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Ceph Sunlight

elsantaclause

A windowsill grower
Hi do you think growing a Ceph in a East-South facing window is good enough?
And do you think moving it from a terrarium to the window will kill it?
This is because the place I am getting it from grows it in a terrarium but I want to grow it on my windowsill

Also how many times should I water it in a week?
 
SE would be adequate. don't do a terrarium. Water from above. artificial lighting would be good also.
 
when I water from above should i water it until the it leaks up to about 1/4 the pot height?
the pot would be on a dish
 
water it untill water comes out the bottom, but don't keep it in a dish, they don't like to be standing in water
 
ok and I just water it again when it looks dry? how many days do you think that would be?
 
how many days do you think that would be?

There is no definitive answer to that question. Watering on a strict schedule won't work. Plants drink up the water at different rates depending on the changing conditions. More light or more heat some day will equal more water consumption that day. When it looks dry, give it some water. Some people, myself included, will water through the top until the tray below fills up with just a little bit of water. Then, when the tray goes dry, wait a couple days and repeat. It's no science, you just have to feel it out.

xvart.
 
Yea I read and received a lot of advice about the tray and drying method. I want to try it but just kind of worried about rot. I will probably try it though
 
it should work, xvart hit the nail on the head though, nepenthes are the same way, you just kinda gotta feel it out. feel the media if you can't tell by looking at it. if you can push on it and see/feel water coming out, it can probably wait a day or two...if not, it's tome to water. that's what i do anyway...
 
Instead of feeling, you can tell when the top is somewhat loose because you can tell that water isn't keeping it intact.
 
  • #10
Im going to try the top watering method and see how it works for me
Hopefully the ceph will flourish =)
What is your guys experience with window growing?
 
  • #11
Mine is grown in a window. I just posted some pictures a few seconds ago of my Cephalotus' coloration, growth, etc.

Very good. I grow it in low humidity, windowsill [not sure which direction], all year in Wisconsin. Cephalotus seems to have a mind of it's own though, one minute it will reward you, the next it'll look bad then a month later it'll look good again.
 
  • #12
Your ceph looks very good neci
you got any tips for me neci?
 
  • #13
Yea I read and received a lot of advice about the tray and drying method. I want to try it but just kind of worried about rot. I will probably try it though
I generally use the shallow tray method for watering Cephalotus and allow the tray to dry before adding more. My pots tend to be on the deeper side and that certainly can help avoid any rotting difficulties or Tb extremes (I find most errors people suffer growing Cephalotus stem from cooking them, not root or crow rot -- so ventilate). I also recommend a sphagnum "wick" through a drainage hole into the tray; it gives a reliable guage on moisture simply by touching it and prevents compost from drying out if the plants go unwatered for a week or more . . .
 
  • #14
The sphagnum wick reminds me of what Pyro uses.
 
  • #15
The sphagnum wick thing was something which came in very handy in cultivating Darlingtonia in the 1980s; the prescence of all that moisture and moss kept everthing cool. Apparently, that is also a factor for Cephalotus success . . .
 
  • #16
I have a cobra lily in a planter and it is being grown in a mix of sand and peat, with a healthy top layer of LFS. We recently had a few days of 90 F and incredibly the plant was undaunted. These are pics from a couple months ago, but there are now 6 pitchers going, in various atges of development:

IMG_0408.jpg


IMG_0401.jpg


IMG_0468.jpg
 
  • #17
cephs aren't a high-light requirement plant like sarrs are. Windowsill will probably be ok once it settles in. With the changing seasons you may actually see the ceph take its 'rest' in the winter.
 
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