The Big Move.

[BioZest]

Lol you guys all clicked on this because you thought I was moving and giving away my pitcher plants. No such luck . I'm talking about my cephalotus. It has refused to grow or die. It just sits in a ten gal. in my basement and does nothing. Since the icps show last summer. I've heard people have had a lot of success growing these guys on windowsills during the summer, and I want to try it, but I'm not sure if the plant is stable enough. I've decided that in two days I will bring this guy upstairs and post photos of him every day until I think he is stable. Here are some pics for now:

Tell me what you think.

-Bio

 

[Cthulhu138]

Ryan, it looks like the plant may be dormant and by the way you described it's stasis and the fact that it has been in the basement since late summer, this seems likely. Try increasing it's light cycle and warming it up. It should start showing signs of new growth shortly after it believes that summer has arrived.

 

[BioZest]

hmm... I wasn't aware cephalotus went through dormancy...well you learn something everyday I guess (and look super naive doing it). Thanks

 

[Cthulhu138]

Cephalotus will go through a dormancy every year if allowed to. I put mine in the basement every year with a light cycle of only 8 - 10 hours from November to March. It's good for them to experience a mild dormancy every year. They come from a climate similar to South Carolina and can even experience occasional snow fall.

 

[SgtSarracenia]

hmm... I wasn't aware cephalotus went through dormancy...well you learn something everyday I guess (and look super naive doing it). Thanks

Many may not generally, but if was bought in the summer, and was used to being warmer and then was put in the basement, it may be dormant. You may find that bringing it out into a warmer area may quickly yield results.

Just my two cents, and it still won't buy ya any Bubblegum!

 

[BioZest]

Many may not generally, but if was bought in the summer, and was used to being warmer and then was put in the basement, it may be dormant. You may find that bringing it out into a warmer area may quickly yield results.

Just my two cents, and it still won't buy ya any Bubblegum!

Thank you for your two cents going towards BioZest's Bubblegum charity inc. Can we interest you in our newest feature film: The Effects of Bubblegum Donations on the adverage American? Free (with a donation of over seven thousand dollars).



seriously thanks though

 

[SgtSarracenia]

No problem. I try to put my two cents in where I can, and as long as you are starting a Bubblegum fund I will contribute often.

 

[BioZest]

Very nice to hear the enthusiasm from the donors of BBC(Biozest's Bubblegum Charity) inc.

 

[BioZest]

Sorry 'bout the double post, but I had to update. Yesterday I began heating the tank. I will also do that today, and tomorrow I will bring the little guy upstairs.

 

[BioZest]

Day 1 upstairs:
The plant has been moved upstairs onto the first floor which gets less sun. I will be carefully studying it for signs of stress.

 

[BioZest]

Update #2: Some good news and some bad news.

Let's start optimistically. The biggest growth point is sending up two new little-hairy-knob-buds and looking good overall.

The buds on the bigger plant:

Part of the bad news is that the one and only pitcher on that point is dying. I have decided not to cut it off (until the brown spots spreads to the stem) because it is partially green and photosynthesizing.

Pitcher on the bigger plantling:

The other bad news is that the other growth point is doing badly. It is now only one little leaf and no signs of new buds. Please help me save it; I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

The dead pitcher on the smaller one:

TY

 

[Plant Planter]

Ah, the highly prized Cephalotus follicularis. Growers pride themselves on owning one! Unfortunately, they are not easy (i.e. Drosera capensis "easy") to grow. I do notice that your plant has no terrarium. Cephalotus is an Australian plant--they don't call it the Australian pitcher plant for nothing. It'll need high humidity, but increase it in increments, and slowly. It must get used to things.

And don't worry about feeling naive! We've all felt like that before.

 

[BioZest]

@plant planter: I am aware that cephalotus requires some humidity, and if you look at the first page of the thread you'll see that I am taking the ceph out of a terrarium in an attempt to take it out of a long dormancy. I have heard that many people have had succes in growing these plants in windowsills outside of a terrarium and I am going to try my hand at it. Thanks for your advice though.

 

[Plant Planter]

You're welcome. Forums are especially made for exchanging information, and with the Internet it's no problem. Thankfully we don't need a couple weeks to deliver the news "Cephalotus need high humidity!" and then your plant's dead already.

By the way, it's probably a smart choice to keep its relative humidity low while it's waking up. After all, it's not expecting any high humidity.

 

[DJ57]

I grow mine in a windowsill and don't pay any attention to humidity. I also put them out in the unheated garage in a window over winter, where they experience temps down into the mid 40s, for a winter "rest."

It is hard to say what is causing your little guy to fail. I have had successful strikes putting pulls in soil in the pot with the mother plant, but most of my successes are using wet LFS. Perhaps yours needs a more moist medium?

I put my leaf/pitcher pulls in a shallow container of wet LFS and put about 10-12" from a shop light with two 40-watt cool white bulbs on a 12-hour light cycle, no terrarium, just normal household conditions. Sometimes I don't see strikes until the leaf pull is brown and shriveled. I wait until they have a few leaves on them or a couple pitchers started before I pot them up and move them to the windowsill. I have found them very sensitive at this point, so need to be careful transplanting them. Otherwise, they have been a very easy CP for me to grow.

Regia on the other hand hate me, go figure, haha.

 

[BioZest]

Update #3.

I unearthed the smaller plant to check for any new buds, and didn't find anything promising.

It seems unlikely that it will send anything else up to revive itself.

The bigger plantlet is responding much better, though. Like I said last update, it is sending up two new buds. One of them is a leaf, so the plant must be convinced it is spring, as I was hoping. At least I will have one division.

I pulled the old pitcher off the bigger plant BTW.

Any more advice? mah baby seems to be happy now.