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Cephalotus "die-back" and insurance policies . . .

Here is a yet another good reason for regularly taking leaf-pulls and divisions from your Cephalotus plants. A couple of months back, one of my older pots experienced the dreaded CSDS ("Cephalotus Sudden Death Syndrome") without so much as a clue of what had happened; and this was a pot that had produced eight to ten large healthy plants over the years -- and they are all just fine.

Cephalotus follicularis cv "Hummer's Giant" -- June 2008 leaf-pulls
CFHGC.jpg

CFHGA.jpg


Here is also a none-so-rare illustration for the novice grower; and why they shouldn't quickly dispose of any pot without first allowing some time -- a good couple of months -- for Cephalotus to regrow or, once again, show some sign of life.

There is an old saying, usually in reference to motorcyclists, "There are two kinds of riders -- those that have been down and those that are going down . . ." Unfortunately, that also applies to Cephalotus cultivation . . .

Cephalotus follicularis cv "Hummer's Giant"-- January 2009
CF2.jpg

CF.jpg
 
is Ceph Leaf pulling easy? lol somehow i m afraid to pull mine, its starting to making those thin leafs now i think i should pull the wide leaf to propagate some.. but just afraid might damage it loll...

btw great ceph =]
 
Leaf-pulling is tremendously simple. Just gently tug away a leaf by pulling its end while pushing down at its base with a coffee-stirring stick or something similar (to gain a bit of the white rhizome tissue). Place the leaf in your favorite media after treating it with a rooting hormone and/or fungicide and allow a few weeks -- sometimes months for a callus to form or leaves to appear . . .
 
Great post, BigBella. It's always a good idea to take out an insurance policy.

xvart.
 
Thanks. I simply wished to illustrate that cultivation challenges face everyone at some stage; and that even experienced growers are not immune from misfortune. Plus, as those last photos show, the Cephalotus is returning from its seemingly-dead rhizomes . . .
 
I accidentally severed a portion of the main plant while attempting to take one leaf. I plunked the severed part into live LFS and waited. Undaunted, it began to grow.
 
Leaf-pulling is tremendously simple. Just gently tug away a leaf by pulling its end while pushing down at its base with a toothpick or something similar (to gain a bit of the white rhizome tissue).
I know that I'm in the minority on this, but unlike VFT's, I have not found it necessary to do a 'leaf pull'. Ever since I accidentally pulled a mature, flowering Ceph in half while attempting to 'pull' a leaf from within a tangled mass of pitchers - I now use an exacto knife and just chop it off at the base as I gently tug on the leaf. I may still be getting a piece of the rhizome but that is no longer one of my goals.
Place the leaf in your favorite media after treating it with a rooting hormone and/or fungicide and allow a few weeks -- sometimes months for a callus to form or leaves to appear . . .
My highest level of success has come from placing the severed leaf in live LFS. When I do this, I also haven't found a need for any fungicide or hormone. ???
is Ceph Leaf pulling easy? lol somehow i m afraid to pull mine, its starting to making those thin leafs now i think i should pull the wide leaf to propagate some.. but just afraid might damage it loll...
I very frequently see this with new growers. IMHO, it's probably more appropriate for someone to be scared that they only have one plant without an insurance policy ... :nono: :scratch: (I'm not recommending that anyone with a tiny, struggling ceph go and yank a leaf but when a healthy, mature ceph offers up a nice big healthy 'frond' - it's time to take out a policy...)
 
I agree with Ron. I have had tremendous success with leaf cuttings and pitcher cuttings in live LFS. Also I didn't use any fungicide.
 
I agree with Ron. I have had tremendous success with leaf cuttings and pitcher cuttings in live LFS. Also I didn't use any fungicide.

I have used both live sphagnum and the peat, sand, perlite, and charcoal media that is a popular standard for Cephalotus. My suggestion for using rooting hormone is geared toward the novice grower to encourage greater success than would otherwise be the case. Also, while far more common now, not everyone has access to live sphagnum.

In an experiment in 2005, I treated six Cephalotus leaves with either Rootone or Clonex (I can't recall which); all struck, but those treated with the hormones rooted an average of a four weeks earlier than those simply growing in media.

I have used both methods over the years and still encourage the use of rooting hormone with Cephalotus, Heliamphora, and Nepenthes . . .
 
  • #10
I know how you feel with the die-backs... my largest/oldest ceph died back severely about 3-4 years ago.

I'm getting a lot of pests now for some reason. Mealies, aphids, scale are all on my cephs, slowing them down but I'm using neem to get rid of them.

Yeah, hormones really seem to speed things up for cephs.
 
  • #11
The strangest thing about that die-back is that all of the neighboring Cephalotus are absolutely fine and totally unaffected; but the old plant is slowly coming back from all of its original and a couple of new points.

As far as pests are concerned, neem oil is the way to go -- weekly if need be. I had some plants outside that needed treatment last year and that stuff did the trick . . .
 
  • #12
My beloved Ceph died about six months ago, I haven't seen any life in it, I think it's done for, but, whatever, I make sure it's watered and dries, just as if it were living. Who knows, might surprise me some day. I just let it die back, didn't take a pulling. I just can't successfully do it.
 
  • #13
I have used both live sphagnum and the peat, sand, perlite, and charcoal media that is a popular standard for Cephalotus. My suggestion of using rooting hormone is geared toward novice growers to encourage greater success than would otherwise be the case.

In an experiment in 2005, I treated six Cephalotus leaves with either Rootone or Clonex (I can't recall which); all struck but those treated with the hormones rooted an average of a four weeks earlier.

I have used both methods over the years and still encourage the use of rooting hormone with Cephalotus, Heliamphora, and Nepenthes . . .
Thanks for sharing this info. Very few folks take the time & effort to do actual A vs B comparisons. When someone makes the effort to do this - this provides very valuable knowledge. :hail:
 
  • #14
Thanks for sharing this info. Very few folks take the time & effort to do actual A vs B comparisons. When someone makes the effort to do this - this provides very valuable knowledge. :hail:

Thanks for the kind words. Over the years, I have tried most anything and everything to get things growing. Before the advent of the internet and sources like Terraforums, there were few good resources outside of Slack's Insect-Eating Plants and How to Grow Them and, later, D'Amato's Savage Garden, for legitimate instruction.

Thankfully, there's no real shortage now . . .
 
  • #15
Wow looks like the Hummers giant cuttings are doing great =)
 
  • #16
A rookie & her insurance policies. She did a great job & got excellent results - it looks like each leaf even has 2 growth points...
 
  • #17
A rookie & her insurance policies. She did a great job & got excellent results - it looks like each leaf even has 2 growth points...

Very nice efforts there. Your successes as an admitted novice are just what I have been insisting through threads over the last year -- that the cultivation and propagation of Cephalotus is not particularly difficult with a small amount of research and, more importantly, all-too infrequent common sense.

I just began another batch of ten Cephalotus cv. "Hummer's Giant" leaf-cuttings from my various plants on 20 March, a duplication of an experiment back in 2005. The effort then was to determine the supposed advantages of using rooting hormone (Rootone and / or Clonex) versus simply planting the leaf untreated in its compost. Those treated with the products exhibited new growth more than a month earlier than those simply placed in the compost (sphagnum peat moss, sand, perlite, and charcoal).

Cephalotus follicularis cv. "Hummer's Giant" -- Leaf-cutting (20.03.09)

DSCN5098.jpg


This time around, half of the "vegetative" flat leaves (all approximately of equal size, of similar age, and with white rhizome tissue present) were treated with Clonex and the controls were simply placed in the compost.

Hopefully, and with votive candles placed around the pots, some successful photos will be posted in a few weeks . . .

P.S. In answer to a recent PM, the tiny 6 cm (2.4") pots for the cuttings are only to be used by "horticultural professionals" -- or to anyone else hopelessly addicted to Kozy Shack® Tapioca (they must lace that crap with heroin; I can't get enough). Anyway, I stacked a bunch of them together and drilled several drainage holes with a small bit. They're great and so insufferably ****ing "green" that I can't see straight . . .
 
  • #18
I'm probably going to pick up one of these now that I have a lighting setup ready to go. Quick question, however -- what is a good media mix? It sounds like it's best to barely water these, letting them dry out then rewatering -- so maybe a sandy mix? I was thinking 3 parts perlite to 1 part dead LFS?
 
  • #19
I'm probably going to pick up one of these now that I have a lighting setup ready to go. Quick question, however -- what is a good media mix? It sounds like it's best to barely water these, letting them dry out then rewatering -- so maybe a sandy mix? I was thinking 3 parts perlite to 1 part dead LFS?

There are as many compost recipes as there are growers of Cephalotus. My own preferred mix for mature plants when repotting is the one popularized by Charles Brewer:

45% dried sphagnum peat moss (by volume)
45% medium perlite
8% peat/sand mixture
2% wood charcoal.


I am also fond of adding a top dressing of live sphagnum. However, when establishing cuttings, I prefer a 1:1:1 mix by volume of sphagnum peat moss, horticultural sand, and pumice or perlite. Occasionally, a small amount of charcoal is also added. Personally, I never allow the compost to dry out completely, but rather use a shallow tray -- as I would for Dionaea -- for watering.

The best advice I have to offer in terms of successful cultivation is to ventilate the Cephalotus. Stagnant air invites a whole host of pests and problems and most people I know who experience "issues" can trace it back to closed terraria and a stifling environment.

Take a look online at the annual weather patterns in Albany, Australia, and you'll get a clear idea of the environment in which Cephalotus thrives . . .
 
  • #20
Does anyone know if the "Ceph sudden death syndrome" occurs in the wild?

It could be something inherent in the design of the plant. ???
 
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