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Should I buy another Cephalotus?

  • #21
I don't think the weight of the sand would be much of a problem. The native conditions for Cephs are pretty sandy. What kind of lava rock did you use? Red or black?
 
  • #22
I don't think the weight of the sand would be much of a problem. The native conditions for Cephs are pretty sandy. What kind of lava rock did you use? Red or black?

Red. I picked up a couple from my college and I brought them home, smashed them with a hammer until they were small (no bigger than a fingernail) and then mixed them into the soil.
 
  • #23
Red. I picked up a couple from my college and I brought them home, smashed them with a hammer until they were small (no bigger than a fingernail) and then mixed them into the soil.

Aha! Dr. Watson, we may have a suspect in the mysterious murders of the cephalotus. :eek:

This could be a possible source of decline for some of your cephs... copper poisoning. Copper is toxic to a lot of plants. Colleges often use red lava rock because algae will not grow on it and it can kill the weeds that grow up between it, ergo, it is ridiculously cheap and easy for grounds crews to maintain. Red lava rock leaches copper into the soil. So, this would not surprise me if it was the source of at least some of your woes.

-Hermes.
 
  • #24
Aha! Dr. Watson, we may have a suspect in the mysterious murders of the cephalotus. :eek:

This could be a possible source of decline for some of your cephs... copper poisoning. Copper is toxic to a lot of plants. Colleges often use red lava rock because algae will not grow on it and it can kill the weeds that grow up between it, ergo, it is ridiculously cheap and easy for grounds crews to maintain. Red lava rock leaches copper into the soil. So, this would not surprise me if it was the source of at least some of your woes.

-Hermes.


And to further prove your point, all three Cephalotus's (?) I owned were planted in the same soil and pot.

So, the tragic combination of copper, over-watering, and lack of light were the killers of my beloved Cephalotus's.



Lesson learned. I'm going to buy some new soil (fast draining soil: 2 parts perlite/1 part peat) from a carnivorous plant nursery and I think I will have what it takes to properly grow it.
 
  • #25
I grow the Cephalotus below in a tall pot (9" deep), in a mixture of peat and perlite. The pot sits in a deep saucer (3" deep) of water all year round on my windowsill, I just let the saucer empty before refilling with rainwater. The idea of using a tall pot is that the surface will not become too wet. There can be problems is if these plants are kept constantly wet in a poorly ventilated and/or low light area as then the moisture will encourage fungal growth.

SS851374.JPG
 
  • #26
So here's my thinking: I order the medium sized bare-root plants, and when they arrive, I plant them in a very well-drained soil (like 75% perlite/sand and 25% peat moss) and I barely water them and grow them under a florescent light most of the time (I had a Nepenthes Ventricosa that thrived and grew red under this light)

Never get bare root Cephalotus, they hate having their roots messed with.
 
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  • #27
You may want to wait around for bargain deals and spend your $50 on something you know you can grow.

I got mine for 10 bucks + shipping. It was small at the time, but small cephs turn into slightly larger cephs over time. :)
 
  • #28
I ordered the Cephalotus last weekend (I found another site that sells them for $35 and they are potted), and it arrives next Thursday.

I already got the pot and soil ready for the big day.
 
  • #29
why repot so soon they can stay in the pot they vome in mine came in the pot its in now almost two years ago .
Im just now thinking about repotting , in the spring, just because i think it may now need a deeper pot , but i still think the diameter only needs to be about an inch larger in diameter.
ceph+terr+photoxxx.jpg
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do keep in mind this a regular cephalotus , if you get a hummers giant it may outgrow the pot , but i still wouldnt repot it as soon as i got it, i would atleast give it a chance to acclimate to your conditions say a few months at least.
It will be beautiful in any pot , dont rush it, or you could loose it as well.
 
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  • #30
why repot so soon they can stay in the pot they vome in mine came in the pot its in now almost two years ago .
Im just now thinking about repotting , in the spring, just because i think it may now need a deeper pot , but i still think the diameter only needs to be about an inch larger in diameter.
ceph+terr+photoxxx.jpg
.
do keep in mind this a regular cephalotus , if you get a hummers giant it may outgrow the pot , but i still wouldnt repot it as soon as i got it, i would atleast give it a chance to acclimate to your conditions say a few months at least.
It will be beautiful in any pot , dont rush it, or you could loose it as well.


I've thought about that, but it isn't in the correct soil and the last time I ordered from them, the plants were already coming out of the soil and pot.

Besides, it would be better just to immediately transfer it to it's "permanent pot" and allow it to adjust there. I've done that in the past with no problems.
 
  • #31
Hmm, people seem to be saying Cephs can grow warm, how many of you who are growing them in warm conditions have been doing so for over a year? I ask because I thought they needed the seasonal variation (temp/light) change to stay healthy. I grew my first one for a year or two in my old HL chamber, it became a very nice clump and then it just sort of petered out. Years later I've got another and put it in low light hours (but under relatively bright lights which grow/flower my succulents) and cool day/night temps ("winter") and it's really just poking along, it's been working on the same two new pitchers for a couple weeks now and they're still pretty small.

Perhaps I should put it into warm LL conditions with my N. amp "Harlequin' to kick start it?
 
  • #32
I've thought about that, but it isn't in the correct soil and the last time I ordered from them, the plants were already coming out of the soil and pot.
If it is the soil that the supplier grows their Cephalotus in then why is it the incorrect soil and, if it is incorrect, why are you purchasing plants from that supplier?

Besides, it would be better just to immediately transfer it to it's "permanent pot" and allow it to adjust there. I've done that in the past with no problems.
The plant will be under enough stress from being transported and being put in a new location without having to deal with the additional stress of being repotted in a soil mix that it is not currently growing in.
 
  • #33
Hmm, people seem to be saying Cephs can grow warm, how many of you who are growing them in warm conditions have been doing so for over a year? I ask because I thought they needed the seasonal variation (temp/light) change to stay healthy. I grew my first one for a year or two in my old HL chamber, it became a very nice clump and then it just sort of petered out. Years later I've got another and put it in low light hours (but under relatively bright lights which grow/flower my succulents) and cool day/night temps ("winter") and it's really just poking along, it's been working on the same two new pitchers for a couple weeks now and they're still pretty small.

Perhaps I should put it into warm LL conditions with my N. amp "Harlequin' to kick start it?

swords ive asked the question of slowing down for a semi rest of ceph and get mixed answers, the one pichered in this post is two for me now and doing great, but also am concerned about sudden death, they do grow slow, i think mine does a pitcher at the rate of one a month, so yours sounds good to me? I did leave mine outside in full sun till night temps were down to 45 a few nights to give it a little slowdown, and when i browght it in it at once put on two new adult pitchers of which it only had grown two all summer.
 
  • #34
The picture of my plant on the previous page is of a plant which I obtained in May 2007 and it had four mature pitchers at the time. I guess that it does get a sort of dormancy as it grows in natural light, so it sees the seasonal changes in daylength and temperature. Although, obviously being inside it does not get as cold as outside in the winter, there is still a distinct change in temperature.
 
  • #35
swords ive asked the question of slowing down for a semi rest of ceph and get mixed answers...
Yup. Cephs are amazingly adaptable in cultivation - able to grow well in a wide variety of conditions. I have some on windowsills, in terrariums and with my VFTs (outside all summer & in basement back room under lights all winter). The 'best' conditions for pure growth are probably in a moderately-humid terrarium with some night drop in temp. They grow fastest there. However, windowsill in low winter humidity is only a bit slower and so far, the ones keeping the VFTs company are the only ones to bloom each summer.
 
  • #36
If it is the soil that the supplier grows their Cephalotus in then why is it the incorrect soil and, if it is incorrect, why are you purchasing plants from that supplier?


When I ordered from them, the Ceph was in pure sphagnum moss with algae on the surface. Besides, the pots are just too small for a Cephalotus
 
  • #37
here ar a few pics. of my grow shelf and cephalotus reg and hummers giants.
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ceph reg.
IMG_0894.JPG
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these other three are h.giants one is just a little younger doesnt have any adult pitchers yet.
IMG_0895.JPG
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IMG_0896.JPG
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IMG_0897.JPG
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this last one is the young hummer.
IMG_0898.JPG
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They all seem to love this shelf. The hummers are fairly new to me but , are pitchering well since ive had them. and may be even a little stronger for the last 3 to 4 weeks.:-D
 
  • #38

Hey Jimmy, I don't know if my old one had "sudden death syndrome" as it took a long time for the whole mass to die but it did eventually die back. Nowadays people say the rhizome might have still been alive if I'd have left it potted or maybe moved it to fresh soil as it had possibly soured. My original one I had potted in peat / perlite / orchid bark & charcoal. My current one is in a 4" pot of shredded LFS. I have noticed that there are two new leaves (not pitchers) forming on it as well.

When I think of "sudden" death I think of a succulent where one day it's perfect and the next morning it's a pile of jelly with some plant bits floating in it. :censor:

And it's not even good jelly like this:
43.jpg
:D
 
  • #39
is that stuff edible , looks a little scary
 
  • #40
LOL

It's not actually the same kinda "jellied" / melted succulent I was talking about, I was just being silly. But yeah Cactus Jelly is real, they have it at Cub Foods in the Hispanic aisle if you want to try it. It's made from the Optunia cactus' fruit. They sell them fresh sometimes in the imported produce section they're called "prickly pear".

Sorry for verring off topic... Back to Cephs... :D
 
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