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Should I buy another Cephalotus?

Wolfn

Agent of Chaos
So, I'm currently debating on whether or not to buy another Cephalotus with my upcoming Christmas money. As some of you know, I've failed 3 times at growing Cephalotus (all of them from over-watering/lack of light).

However, Cephalotus is still my favorite carnivorous plant because of it's compact size and beauty.

I appear to be unsuccessful at keeping Cephalotus alive for more than 6 months for the reasons I listed above.

Do you think it would be wise if I were to spend $50 or so on another Cephalotus?
 
If you think that your growing skills have improved and you are able to correct the problems that killed your last plants, then I think it's worth a shot.

What size plant will you be getting for $50?
Another option is you could try asking around on here if anyone has a small one to trade so you don't have to blow money away on something your not sure of.
 
If you think that your growing skills have improved and you are able to correct the problems that killed your last plants, then I think it's worth a shot.

What size plant will you be getting for $50?
Another option is you could try asking around on here if anyone has a small one to trade so you don't have to blow money away on something your not sure of.

This nursery says it's offering small plants for $35 ($45 with shipping) and $45 for medium plants ($55 with shipping). I want to get medium sized plants. However, the nursery says they are shipped bare-root, which I don't think would be too much of a problem because with the previous Cephalotus' I owned, I transplanted them into larger pots and they actually thrived for a little bit before I accidentally over-watered them and neglected to give them enough light.

So here's my thinking: I order the medium sized bare-root plants, and when they arrive, I plant them in a very well-drained soil (like 75% perlite/sand and 25% peat moss) and I barely water them and grow them under a florescent light most of the time (I had a Nepenthes Ventricosa that thrived and grew red under this light)

I'm thinking that this will be the one plant I grow indoors (along with maybe a Mexican butterwort) and all my other plants will grow outside in the mini-greenhouse.


What do you think?
 
took me several tries before hitting on something that worked in my conditions with Cephs.......if your willing to spend the money on a plant you know you may kill go for it......if not dont......

if you grow plants that require special conditions your gonna kill some, if yah cant handle that then this aint the hobby for you, ive killed a good sized collection worth of CP's alone, aswell as orchids and other special requirement plants......
 
I would suggest some further reading on cultivating Cephalotus -- especially on watering practices -- and also choose a quick-draining compost. Some of my seedling plants are in more quartz sand than peat and my adult plants are all in variations of the "Charles Brewer" mix . . .
 
I would suggest some further reading on cultivating Cephalotus -- especially on watering practices -- and also choose a quick-draining compost. Some of my seedling plants are in more quartz sand than peat and my adult plants are all in variations of the "Charles Brewer" mix . . .

I'm going to get a soil that is 75% perlite/sand and 25% peat moss. I'm going to keep the soil damp, not wet.

I'm going to read more of the Savage Garden to see what it says.

But yeah, I think I can handle a Cephalotus.
 
Cephalotus was one of my first plants, lol. My avatar is it in June 09. This plant is an a easy grower for me, I would actually recommend it for like, 6 month growers. It has habit to give a lot of pleasure and grow fast. I love this thing. ::)
 
I wouldn't "barely" water it, but yeah, don't water too much. I hardly even pay attention to my Cephalotus, and it's doing great, lol. I just threw it into my terrarium, elevated on a pot, made sure it doesn't get too dry, and it thrives.

A note on watering, it won't matter how wet your Cephalotus gets, just make sure it dries before watering again. This is how I water my Cephalotus, and it's doing great. And I would try to research more than just from the Savage Garden.

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq5130.html

http://www.carnivorousplants.org/seedbank/species/Cephalotus.html

(I hope you don't mind me posting this, elgecko) http://mysite.verizon.net/elgecko1989/Cephalotus_follicularis.html
 
i never water my ceph (just spray the soil surface when it looks bone-dry), use a peat and sand mix, (for my czech giant Iuse a peat and perlite mix) and keep it in 90--95% humidity, under a 9 watt bulb. it grows like crazy.

if you think you'll kill it because of low light, get better light. if you think you'll kill it because of overwatering, don't overwater.
 
  • #10
I treat my cephalotus just like my mexican pings... and it is thriving. The biggest mistake people make is overwatering it. I also have found that it is better to ignore the plant than to obsess over it.

Something to consider is that you can pick up several other carnivorous plants for the price of one smaller cephalotus.

Phil
 
  • #11
I think another mistake I made was that I watered from the top, not the bottom.
 
  • #12
I don't think it really matters if you top water or not. I get my Ceph's crown wet a lot, and nothing happens.
 
  • #13
the more you neglect it, the better it will do.
 
  • #14
the more you neglect it, the better it will do.

Lol, why is that so true for so many plants? I keep my Ceph in a terrarium, gets to 95 degrees in there in the summer. I also top water, but nothing seems to kill it, it is actually thriving.
 
  • #15
I agree with the others in that I don't know if that matters. The good thing is that you are learning and taking notes of what to do and what not to do. It's a learning process. Enjoy the ride even if it is a bit expensive :)

I think another mistake I made was that I watered from the top, not the bottom.
 
  • #16
I think another mistake I made was that I watered from the top, not the bottom.

I water two of my cephs via the tray method with about 1 or 2 inches of water at a time after the tray dries up for a day or two. These two plants are in tall solo cups, which I think helps in preventing any type of root/crown rot. (They've been treated like this for about a year)

My third plant, the mother plant, I have been watering from the top, around the crowns, for about 2 years. However, I did just experience a large amount of die back with this particular plant (either CSDS or lack of water when I went on vacation), so I've come to the conclusion that the tray method I mentioned above is the safer and easier way to go.

Good luck!
 
  • #17
I'm going to get a soil that is 75% perlite/sand and 25% peat moss. I'm going to keep the soil damp, not wet.

Please, take this with the proverbial grain of salt. As an anecdotal observation, I've found that fine perlite often behaves the opposite of course perlite. Whereas course perlite may drain and dry out fairly quickly, fine perlite actually retains water for much, much longer than you'd expect. While this would be okay for most CPs, it could pose a serious problem for Cephalotus. You may find that the tops of your pots look dry, but down below they could be quite damp. Overall, I find perlite too unpredictable for my preferences. But, in the case of Cephalotus, I would probably use silica/quartz sand over perlite.

-Hermes.
 
  • #18
If sand is preferred, I guess I could plant the upcoming Cephalotus in the same pot and soil as the previous Cephalotus. I just have to be careful about watering.
 
  • #19
If you are using the same pot, be sure to sterilize it. If fungus killed your first plants, there's not sense giving it another opportunity. :) What kind of pot were you using? What soil mix did you actually use?

-Hermes.
 
  • #20
If you are using the same pot, be sure to sterilize it. If fungus killed your first plants, there's not sense giving it another opportunity. :) What kind of pot were you using? What soil mix did you actually use?

-Hermes.


I used a 4-inch circular green plastic pot that was several inches tall. The soil I used was about 75% silica sand (and the occasional lava rock) and the rest was peat moss.

However, the sand made the pot really heavy and I'm worried that all the sand sort of crushed the roots of the Cephalotus.
 
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