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Cephalotus questions
jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
Bill: I went looking for your post about doing dormancy outside and the pictures are no longer being hosted. Do you have something we could use? I'd love to see it as a pinned topic and often refer to it when anwering dormancy questions.
Scarlett: Welcome to TF! I wish I had a pic to illustrate what Plantakiss is talking about, but imagine this plant:
...in a deeper, wider, and raised version of this:
It's like having a the top half of a ball placed over the and above the the top of the pot.... only it's soil media.
Scarlett: Welcome to TF! I wish I had a pic to illustrate what Plantakiss is talking about, but imagine this plant:
...in a deeper, wider, and raised version of this:
It's like having a the top half of a ball placed over the and above the the top of the pot.... only it's soil media.
Scarlett -
Do a web search for "Charles Brewer Mix" that's the ultimate Ceph soil mix. I don't remember what the exact contents and proportions are, but that's what I use.
The camera is a (digital) Nikon D50. I have an awesome macro lens from my Nikon film camera but haven't figured out yet how to use it with the digital camera.
Jimscott - I'd sent the photo to both PAK & Schloaty hoping they'd put it with the article.
Do a web search for "Charles Brewer Mix" that's the ultimate Ceph soil mix. I don't remember what the exact contents and proportions are, but that's what I use.
The camera is a (digital) Nikon D50. I have an awesome macro lens from my Nikon film camera but haven't figured out yet how to use it with the digital camera.
Jimscott - I'd sent the photo to both PAK & Schloaty hoping they'd put it with the article.
Have alook at:
http://www.aqph26.dsl.pipex.com/cephalotusfollil.html
Site should answer all your questions
Jonathan
http://www.aqph26.dsl.pipex.com/cephalotusfollil.html
Site should answer all your questions
Jonathan
jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
You're welcome and I can relate to visualization.[b said:
It is possible that Plantakiss may have forgotten about this topic and hasn't revisited it. I think we all have forgotten or moved on at some point. So I would suggest sending her a PM about it. I'm sure she won't mind.
Do you have other CP's or will this be your first? This can be an enigmatic species. I make a habit of taking the "winter leaves" as cuttings, just in case the main plant reacts.
Bill: You'd be amazed at how many times the subject of doing dormancy outside, in temperate climates comes up. It's a very valuable contribution to the cause!
Here is a shot of Jeff's Ceph tank that was at the ICPS meeting. You can see why his nickname is "Jeffalotus". Jeremiah Harris took some better shots, this is the only pic of it I have:
The straws are to mark certain clones, everyone was asking why they were there. We joked that you put Osmocote pellets down them, or blew into them for aeration, etc.
The straws are to mark certain clones, everyone was asking why they were there. We joked that you put Osmocote pellets down them, or blew into them for aeration, etc.
jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
nepenthes gracilis
Nepenthes Specialist
WildBill - thanks for the welcome and the tip on the Charles Brewer mix. I think I'll give that a try. You camera takes AWESOME pictures!
Thanks Cephalotusinfo for the link to the Charles Brewer mix!
jimscott - I am new to Carnivorous plants. Started out with a VFT and it just exploded from there. I have various Nepenthes, VFT's and Saraccia's. The Cephalotus I ordered will be my first one - hopefully I'll be able to keep it alive.
Thanks Cephalotusinfo for the link to the Charles Brewer mix!
jimscott - I am new to Carnivorous plants. Started out with a VFT and it just exploded from there. I have various Nepenthes, VFT's and Saraccia's. The Cephalotus I ordered will be my first one - hopefully I'll be able to keep it alive.
elgecko
I've got a magic window!
jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
As a caveat, many of us have experienced a "sudden death" phenomenon. That's what happened to mine, from the plant that Elgecko gave me, after 1.5 years of doing fine. Whenever "winter leaves" appear, I pull them and start new plants, as a backup.[b said:
No sundews, butterworts or bladderworts?
JMatt
Stovepipe (The Beast) RIP My friend.
Hey Bill,
Is that the seedling I gave you? It looks like it is doing just fine.
One thing, I usually remove that long stringy type moss that grows
around the plant. If it gets real thick it tends to choke the plants.
Once a year In my tanks I usually have to remove the whole top layer
about an inch deep and replace with fresh medium. It can get very thick
like a carpet and new stolens have a tuff time pushing threw it.
Something to think about.
Later.
Jeff
Is that the seedling I gave you? It looks like it is doing just fine.
One thing, I usually remove that long stringy type moss that grows
around the plant. If it gets real thick it tends to choke the plants.
Once a year In my tanks I usually have to remove the whole top layer
about an inch deep and replace with fresh medium. It can get very thick
like a carpet and new stolens have a tuff time pushing threw it.
Something to think about.
Later.
Jeff
JMatt
Stovepipe (The Beast) RIP My friend.
Cephalotus info,
Seeds.
Cephalotus seeds are fun to grow if you have the patience.
I started a few hundred of them in standard size flats with a few inches of medium and a humidity dome. I kept it cool and within 3 months the first started germinating. A year later there were a few still germinating. Once germinated I would pluck them out with a toothpick and pot up in small
pots always keeping a humidity dome over them. I would just grow them under fluoresent lights in a bedroom at normal room temp. In under two years I have a few that are adult size. It takes a long time and is very tedious but worth it.
Cuttings,
Cuttings on the other hand are much easier to do. It is something that you should do every year during the cooler months. A lot can happen during the year to your plants, and if you don't have cuttings to back things up you could be in deep trouble. I have had very large plants that would fill a 10 inch pot and by the time I knew something was wrong the plant was toast from scale. I've had spider mites attack them. Outside i've had Caterpillers and even a wild turkey ate some of the pitchers on one of my Hummers giant plants. Cephalotus plants can be tuff at times, you have good and bad years, but cuttings will almost always get you threw.
Everybody has there own way of taking cuttings, but what works for me is to take a good size leaf or pitcher snap it off making sure you have a bit of the white base to it. Then I will dip the end in Rootone (liquid) for like 5 or 10 seconds. Sometimes I use tupperwhare bowls filled with chopped live sphagnum moss. Put your cuttings in with the end just covered with moss and put a clear lid on. I put them under fluorescent lights and thats it. In a few months you have new plants to pot up.
I have bounced back more than once from cuttings, and you should always have a few going just incase.
Be careful about misting plants that are grown indoors in pots. If you don't have enough air movement you could have rot problems down the road. As long as the crown has a chance to dry out it should be ok.
It's a good idea to let your cephs have there own growing space. The above problems that I had in the past, (scale and spider mites) came from mixing my ceph plants in with orchids that I got from here and there. Not a good thing.
15+ years with these plants, and still learning.
Later
Jeff M.
Seeds.
Cephalotus seeds are fun to grow if you have the patience.
I started a few hundred of them in standard size flats with a few inches of medium and a humidity dome. I kept it cool and within 3 months the first started germinating. A year later there were a few still germinating. Once germinated I would pluck them out with a toothpick and pot up in small
pots always keeping a humidity dome over them. I would just grow them under fluoresent lights in a bedroom at normal room temp. In under two years I have a few that are adult size. It takes a long time and is very tedious but worth it.
Cuttings,
Cuttings on the other hand are much easier to do. It is something that you should do every year during the cooler months. A lot can happen during the year to your plants, and if you don't have cuttings to back things up you could be in deep trouble. I have had very large plants that would fill a 10 inch pot and by the time I knew something was wrong the plant was toast from scale. I've had spider mites attack them. Outside i've had Caterpillers and even a wild turkey ate some of the pitchers on one of my Hummers giant plants. Cephalotus plants can be tuff at times, you have good and bad years, but cuttings will almost always get you threw.
Everybody has there own way of taking cuttings, but what works for me is to take a good size leaf or pitcher snap it off making sure you have a bit of the white base to it. Then I will dip the end in Rootone (liquid) for like 5 or 10 seconds. Sometimes I use tupperwhare bowls filled with chopped live sphagnum moss. Put your cuttings in with the end just covered with moss and put a clear lid on. I put them under fluorescent lights and thats it. In a few months you have new plants to pot up.
I have bounced back more than once from cuttings, and you should always have a few going just incase.
Be careful about misting plants that are grown indoors in pots. If you don't have enough air movement you could have rot problems down the road. As long as the crown has a chance to dry out it should be ok.
It's a good idea to let your cephs have there own growing space. The above problems that I had in the past, (scale and spider mites) came from mixing my ceph plants in with orchids that I got from here and there. Not a good thing.
15+ years with these plants, and still learning.
Later
Jeff M.
JMatt
Stovepipe (The Beast) RIP My friend.
