more happy grower...

so in 20 years when they TC the crap out of cephs and their on every block I'll change my approach with them to new growers... in the meantime I'm going to recommend caution and an education with CP's before getting a ceph.

-Chris
 
  • #32
I think the problem is the use of the label not recomended for beginners.

On my point of view that is what comes to create as BigBella say the "...mystique attached to growing Cephalotus..."

If some one want to buy a cephalotus go ahead!, just make some research on the plant and evaluate if you can give it the best conditions, and the most important advice have on mind maybe the plant will die (as on any other hobby... fishes die, RC planes crash, watches get broken, cars blow gaskets!).
 
  • #33
the only thing for anyone to keep in mind about cephs is: Air circulation, good light, drying media. My friend Av8tor1 taught me that and my cephs are now growing like weeds. :)
 
  • #34
Okay. I didn't mean to start something. I've decided just to hold off and look at the fantastic photos of these plants on this website. I'm going to concentrate on growing my Droseras and Pings, because I seem to be doing that rather well so far.
 
  • #35
My typical Cephalotus is about back to the point it was before it died back due to an oversight in moving plants around.

Ceph-111508.jpg


xvart.
 
  • #36
That's always a contingency with Cephalotus. They can simply die back to the rhizome without any rhyme or reason, regardless of a grower's skill. Everyone who has had these plants for a few years will agree that they do most everything in their own time, from rooting and leaf production, to eventual flowering; and that the real secret to success with Cephalotus is not some magical compost with leaf mould from the West Australian Wattle Tree and trace sea salt, Trichoderma, some strict temperature / humidity regime, any particular array of grow lights or fertilizer, but the far more elusive patience . . .
 
  • #37
Looks great, Xvart. I like how that one pitcher is a lot bigger than all of the others.
 
  • #38
...... and that the real secret to success with Cephalotus is not some magical compost with leaf mould from the West Australian Wattle Tree and trace sea salt, Trichoderma, some strict temperature / humidity regime, any particular array of grow lights or fertilizer, but the far more elusive patience . . .
Agreed. That particular secret ingredient has helped me many times. :0o:

The other factor which really helps this secret ingredient is to have several. When one ceph is doing something odd (aka: trying to die), it's a lot easier to be patient when there are others doing well. It's another reason, I almost always have a few leaves stuck in live LFS (& various others in growth stages beyond ...). I don't know if I've ever even had one die w/o reason, but reading all the trials & tribulations others experience - makes me nervous... :crazy:
Looks great, Xvart. I like how that one pitcher is a lot bigger than all of the others.
That pitcher has gone into 'adult' mode (check out the ribs/teeth). I always look forward to the 1st adult pitcher because the plant is no longer a 'baby', tends to grow faster from this point & is easier to feed if I'm in the mood. If I still have the plant in a 2.5" pot when an adult pitcher shows up, it's often not long until roots start coming out the bottom....
 
  • #39
I too keep quite a few Cephalotus on hand and am frequently taking leaves or divisions most any time of year. It is always nice to have "insurance," and they are perennially in demand -- more so than I have realized . . .
 
  • #40
i have been growing cephs for about a year. What i have found to be the best advice is to ignore it as much as possible. yes you may get some die back but it's a plant, they grow.

I don't know about not watering in the middle to avoid crown rot or growing on a hill or anything like that. I have one plant outside and it gets watered in the middle every few days like everything else. The ones I grow inside (I have about 20 or so individual pots left from selling some this summer) I grow on the tray method. I fill the tray up so there is about an 1/8" of water then let it dry out. Basically I do that once a week.

#1 I would say well draining soil is good. Lots of sand in peat works for me.

Personally, and this is just me, I didn't worry about repotting or turning them upside down or anything like that. If some saw me repot these plants (twice in about 3 months) they'd die. they really aren't that sensitive. Yes you'll lose some pitchers, but they'll come back.

I still have yet to find out why these plants are "hard". I don't give them any more attention than my neps.

Of course I could say the same about my three seedling N. hamatas. No special treatment, and each has put out little pitchers for me.
 
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