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feeding cephalotus

I recently started feeding my larger ceph pitchers (1.5-2.5" ) with house flys I catch ( I make a trap) and place them in the plant while they're still alive in hopes of of stimulating the pitcher. So far I fed about 12 flies split up between three plants and the pitchers havnt responded negatively. So I was thinking what have other ceph wners been feeding thier plants? I've searched and I haven't seen feeding cephs discussed as much except for the betta pellets and other fish foods.

I have noticed that since feeding (over the last two and a half months) thier growth has seemed to been better. By that I mean before feeding the flies they would send out about one pitcer at a time. Now I've noticed its sending ot 2-3 fists at a time :) However I"ve only been feeding these 3 plants out of the 5 I currantly have.
 
That's a very good question Flip.

As a fairly new Ceph grower myself, I've often wondered what is considered "best" as their nutritional supplementation.

I put two small dried bloodworms in each large adult pitcher of my typical Ceph. So far everything appears okay. ???

Flip, see here too.
 
ahh yes thats a good reference site that I often visit just to meander through....

did you rehydrate or place them directly as a dried suppliment?
 
Ther Savage Garden says that you can feed it small sow bugs, pill bugs, tiny ants, dried insects, wingless flies, and baby crickets can be fed to it. Hope this helps.
 
I know thats what the book says and I'm not so much as wondering whats ok to feed but rather what actual growers are feeding and experiencing.... :)
 
I know thats what the book says and I'm not so much as wondering whats ok to feed but rather what actual growers are feeding and experiencing.... :)

Oh, my bad, I would like to tell you but...I'm afraid little Jimmy is only about the size of a dime.
 
I feed mine small mealworms.
 
wouldnt reccomend crix...nasty dirty lil things. carry more disease than flies when bought from a petshop
 
I water them with diluted orchid fertiliser, if you consider that feeding too. :)
 
  • #10
Cindy, do you ever experience mold growth and/or unwanted moss growth when you fertilize the media?
 
  • #11
did you rehydrate or place them directly as a dried suppliment?


I place them in dry and they quickly re-hydrate in the pitcher solution.

Ya know, JLAP uses a diluted fish emulsion in the pitchers of his Neps; I wonder if he does this for his Cephs as well? Seems like it would work... ???
 
  • #12
I feed mine Betta food, it works pretty well, I use it on my Neps too.

Usually a week or two after feeding (I feed them once every 2-3 weeks) there's a noticeable explosion of growth
 
  • #13
Do you ever experience mold growth and/or unwanted moss growth when you fertilize the media?
I found over the years that excess spray from foliar fertilization can & does cause slime growth on the surface of the media if it gets wet. I really hate the stuff so I've mostly stopped this type of feeding.

As for feeding / supplementing the pitchers - many will tell you it is not necessary - which is true. However, sticking small bugs in the traps does act as a fertilizer and speeds up growth. If the bug is large relative to pitcher size, it can sometimes cause the pitcher to rot & die (pitcher not plant). Ants rarely, if ever, cause this to happen. The trick seems to be in sizing the bug to the pitcher & also not feeding so frequently that the pitcher gets overloaded. (For me - flies usually overloaded my pitchers & caused them to rot). :nono:

FWIW, in the winter, I used to place pulverized bloodworms in the pitchers of small cephs in a terrarium. Almost 100% of the pitchers developed severe mold followed by death of the pitcher. Not sure if this was due to conditions in the terrarium, winter seasonality, issues w/ pulverized bloodworms or something else. Since I stopped doing it, I'm unlikely to find the cause .... ???
 
  • #15
Cindy, do you ever experience mold growth and/or unwanted moss growth when you fertilize the media?

Fryster, nope. Mold is never a problem for me. And the moss growth in certain pots is deliberate i.e. I planted them on the slope of the mound to prevent media loss. The moss used is short and compact so even with fertilising, they don't interfere with the plant's growth. But I do flush out the excess minerals every 1-2 days with top watering.
 
  • #16
I have fed mine with crickets and have noticed a dramatic increase in growth rate. :)
 
  • #17
I place them in dry and they quickly re-hydrate in the pitcher solution.

Ya know, JLAP uses a diluted fish emulsion in the pitchers of his Neps; I wonder if he does this for his Cephs as well? Seems like it would work... ???

Yes. Half strength twice a month. Well, I did but I have since sent off my Cephalotus for someone to take care of while I'm at college. Ditto for Heliamphora. Feeding insects is so old school. It's inefficient. Each time you feed an insect, you're also filling the pitcher with useless chitin and other nasty crap. This limits the amount you can feed in small pitchers, unless you want to clean it out periodically to make room for more bugs and that's just silly. You can also not control exactly what your plants get if you don't fertilize. You may want to tweak the N, P, K, levels and you just can't do that with crickets. Fertilizer, on the other hand, can be added over and over and over again. After two weeks, when it's time to fertilize again, the water level in the pitcher is back down low to where it should be. Just top it off with more half strength fertilizer. I don't know if feeding once a week with 1/4th strength is better, worse, or the same. I'd say probably worse (but still good) because there's more water in the pitcher at any given time. When I say fill, by the way, I mean FILL! Fill them up until it reaches the top.

I've never done any experiments, and it could be entirely psychosomatic, but I'm CONVINCED that all my pitchers last far, far longer with fertilizer versus feeding insects. They seem to last forever. If you're plant can catch bugs, I can't recommend fertilizing it via the pitchers. You don't want to mess up the equilibrium inside the pitcher. You can REALLY fertilize anything (except, IME, D. adelae. At least not at conventional levels.) if you know what you're doing and how to do it. For example, fertilizing the media for something like Nepenthes or Heliamphora is good, but not good at all for something like Sarracenia. Instead, you can spray foliarly or (my preference) just squirt about 20 CC's of your solution directly into the pitcher. Don't do this if the plant catches a lot of bugs. This is like using milk (which many people do) but it will not curdle like milk (gross!). For some reason, people are fine with using milk but get all paranoid when you use fertilizer in the same manner. Spray above your Drosera and let the mist fall and collect on the lamina. Or spray your Utricularia to jump-start it. If you're going to do this, flush the media very well. If you feel uncomfortable because the myth that fertilizer is bad has been too firmly pounded into your head, then start by foliar feeding your Nepenthes/Heliamphora/Cephalotus. It doesn't do too much because of the waxy cuticle on many plants, but it will build your confidence.


Don't add too much to Sarracenia pitchers. They'll fall over if you do. You really don't have to fertilize Sarracenia, I'm just saying you can and that it's safe. If, somehow you screw up, use the wrong fertilizer, go crazy with it, etc., then that's your problem and I'm not responsible for it.
 
  • #19
Cephs only get 30% of their nutrient ions from captured prey. With cephs you will also benefit from a good "complex" substrate, or the occasional mild root feeding as Cindy mentioned. I prefer a "complex" substrate for trace nutrients and use direct pitcher feedings for N, P and K.

This is also why Trichoderma and other beneficials are of such benefit to cephs IMHO.

However, YMMV... the plant can only handle what it can process based upon all the other interrelated variables such as light, water etc... proceed slowly and watch for signs of stress

In cephs, P seems to be the "control" variable if all else is correct

What may be the right amount for one will kill another.. you have to find your own balance

patience, observation, experimentation

The amount of nutrients obtained from either
prey or from the soil seems to vary substantially.
Sarracenia leucophylla can get 60 times more ions
from the prey than from the soil (Gibson,
1983b). Nepenthes mirabilis gets about 60% of its
N from insect prey, whereas in Cephalotus it is
only 30% (Schulze et al., 1997). In Drosera
rotundifolia about 50% of the total N is of animal
origin (Millett et al., 2003), and in D. hilaris
68% (Anderson and Midgley, 2003). The protocarnivorous
Roridula gorgonias, which needs
symbiotic hemipterans for digestion, even up to
70% of N comes from animals (Anderson and
Midgley, 2003).

For another group of plants, applied mineral
nutrients (i.e. fertilizers) can be fatal: Sarracenia
alata, for instance, grows on soil containing sufficient
concentrations of N, P and K; it is, however,
very sensitive to fertilizer additions, and
dies when growing in such nutrient-enriched
areas (Eleuterius and Jones, 1969).

Another interesting observation is that plants
may take up only some specific nutrients through
the roots, whereas others come through the
leaves from the prey. This is the case for some
Australian Drosera species that grow in habitats
subjected to fires. The soil in this habitat in general
is very poor, but enriched in K after a fire.
Drosera is thought to take up the K+ by its
roots, and the other nutrients from insects
(Dixon and Pate, 1978; Pate and Dixon, 1978),
but this effect has not been quantified. Nepenthes
pervillei sends its roots into rock cliffs where the
cyanobacterium Lyngbia (Oscillatoriaceae) grows.
Lyngbia fixes atmospheric dinitrogen, which is
suggested to be absorbed by the roots, whereas
other nutrients may come from animals that are
caught in the few functioning traps (Juniper
et al., 1989).


Cheers'
Av
 
  • #20
The guru has finally spoken. :boogie:
 
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