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Cephalotus growing down

I had two Cephs in tall, clear plastic pots and I noticed a new growth inside one of the pots, near the bottom.  It was almost 3" below the rest of the plant.  It was pretty cramped in there, so I used this as an excuse to move the mother to a larger pot and start a new plant.  I've been growing Cephs for a few years but put them in clear pots for the first time last spring.  Has anyone else seen this happen?
 
The cephalotus plants I grow have done that once per plant. It seems the thick rhizome of the original plant decided to pop another plant up, but do to the vertical growth of the plant do to the pot, the plantlet happened to grow down south. I noticed this while repotting a crammped specimen; i just kinda cut off the plantlet (along with 1" of rhizome it was attached to) and potted it in a small pot of same soil. Grew just fine for me.
 
Lately, I've been keeping them in narrow (2") pots and I divide them when they fill the pot. Because of this, I put the mother plant in a 4" pot so it'll send the plants north instead of south. Zach - Were yours also in clear plastic when they did it?
 
They actually were in clear, plastic drinking cups. (I ran out of pots, so i just use cups.) After thinking about it, can the growth be due to light shining into the root space, triggering a growth? Confuzeling huh lol?-Zach
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (cephalotus88 @ Feb. 08 2004,18:19)]They actually were in clear, plastic drinking cups. (I ran out of pots, so i just use cups.) After thinking about it, can the growth be due to light shining into the root space, triggering a growth? Confuzeling huh lol?-Zach
I assumed that was already the point of the topic, lol. Probubly is the light, a lot of plant will make a plantlit is you pull a root to the surfice of the pot
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[b said:
Quote[/b] (IceDragon @ Feb. 08 2004,22:35)]Hmm, I don't think that's the reason...
http://necps.org/images....son.jpg
o_O I don't see your point. It's the same thing, the roots poke out the bottom and hit light so they make leaves. I've seen this in tons of speicies, all overgrown with roots pokeing out the bottom
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My theory is the clear pot allowed it to happen. I found the new plant about 3" below the surface of the growing media. It was a narrow pot, so I assume a growth point on the rhizome saw more light from the side than from above. So it followed the light until it bumped into the side of the pot. I wonder whether the rhizome in a wider pot would spread less vertically and more horizontally. But I don't like disturbing them as much as it would take to learn the answer.
 
  • #10
My point is that the clear pot did not make the baby plants grow down. As clearly the plant in the black pot did the same.
 
  • #11
What plant in a black pot?

It's certainly possible Cephs routinely send out growths at some depth.  In a clear, narrow pot, the growth would see light and starts leaves while still, say, 3" down.  In the real world or another kind of pot, the growth would turn upwards seeking light.  If a plantlet did try to form 3" down in a black pot, no one would know unless the plant were repotted before the new growth died.  But I don't think leaf growth would be triggered without enough light.

The mother plant is in a 4" (dark) pot now and I'll be watching to see if new growth centers appear out in the periphery.  Ceph suburban sprawl, of sorts.  I've always kept them in cramped pots, so I've never seen it.  Lots of plants spread that way, which is why I find red raspberries popping up way beyond the raspberry patch and why I'm wondering how I'm going to rein in the Jerusalem Artichokes I planted last year.
 
  • #13
Cool. As I said, I'm going from personal experience and am waiting to see what happens with the one I put in a wider pot.
 
  • #14
[b said:
Quote[/b] (IceDragon @ Feb. 10 2004,22:10)]My point is that the clear pot did not make the baby plants grow down. As clearly the plant in the black pot did the same.
o_O Okay, let me try this again, no plant grows baby plants down. What happens is when a portion of a root(which grows down) accidentilly fineds sunlight, it assumes it's made a mistake or has poped out a cliff edge and starts producing plantlets. It doesn't matter if it is from a clear side of a pot, or the roots sticking out the bottom of a black pot. Both are the same trigger. In the case mentioned in the thred, yes the clear walls caused this because it let the plant see light underground. In the case of your black pot example, the lack of transplant before the roots pop through the drainage holes caused the oddity. Hopefully I've stated it clearly enough this time so everyone gets my meaning
smile.gif
lol.
 
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