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Cephalotus suddenly putting out larger pitchers - norm?

Cindy

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Pardon my pathethic memory, but I read somewhere on this forum that this species grows very slowly but will suddenly put out significant larger pitchers. True? And is it normal for young plants to do that?
 
Cindy, it depends on what the comparison is. Are you talking seedling Cephs that then put out their first mature pictures which are quite large compared to the baby pitchers?
Or are you talking a mature plant that suddenly puts out even larger pitchers?
How large is large? I think some of the "giant" varieties range from 5cm plus?
Peter.
 
Yeah they like to do that. You'll have a juvi with one adult pitcher :) Looks weird but good things are yet to come!

Until you let it dry out :( I could kick myself lol.
 
I think you mighta read that in Barry Rice's totally awesome book. They do seem to do that, they go from the baby pitchers to smallish mature pitchers and that can be quite a jump sometimes. Then constitantly growing larger and larger pitchers as it goes along.
Mine have been going from little baby pitchers to slighty less little mature pitchers to slighty larger mature pitchers... etc till almost fully grown.
I kinda like the gradual growth as opposed to the explosion.
 
Pardon my pathethic memory, but I read somewhere on this forum that this species grows very slowly but will suddenly put out significant larger pitchers. True? And is it normal for young plants to do that?
When I propagate them, this seems to be the pattern I get. 1/4" pitchers for a significant period then a jump up to pitchers 1/2" to 3/4". Sometimes they stay in the 'produce small pitchers' mode for quite a while (6 mo - 1 year+) before producing full size models.
 
Last year my mature plant sat doing nothing until July and then burst into life!
 
1/4" pitchers for a significant period then a jump up to pitchers 1/2" to 3/4". Sometimes they stay in the 'produce small pitchers' mode for quite a while (6 mo - 1 year+) before producing full size models.

RL7836, that's exactly what I have experienced. The pitchers are about 3/8" of about a year and suddenly, a pitcher about 50% larger is produced. I haven't done anything to it other than leaving it alone...I've killed quite a few Cephs before because of moving them here and there, trying to get them to grow "better". :nono:

Thanks everyone! I am glad that the plant is just happily doing what it would usually do. Keeping Cephs alive in Singapore is a feat because we have no significant temperature drops year round...80-90F both day and night except from November to January. I think it is because of this that my plant has not yet produced any non-carnivorous leaves since it arived last year.

This is the plant. :wave:
ceph_lrg.jpg
 
Nice looking clump of Cephs Cindy. Mine is only producing the non-carnivorous leaves right now, though there are a few pitures from this last winter. Can't wait for it to kick in and look like yours. :-D
 
Humm, well, I think there could be a yes here.

I did not witness this first hand, but when I received my Cephalotus 'German Giant' I noticed something odd. First off, there was no non-carnivorous leaves. Second, there were very tiny pitchers, slightly larger than those, then only 1 pitcher that was quite big compared to the others, there was no in between versions between the small but slightly larger than the 'tiny pitchers' I talked about first and the 'large pitcher', it seemed as if it just skipped a gap, then next to this large pitcher was an even LARGER pitcher, not as big of a gap skip, but I would've expected something in between. The new pitcher coming in is roughly the same size as the biggest so far, maybe a mm or two larger.
 
  • #10
Mine is also doing this. It was weird. I was checking it out and then I see about 3 traps that are huge compared to the others. What do you mean temperature drops? Do they need to drop during night or seaason?
 
  • #11
I don't think there needs to be a temp drop. I never saw that there needed to be a big one. The plants like Heliamphoras, Highland Neps, and Darlingtonia go in the chilly window. My other Highland Neps are RIGHT next to the Fluorescent light, so, when the light goes off, the heat does too, so it's hotter there so they should experience a big enough drop.

I never encountered anything for Cephs though, I hope that just the light it's near going off is enough. If it needs a big drop, I won't change anything, as it'll be outside in 2 weeks or so hopefully.
 
  • #12
A few years ago I had one that I kept on a 18/6 photoperiod for an extended length of time (over a year), it developed all summer leaves... not one single pitcher (rather large clump) even though the plant had experienced it's normal winter/summer temp variation

I shortened the photoperiod and the traps started forming

so from my personal experience, photoperiod is a key factor

Av
 
  • #14
Wow! Thanks, Curlingguy. Your Cephs look great and they are growing very quickly! I keep my Cephs under covers with a hole at the top too. Are your temperatures cool like in the 60s? Mine are always in the 80s. :suspect:
 
  • #15
This little guy was a leaf sprout, as survivor from a plant that died suddenly. I keep it at an unheated window sill and let nature determine its photoperiod. We're still in winter mode, so it may be another month before I see some good growth.

IMG_0156.jpg
 
  • #16
:boogie: Notice how the shape of the hood changed over a week. This fellow is now standing at slightly more than half inch tall. Nothing great compared to what some of you get from mature plants but I am loving it.

ceph_growth.jpg
 
  • #17
Lol, "HOLY CRAP THE THIRTEENTH MONTH!" Then I remembered you were in Singapore lol. It's so hairy, nice.
 
  • #18
JLAP, it was Friday, 13th...:-))
 
  • #19
yes, most of the world uses the day/month/year format....
 
  • #20
The pitcher finally stops at 1.8cm (3/4 inch). Here's how it looks now. Btw, it's the ONLY "large" pitcher in the entire pot. The plant has not put out any more of such pitchers since. ???

ceph1.jpg


ceph_growth1.jpg
 
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