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Ceph repot advice

Need some advice on whether or not I should repot. I received this Ceph about 8 months ago and decided to put it in a larger pot. I didn't want to disturb the roots so I basically slid the ceph out of the 3.5 inch pot it was in soil and all and put it into a new pot with more soil.

Now I am noticing that the old soil is devloping some white fuzzy fungus and this scares the bejeebers out of me. I have no problems repoting other cps but I have never repotted a ceph because I have read that they do not like this one bit.

It is currently in a 6" pot in a tray of water. I let the water dry before re-watering.

What do you think? Should I repot? You can faintly see the white fuzz, it is more noticable to the naked eye. I would like to repot in a more airy medium but not sure if now is the time.

(click to enlarge)
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Here's a good site to start with.

Let's see what our fellow TFer's will say.
 
Thanks. I did read that link a week or so ago to get an idea of soil to use. Mine is too compact I think. And I remember it stated basically that now is not the time to repot.

Ah, here is the quote:
"Repot you plants every 2 years for smaller specimens and every 4 to 5 years for larger pots, but, never repot in the summer - late autumn/fall, winter or my choice - early spring are the best times"

I wonder if I have that long though before the fuzzy white death comes knocking at it's door.
 
Hey Damon,

It should be fine if you want to repot, just try not to break too many of the roots. Or you could remove about an inch or so of the topsoil and replace it with a new topdressing which should get rid of the fungus and you can repot it later.

-Max
 
Root disturbance typically sets Cephalotus growth back at least 4 weeks. It looks like fungus to me. I would treat all plants in the same pot with a sulfur based fungicide and make sure there is good air circulation in you growing conditions.
 
I'm not sure what I'm looking at. All peat will be colonised sooner or later.

If you're annoyed by it, just replace the top half a centimetre of peat.
 
Hey Damon,

It should be fine if you want to repot, just try not to break too many of the roots. Or you could remove about an inch or so of the topsoil and replace it with a new topdressing which should get rid of the fungus and you can repot it later.

-Max

I think it was you, Max, that used a top layer of sand on your cephs? I always thought that looked good, and it keeps anything from sprouting up.

Jason
 
I think it was you, Max, that used a top layer of sand on your cephs? I always thought that looked good, and it keeps anything from sprouting up.

Jason

That was me, it looks good and it keeps away moss and fungus.
 
I always put live LFS on top.
 
  • #10
Ah well you changed photos since my last post. The previous photo showed what looked like a very distressed fungus covered plant in the upper right quarter of the photo.

How long ago did you pot the plant in question?
 
  • #11
I'm not sure what I'm looking at. All peat will be colonised sooner or later.

If you're annoyed by it, just replace the top half a centimetre of peat.

I am not worried about the moss. But the white fuzzies. :) I know they are hard to see, but are there.

NaN,
No I didn't change the photo. If you look at the soil all around the pic, there is a faint white fuzzy fungus growing. It is hard to see from the photo, but very obvious to the naked eye. I repotted it probably around 3 months ago. But as I said I didn't remove the plant from it's current medium I just filled a larger pot with peat/sand/perlite and made an impression with the current pot. I then remove the plant from the pot, soil and all and dropped it into the impression I made.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I will go for the repotting. I do not like the medium I added to the pot. After more research I think it is too compact and I am keeping it too wet.
 
  • #12
Oops, my mistake - I was thinking of bt's post. Nevermind...
 
  • #13
Hey no problem. Thanks alot.
 
  • #14
Well, I did it. I hope I didn't kill it. It had a long tap root but not much in the way of small roots coming off of the tap root. I hope I didn't pull them off. The root looked healthy and had another growth point forming about 1/2 - 3/4 inch down from the base.

I repotted in:

45 % LFS
45 % Perlite
4 % peat
4 % sand
2 % charcoal

Hope it likes its new conditions.

Anything special I can do to help it adjust being man-handled by my big meaty claws?
 
  • #15
I am so glad I decided to repot. The grow point forming under the soil has sprung through and it outpacing my current growth point in growth I think.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

 
  • #16
Just thought I would provide an update.

Very glad I decided to repot. In about 2 months time after repotting... I get this.

 
  • #17
Grats. Looking good!

Last spring I repotted and divided a young ceph. It was in half/half peat perlite. It wasn't doing much. I put them in bigger pots of equal parts APS, perlite, peat, sand and pumice. Well they exploded in growth! Both have made oodles of new (although still mostly immature) pitchers and have made several new growth points. I didn't want to disturb it, but I'm glad I did.
 
  • #18
You did a pretty good job there!

Just for future reference I did have the same problem as you with the white fuzzy stuff. It was growing because I kept the soil too wet. I think that link went over root rot? Cephs hate to stand in water, it promotes root rot over a period of time. When I water mine I fill the tray and wait a bit until I can clearly see that the top layer is watered, and then I'll take the water out. I do this about 2 times a week to keep it dry. And as you probably know right now it doesn't really matter what time of the year you repot, it will almost always do fine :) I think the only no no time is in winter.

Usually after I repot I'll half fill the pitchers with water and put a humidity dome (clear plastic cup) on top to help ease it in. And I like to put the cephs on top of a little mound in the pot, so that they're elevated higher than the rim if that makes sense. I forgot the pros to that but it just looks neat so I do it anyways haha.

Hopefully this helps you out for the future!
 
  • #19
#1 rule that I have about repotting cephs... if you ceph turns all brown and it looks like you killed it keep watering it like normal because a couple weeks later you'll probably get a little green surprise pop up out of the meida. they are actually pretty tough plants to kill.
 
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