Help! I suspect my Cephalotus is having problems. It looks as though new pitchers are turning brown before the pitcher can mature. I had this once before with a Ceph and it eventually died.
I live near Chicago. When the season is warm, I grow it outside in partial shade and take it in only when the weather gets hot. It seems to do fine out there. When the harsh Midwest winter begins to approach, I take it in and leave it in a South window terrarium. The light hitting the terrarium is difused through shear curtains and the top of the terrarium is partially covered to maintain some humidity, but avoid heat build up. I would guess the avarage daily temperature is high 70's (F) to somewhere in the 80s. Night temperature is probably around mid to high 60s.
There is water sitting in the base of the terrarium so that all the other CP's are in one big tray system. But Ceph and some Heliamphora are sitting in their own tray which I let go dry between waterings. When I do water the Ceph tray, I only give it about a quarter of an inch.
I don't feed or fertilize the Ceph. I don't know what the growing mix is because I bought it from a CP supplier. I suspect the medium has perlite in it and is airy, but again I'm not certain.
I wondered if it wasn't getting cool enough at night, but I've noticed others on the forum growing Ceph without especially cool nights.
I've lost another Ceph last year in the terrarium, and I'm wondering if it could be the humidity. Perhaps it caused a fungal problem? Could it be SCDS as mentioned here:
Ceph FAQ ?
For the time, I might keep my plant out of the terrarium. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
P.S. I'm new to this forum and I was delighted to stumble across it. There's some great stuff here!