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cephalotus problems

Step_Pro

Step_Pro

I am pretty new to the forums and to CP's, 1 year experience. I have had a baby cephalotus that is not doing well. Pitchers that have been there for a few months have wilted and the leaves are drooping. The crown and the new growth looks good though.

I have been growing it in my edit: South window for 3 months (when I got it), in a 2:2:1 peat, perlite, LFS (with LFS laid on top of it). Temp is 70-80 degrees, 50-80% humidity. new growth has been about 4 leaves and was working on a pitcher.

When I inspected my plant today, I found little bugs running in and out of the LFS that was on top of the pot. So I carefully removed the top layer of LFS and replaced it with a little bit of peat. ( I poked the bugs with my finger and they didn't jump. I don't know what that means but I saw it in one of the threads here)

This bug is also in one of my neps that I planted in the same mix. and the nep seems to be doing okay, but I have pretty tough breeds of neps.

I am trying not to beat dead horses with perfectly good sticks. Here is what I have found out:

1) Ceph likes a soil that drains well. I may have to make a mixture that will drain better for the plant. http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121855
I would like to rule out some of the other possibilities before I transplant this ceph, because I have heard that it can be tough on them.

2) I just noticed the perlite I have is fertilized, it is the miricale grow stuff, I didn't think they would but fertilizer on that stuff. could that be burning the roots?

Attached are a few pictures

IMAG0079.jpg


IMAG0078.jpg


I did get a little bit under the gun with homework and didn't water it last week. But the soil was not dry. How should I proceed?

Thanks All :)
 
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hmm.. it's a toughy. With it's current conditions, a repot may kill it. With cephs, the last thing you wanna do when they are this far dowhill is disturb the roots.
As far as the media, I don't use perlite at all. Just 2:1 silica & peat. Nice and sandy.. I only use LFS as a top layer for 2 of my 13 cephs. They seem to like it, but I don't top water them at all. Afraid the moisture may be too high if I do. They are all in a tray that I add 1" of water to probably once every other week. Keep in mind that that amount of water is absorbed into 13 different pots. I've lowered they're water intake levels dramatically since winter/spring. Trying to simulate summer time and hopefully induce a better growing season. In theory.. :rolleyes:
Hopefully my experience and practices helps with your endeavor.
 
i use one part peat one part pearlite one part sand with a 100% sand top layer this will help with fungus gnats if those are the bugs you have. How often do you water it? i water mine maybe once a week.......to much will rot the crown. As for the pearlite get rid of it use new media, yet with the repot and it being in such bad health it may take a turn for the worse. They also do take time to acclimate, unless you live in the southern hemisphere the north window is not nearly enough for this plant. It needs to be in a window that gets at least 6 hrs of direct sunlight. So as far as i can guess its a little bit of everything thats giving it bad health. Get it to a spot that gets more light or use artificial lighting. and be careful with watering it the lfs will hold a lot of water and may be to wet for it. Good luck

Ryan
 
Were it any other CP I would say the miracle grow perlite is a problem, but I doubt it is in this case... Since cephs get more nutrients through their roots than most if not any other CP...
More than likely it's a combination of lack of airflow and being waterlogged.
I do not leave my cephs sitting in water at any time... I use a mix of peat/sand/perlite and a thin top dressing of Lfs. Ill come back later after I wake up (just got off from the graveyard shift) and take a better look as I'm on my phone and see if I can't come up with an answer (unless someone else beats me to it)
 
i would say give it more light watch your watering and give it some more time, im afraid in its weak state a transplant will be more or less fatal.
 
I'd immediately remove all of the dead leaves in the event there's some fungal issue; and it does look like you have new leaves on the way. I would put of any re-potting until you determine whether there is a pest problem . . .
 
Never use Miracle Grow anything on your CPs, even your cephs. I killed a ceph once including their perlite in the mix. Didn't take long.
 
Thank you all for your input :blush:

@rball: i have been trying to water it once a week, but I got a little lax; classes were eating up my time last week.

I would water it from the bottom, but I began deciding if it needed watering from how much water the LFS was holding on the top layer. When I picked up the pot though, it was light. Theory: If the LFS retained moister longer than the peat perlite mix, it could have not been watered enough.

Theory 2 @bella: I have cut the dead leaf off because of the possibility of fungal infection. This pitcher that rested on the LFS constantly died first and it could have began to rot and grow fungus. ( I will post pictures of the dead pitcher later, I am working 34 hours this weekend and am beat, but dead leaf is off the plant).

Tonight there is no difference, I have replaced the LFS with dry peat on top, and the plant seems the same. There are still some bugs on the plant, I have put it in an west window too for more sun.

Watering cephalotus seems to be a delicate duality: always having water and having maximum air in the medium.

I will post more later and thank you for the suggestions!

-Steve
 
  • #10
It was sort of a busy week for me. I sat my ceph in an east window, gave it water and just had to see what happened. I It has been developing black around the crown :(

I'll post pictures tonight when I get home from work, but it doesn't look too hot.

Note: I edited my first post. It was in a south window, not a north window.
 
  • #11
I It has been developing black around the crown
Click to expand...

I'd be looking for a replacement plant... in totally different soil media.
 
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