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New Plan! Need typical Cephalotus, please!

Hello friends,

Since cephs apparently grow well in San Diego, and they grow well with VFTs, I'm going to make a little bowl of them and three vft cultivars.

So far, I've (thanks to Growing Old and Doku,) I've got a HG and a large typical lined up. I just need two more typicals. Genetically different ones if you please. The whole point of this is to get some high quality seed. If you help me get a ceph...but I don't have enough of what you'd like in return, I can promise you a bit of it when I do get seed.

I'm confident I won't kill em! I'll just keep em on the dry side and give em light. If they do well here, then they should take care of themselves. ;)

Anyway, here's the plan:

Cephalotus+bowl+plan.jpg


I've got most things ready to go!

I'll trade for them in the spring, or now. Whatever. Divisions OK, only I'd like large-medium plants.

Thanks for looking! Please help if you can!

P.S. One thing I have for trade is: N. Ventrosica x Spectabilis # BE-3320 from MKfarms...a nice plant with perisomal candy stripeing and well formed pitchers. Plant ~ 8 inc. in diameter and growing fast. See grow/trade list for other possibilities.
 
Here's the 18" bowl:

Cephalotus+Bowl--the+18+inch+bowl_.jpg


---------- Post added at 02:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:29 PM ----------

I need an opinion. What would be a good, but yet simple media to put in this bowl? Be aware that VFTs and sundews will inhabit it also.
 
Cephs naturally grow in sand and peat. I don't see a problem with putting VFTs in sand and peat but I have 0 experience with sundews.
 
ICPS page on Cephs

Growers of Cephalotus all have their favorite soil recipe for the plants so there is no real consensus about what the “ideal” soil mixture should be. We have found that 75% sand/ 25% peat appears to work well for our plants at the Conservatory. This mix is rather porous and readily drains water, thus reducing the chance of root rot. Other mixes that contained either pumice or perlite were also acceptable. I also personally like to add a layer (¼ to ½ an inch) of pure sand on the top of the soil. This keeps the crown of the plant a little dryer and helps retard the growth of moss.

I guess a primarily inorganic mixture works well, then...but not for the vfts or sundews...maybe I shouldn't grow VFTs with them? :-( No! It MUST be done :-D

In a book written by an Austrailian, it says:
A good soil mix to use is an open one, made of three parts peat, one part vermiculite, and two parts sand.

I like that recipie a little better. How about substituting perlite for verirculite? I have both...but vermiculite is more dense.

Must find something all are happy with!
 
Verm will hold water a lot longer. Thats the only difference I can see.
 
In the big, tall planters I tried out as community pygmy dew/ceph pots earlier this year, I think the cephs crashed because they weren't getting enough water while the dews were still dewy. The mix in the planters is something like 2perlite : 1peat, but it might be somewhere between that and 1perlite : 1peat. I usually use a 2perlite : 1peat mix in pretty short pots for cephs, kept in standing water at all times outside in San Diego. I've only ever kept my cephs in 3" or 4" pots because I'm worried about their water intake considering how dry it gets out in the sun, but I'm experimenting with a 5" for my big Hummer's Giant right now to see how it works out. I've never had everything outside over the winter, so hopefully all this fog I'm seeing now doesn't negatively impact everything by making it all rot out from too much moisture...I'm going to have to ease off the watering I think. It seems to me though that vft's would be kept too wet in the setup you're proposing because cephs actually like it pretty wet in comparison to what the rumors say about keeping them almost brick-dry.
 
  • #10
If individual plants require slightly different media, so long as nothing too drastic (like a desert plant planted in with a swamp plant) you simply dig out an area of the large pot creating a decen t sized hole... and fill it up with your other potting mix... like more peat for your VFT's.
Then plant them in that area, while your cephs are planted in their own area. :-D

People have been doing mixed plantings like this since before I was a kid... it is nothing new. ???

So long as you don't flood the pot or mix the media around, you should have no problem.
The peat will hold moisture well while the other sandy areas drain freely.

You can also bury pots of specific media into a larger community pot and it will look like they were all planted in the large pot.

Good luck. :water:
 
  • #11
I hope whoever wrote this to me doesn't mind me posting it.

Also, I was reading your post on terraforums about the soil mix for your mini bog. You can grow both flytraps and cephalotus in a soil mix of 65% sand and the 35% peat. It all really depends on where you will be growing them. I have a similar climate to yours except that it is a little drier here and maybe a little colder in the winter. I will tell you a bit about my soil mixes and growing conditions.

Of course all my flytraps are grown outside year round in full sun. I have most of them in a 50:50 peat:perlite mixture. They do good, but I will be changing the mixture next year. Some I have in 50:50 peat:silica sand. In this mixture they do better than the peat, perlite mix. And than there are the ones in a mix of 70% silica sand and 30% peat. These did the best out of all of them this year. The lose medium seems to help them grow better. The only down fall to this is that they require more watering. But from the differences that I saw, I think its worth it. Maybe 60% sand and 40% peat might be a good mix. Better water holding capacity, but still great drainage. Or maybe even 30% sand, 30% perlite, and 40% peat will do really well.

Cephalotus will require a little more reading, lol. I have some in partial sun, under my porch facing southwest. In the summer they receive 3-4 hours of direct sun and bright light the rest of the day. Right now they are getting around 5 hours of direct sun. Since the sun is lower to us this time of year, they get more direct sun. Temperatures are always different. Even in partial sun, they will go through several days with temperatures above 90 in the summer, with nights above 60. In the winter, days might be in the 50's to mid 70's and drop at night into the 30's. As of now I only have 2 soil mixes for the partial sun grown ones. One is pure long fiber sphagnum. The other is 70% silica sand and 30% peat. Both mixes seem to be doing really well. They are both the same clone and seem to be growing at the same speed in either mix. Although, the one in the lfs has divided more than the other one. They were both originally one plant. The sand, peat one is still only 1 plant, but its an experimental plant, so it will stay there for several years before I will do anything to it. The lfs one has 2 nice big divisions and 2 small divisions. This will be one of the plants that I will divide, from which you will receive your bigger division. Watering, the lfs one actually gets watered more than the other one. It ranges from 2-3 times a week while the peat, sand one rarely gets watered more than once a week. The lfs plant is in a 2 gallon white plastic pot while the sandy one is in a one gallon black plastic pot. I know, its all over the place, didnt really think how all of it was going to come out when I started.

Now for the outside ones. One is the seed grown plant I told you about, almost lost it untill I decided to put it in full sun. The other is tissue cultured, but a different clone than the others. The seed grown is in a soil mix of equal parts peat, pumice, perlite, and silica sand. In a 2 gallon white plastic pot. Potted it up in late spring after almost losing it in a different mix. When I repotted it, it was about half an inch in diameter. It has since grown to a 2 inch in diameter little gem. It is still a single plant, but if you had seen the shape it was in before you would not think its the same plant. Its also coloring up really nicely, a lot of red starting to show. Because of the mix being so lose, I water it every day, or almost every day, in the summer, well, every night, helps cool down the roots a bit. Right now, im watering around once a week. The tissue culture one I received in mid summer, so i kept it in its 3 inch pot that it came in. Still I grow it outside and its doing beautifully, bright red. 2 parts perlite, 1 part peat. Watering it through the tray method for now. Fill the tray with about an inch of water and leave it alone for a week or more. All are acclimated to really low humidity.

For your bowl, I would recommend a mix of peat, perlite, and silica sand in equal parts. If youd like, maybe even a little more peat. Like throw in a couple hand full after you do the mix. I believe the sundews will also be happy there. Since im assuming you will be keeping them in full sun, keeping the soil watered properly wont harm the cephs. Just dont keep it waterlogged. Im sure you'll figure out a good mix on your own. Good luck.

GrowinOld:
People have been doing mixed plantings like this since before I was a kid... it is nothing new.

Yep, and I've done it many times. I have a bog, a vft mini bog (with d. filliformis), and an African bowl...and a mexi-ping planter.

I really like your idea of localized media for the plants!

RL7836
Have not found this approach to be a precursor to success ....

Seems to me you are right in a way and yet wrong in a way. In my African bowl, for example, I have u. sandersonii, s. pitscatta (not going to bother with spelling), and a bunch of African dews. The African dews are doing great, but the two that like it wet...just OK. However, those two would thrive together if given more water.

This supports your findings. However, on the other hand, I am growing 6 species of African dews together and they are all thriving.

The plants must, it seems, be similar in their cultivation requirements. Maybe I should be growing d. binata with the cephs, LOL! (Those are found growing together in the wild.)



Right now I've been growing vfts in a mostly inorganic mix and they do fine as long as keps wetter. I think I will add peat to their locals.

I believe that VFTs, Cephs, and d. sessifolia can be grown together...with an emphasis on the cephs of course.

Yeah! Maybe it should be a totally Austrailian bowl!

---------- Post added at 03:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:51 PM ----------

In the big, tall planters I tried out as community pygmy dew/ceph pots earlier this year, I think the cephs crashed because they weren't getting enough water while the dews were still dewy. The mix in the planters is something like 2perlite : 1peat, but it might be somewhere between that and 1perlite : 1peat. I usually use a 2perlite : 1peat mix in pretty short pots for cephs, kept in standing water at all times outside in San Diego. I've only ever kept my cephs in 3" or 4" pots because I'm worried about their water intake considering how dry it gets out in the sun, but I'm experimenting with a 5" for my big Hummer's Giant right now to see how it works out. I've never had everything outside over the winter, so hopefully all this fog I'm seeing now doesn't negatively impact everything by making it all rot out from too much moisture...I'm going to have to ease off the watering I think. It seems to me though that vft's would be kept too wet in the setup you're proposing because cephs actually like it pretty wet in comparison to what the rumors say about keeping them almost brick-dry.

Lol! More muddy water! This is totally the opposite of what some are saying.

I know VFTs rot easily. My original thinking was that cephs do the same. D. sessifolia and d. nidiformis don't need it really wet...so...the natural conclusion was...a community! Now I'm thinking about d. binata but the bowl seems to be a little small.

I was going to treat the cephs along the lines of vfts. Would this be a bad idea? I also have an African bowl, and was going to do something similar, but a bit drier. And top watering for the most part.

Anyway, I'm going to need to come up with a plan of attack so I can get the media in the bowl, and sit it out in the rain to wash the media and start growing moss. Moss looks really nice in my African bowl
 
  • #12
Must find something all are happy with!
Have not found this approach to be a precursor to success .... :nono:
Ahhhh, me thinks you may have misunderstood my intent ..... I did not mean to imply that a mixed planting will not succeed, I meant that trying to "find something all are happy with!" is frequently not a good approach for success...
 
  • #13
Ahhhh, me thinks you may have misunderstood my intent ..... I did not mean to imply that a mixed planting will not succeed, I meant that trying to "find something all are happy with!" is frequently not a good approach for success...

True. Maybe it should be:

I must try to find some plants that will grow well with Cephalotus

I think I'm going to mix up that media. Peat, sand, and perlite it is. I think I'll do a 50-50 organic inorgnanic as I don't water very much and media with mostly inorganic stuff seems to look sad.
 
  • #14
Cephs and VFT'S have both been found growing naturally in pure white sand.

You should experiment with it. :s

VFT_sand1.jpg

VFT_RED1.jpg


Can't find a pic for a ceph, but anyways, I don't take credit for those pics.
 
  • #15
Those are STUNNING! Why is it mine are never so red?

Fine. I'll put more sand in there :p

However I do detect traces of organic mater in the soil in those pics.

Thanks for the imput. I did notice, oddly, that my vft with lots of sand did well this year...but up until now I've disregarded it.

I haven't mixed it quite yet. Will do soon though now that I have some time!
 
  • #16
As an update, the media (mostly sand) is ready and has been for a month.

I had 3-4 cephs lined up, but 2 of one grower's plants crashed, and now I've only got 1 coming for sure, and another that's probable.

If anybody has 2 genetically different typical cephs I'd trade generously for them!
 
  • #17
I am getting one in the mail soon what would you trade for it?
 
  • #19
I've found that cephs grow better in an airy medium like nepenthes mix
I grew several outdoors for several years down amongst my sars. they turned nearly black in color
 
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