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Caught a worm in Cephalotus purched online, should I repot?

gill_za

gill_za

Never Knows Best
Ordered a cephalotus online. It arrived "shaken, not stirred". On top of that I noticed upon closer examination of the plant an earth worm poking out to say hello. Worm was evicted with prejudice but where there is one, there could be more.
The general rule of thumb is to leave a Ceph that suffered through shipping alone and let the plant adapt to new home. I am afraid that this worm's buddies are going to screw with my baby ceph while I am waiting for it to recover.

So do I replant now or later? and if later - when?

P.S. just noticed I botched the title. wth...
 
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I would repot into fresh media, and bag it until it recovers. I find that when I repot cephs that are dormant they show ZERO signs of stress, but if they are in active growth and I disturb them they can lose almost all their foliage.

Edit: I would repot simply because it's a habit of mine when I receive new plants, since I don't know how long they've been in the media they were sent in. If you don't repot now you should do it during the winter. I don't think the worm's dropping would hurt the plant since cephalotus are the cp that receive the largest % of their nutrients from their roots.
 
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It leave it alone, personally. You don't want to be repotting a plant that's already stressed unless it's absolutely necessary.
 
What's the problem? It's an earthworm not a tub of Osmacote. I'd have left the worm in.
 
fredg said:
What's the problem? It's an earthworm not a tub of Osmacote. I'd have left the worm in.
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What if it is a Transformer worm that turns into a tub of osmocote to fight other Transformer worms? But on a serious note it's a very small pot the plant is in: 2"x3" or similar. As plant develps and grows roots won't they disturbe them?
 
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That was my thought as well. Given the small size of the pot it probably would cause some root disturbance. However, do we even know there's another worm in there? Even if there is repotting will surely disturb the roots. While leaving it be may disturb the roots. Personally I'd leave it be and if the plant declines later on look into repotting it. It doesn't seem like the possible benefits outweigh the risks.
 
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It had been decided! I will leave it as is for now. Thanks for your help!
 
Maybe you could feed any more worms you find to your cephalotus and scare the rest away. :-))
 
gill_za said:
What if it is a Transformer worm that turns into a tub of osmocote to fight other Transformer worms?
Click to expand...

This is a job for SUPERMOLE!

y2TMgpaz.jpeg
 
  • #11
curtisconners said:
Maybe you could feed any more worms you find to your cephalotus and scare the rest away. :-))
Click to expand...

You just have to make sure you force the others to watch while you feed one of their bros to the toothy horror of which the cephalotus pitcher is.
 
  • #12
Public execution through quartering, followed by drowning and finally by dissolution with enzymes?!?!?! You guys are mad... :)
 
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