Is my Cephalotus drying out?

[ps3isawesome]

I'm not sure what's going on. Nothing has changed, humidity has stayed relatively the same. I did turn on a new fan but the humidity monitor shows it's always around 80-95%

I've had this plant since March of 2015

This is what the plant looked like on June 12th 2015

BUT, i don't i'm wrong when i say this plant looks like it's drying out. What do i do? Help please and thank you!

 

[Eric]

Looks to me like it may be some kind of fungal problem, with the humidity that high I doubt they're drying out. I'm sure other people on here will have a better idea of what's wrong though.

 

[ps3isawesome]

should i remove it from my terrarium to stop the spread of the infection if it is indeed an infection?

 

[KATastrophe]

Do u spray ur plants? They dont like to be misted on their pitchers.. Atleast mine dont or they get dried out and squishy feeling like they are thin skinned.

 

[ps3isawesome]

i cover them up when I spray the tank, i've heard that as well so I avoid getting mist on them

 

[KATastrophe]

Hmmm ... It could be root damage or rott - cephs have such delicate roots easy to disturb.
Do u top water? I see alot of algea on yr sphag whic ive never expirienced it affecting the plants i have but maybe ot is a bactria or an infection like someone else said.. But i couldnt be certain if thats whats really going on. They may have gotton condensation on the pitchers and they didnt like that but hard to be sure.. I usually snip off the pitchers when they get dry looking like that to help encourage new healthy growth.. But hard to kno whats going on here. Sorry i cant be more of a help goodluck hope u figure it out

 

[KATastrophe]

Hope someone has better answers and can help more

 

[ps3isawesome]

thanks! I don't top water.

 

[ErrorEN]

Cephalotus Sudden Death Syndrome?

 

[Swagalotus]

Its dead, not dried, dead. Sorry to break it to you, happened to my baby fts ceph as well. Its already rotted, most likely due to too much water. I keep my fts ceph a lot drier than my other ones since it seems very susceptible to rot when little.

 

[theplantman]

Seconding the bad news, I also have to say we're looking at:
(a) it had a bad day and dried out. If this is unlikely because there were no hiccups with the watering of this plant, then we go to
(b) root rot.

What tells me this is the pitcher color at death. If they're brownish, then it means your leaves died slowly (a more normal way for leaves to senesce). Since yours are greenish, it means they died very quickly. The leaves dried out suddenly from a quick and sudden stress, either a skipped watering or a pathogen (which often will cut off water to the leaves by killing roots). The plant did not have time to reallocate the valuable nutrients in those leaves. All the chlorophyll and other good stuff got left behind, which colors them a pale gray-green at death.

What is your media mix for this plant?

 

[Swagalotus]

What is your media mix for this plant?

It's 100% sphagnum moss, I also have a cephalotus from the same vendor and they all come potted in the same media. Although many argue this, I have found 100% better gro sphagnum moss to be the best medium for cephs

 

[ps3isawesome]

Ya Swagalotus is correct. 100% LFSM

thanks for all the knowledge and suggestions guys! I'll be a better grower next time

my poor plants

 

[ps3isawesome]

Ya Swagalotus is correct. 100% LFSM

thanks for all the knowledge and suggestions guys! I'll be a better grower next time

my poor plants

 

[Jcal]

It's 100% sphagnum moss, I also have a cephalotus from the same vendor and they all come potted in the same media. Although many argue this, I have found 100% better gro sphagnum moss to be the best medium for cephs

I 100% disagree that this is the best growing medium for cephalotus

 

[KATastrophe]

Did u check the roots cause mine regrew after it was badley water damaged and had shipping shock. Nothing really to loose now check the roots and snip off the dead pitchers and if the roots seem okay pot it up and top water away from the actual plant and hopefully it will put out new growth. Even put it in a baggy for high humidity, i don't keep my cephs in standing water for long periods and they seem to be growing back only non cp leaves at the moment but some of them were just a stock in soil for some time i didn't have any hope and then i noticed new growth and let them be too watered once a week and now they are a mass of leaves starting to pitcher but they need more light to do so. I may be able to send u some leaf cuttings if i have info on how to do so. Mine is just a typical one but it's better then nothing i guess lol!

 

[KATastrophe]

Oh see the roots now.. I say trim off the dead ones
Snip off dead pitchers leave the stalk hopefully its still healthy. Then pot it up in a mix of peat/perlite and sand prefrably sand with some choped up pieces of LF shpagnum moss and pot it up with a top dressing of live sphagnum and top water once a week (try with one plant)
And try something else with the other if u really want to experiment .. But i think it can be saved as long as the stalk the pitchers grow off of is still green and healthy looking

 

[pmatil]

It may not be all dead. I would say one possibility is a sudden change in humidity or something. Happened on my Cephalotus a while back. It just dried up all of its pitchers in a few weeks time. BUT, after a few weeks it started growing again, little green here and there so don't give up yet!

I see you have it in a terrarium, I have found that it's not the best place. Too humid and too little air movement and fresh air. The cephs that dried up all the pitchers were in a similar terrarium you have. Now they are in a separate enclosure with good air flow and humidity not over 60 % most of the time.

 

[DroseraLover]

My Cephalotus is in a 25/75 peat/sand mix. I have not had any problems with the plant, other than the fact that mine does not increase in size much. I have a lot of new growth, old pitchers are replaced before they die off, and the diameter has doubled in one year. I still hope it will grow larger pitchers someday. I may re-pot mine into a larger container. The plant grows on a sunny windowsill and receives a thorough watering once a week. I also have an S. rosea and three types of D. capensis that grow next to its pot.

 

[Alvin 415]

I regularly top water. But, I don't keep them in a covered terrarium. I pot them in a fast draining sand/peat or sand/peat/orchid bark mix, and grow them on an open shelf.