Cephalotus acclimation: a little worried

[amphirion]

yes. and the browning of the pitchers is caused by two things: overwatering and poor air circulation.

like i posted earlier, i only water my ceph once a month, twice during the summer. the plant stands directly in the path of the air blown from the fan. i think you're overwatering it, you might think you're not, but it is most likely that you are.

another question....how tall is your pot?

[Listserv.org]

Hmm... ok. I mean, otherwise, it's a very healthy plant I think. I got it as a very healthy plant, and I've been feeding it flies (you can see this in the pics). Thanks for the advice!

[amphirion]

it is indeed a healthy plant. it should bounce back almost immediately when given proper growing conditions.

[Listserv.org]

Thanks a lot for your help!

---------- Post added at 09:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:19 PM ----------

By the way, how on earth does one grow these plants in a terrarium without evoking root rot? Seems like a very difficult task.

[F R e N c H 3 z]

I think you'll come to find that with time Cephs are quite adaptable plants. For some reason they get a bad rep as difficult plants but I can tell you of friends that are growing some of their Cephalotus in potting soil.

[Joseph Clemens]

They are also susceptible to spider mites, scale, thrips, and aphids, which can cause similar issues. Just to rule them out, I'd get a magnifying lens or 10x loupe, pull one of the affected pitchers and take a very close look. No sense in changing everything if it turns out to be one of these pests.

[twigs]

I would suggest you stop putting anything into the pitchers - either water or food. This is probably the cause of some of your problems. Let the plant get acclimated to your conditions and let it put up a few new pitchers before you start feeding it.

Water is mainly suggested for plants that were shipped (and lost all their fluids during shipping). I have consistently found that those existing pitchers that lost fluid during shipping are pretty much doomed. Adding water may delay pitcher death but all the existing pitchers will die off soon.

Since you bought this locally, your plant's pitchers should have kept most of their fluid.