Propagating a small Cephalotus

[RandyS]

I just wanted to document how long it takes to generate some new plants from a small Cephalotus. I always think it's a good idea, if possible, to propagate a new plant.

I received the plant 4 weeks ago tomorrow, from a generous giveaway from Dexenthes (thanks!). The plant looked beautiful upon arrival.

In a 2 inch pot:



After I decided the plant looked settled in, I decided to pull a leaf and root it. At some point I also noticed the plant that Dexenthes sent had 3 growing points. I saw three plants... I decided to cautiously take a division. Unfortunately I forgot to write down the date, but I'll assume it was 3 weeks ago, maximum. Here's what that first division, and the pulled leaf looked like yesterday--both have roots. All the roots on the division are new since it was taken:



I'm a big believer in checking the progress of cuttings, and I noticed that the division had roots a while ago. So I took another, somewhat larger division when I saw those roots. That second division is also rooting. See the multiple short roots down near the bottom:



As I say, i forgot to write down dates, but here's a rough guess:

Plant received: 4 weeks ago
First division, leaf cutting taken: <3 weeks ago
Second division taken: ~1 1/2 weeks ago
And I took another leaf pull yesterday.

And here are the 3 1/2 plants, yesterday, in 2 inch pots (the rooted leaf is reddish, at 2 o'clock in the pot on the left):



So I'll try to follow up with these, and see how many plants I can generate out of this over the next few months.

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Don't forget, the pitcher leaves can be propagated, just like the flat ones.

 

[Dexenthes]

Looking good!

 

[RandyS]

Joseph: Yep. However, I don't have too much to work with there yet, although I suspect that will change soon. This is also a new species to me, and I would hate to immediately remove the most interesting feature. Presumably the flat ones are more efficient at photosynthesis (for equivalent sized leaves), so possibly removing one of those potentially weakens the mother plant more. But do they give the young plantlets a stronger start for the same reason?.

Dexenthes: Thanks again!

 

[Jcal]

Good job randyS

I have found that when I divide young plants it really sets them back and takes longer for them to mature. I'm still waiting for a small plant that I divided too early to produce mature pitchers. Over a year and still waiting....

 

[Dexenthes]

Good job randyS

I have found that when I divide young plants it really sets them back and takes longer for them to mature. I'm still waiting for a small plant that I divided too early to produce mature pitchers. Over a year and still waiting....

Yea this is the reason I was offering such an established division. I was thinking it would make mature pitchers soon. Now it may very well take its sweet time, but you will probably have more Cephalotus in the end, so it's just a cost-benefit decision.

 

[RandyS]

Jcal and Dexenthes,

I'll follow up here with pictures. I've also read to expect the plants to "seem" set back, drop leaves and pitchers... I see no sign of that, so far.. Some nice new growth, though.

Most people would recommend strongly against digging up the divisions and leaf pulling like I did. Surely the young roots would be damaged. It can be done, if done carefully.

 

[RandyS]

I would also point out that the removal of the first leaf and the removal of the first division should have been essentially equivalent in terms of setting back a plant. Both came without roots and both are essentially the same size.

The removal of the second division could potentially be a bigger loss to the main plant, but again no feeder roots were removed or damaged. I would expect that if anything was set back significantly it would be this division, not the main plant.

 

[Dexenthes]

Well I am quite sure you know more than a thing or two about plants, so I am confident they will grow well regardless of what happens. I will be interested to see how quickly the original division starts putting out mature pitchers. I think that it's not necessarily hurting the roots that can slow a plant down, but some people report even just moving the roots a little bit will cause the plant to slow down. I just potted up another Cephalotus division today - it has two mature pitchers - but I will be keeping an eye on it to see if it halts growth altogether, though I am almost positive that I didn't break a single root or jostle it too much in any way, I am expecting it to take it's time for a bit.

My largest Cephalotus took just about 3 years to start regularly producing mature pitchers. So... we'll see.

 

[RandyS]

I'm trying to think of a plant which produces side rosettes or suckers, where if such a side growth is cut off, leaving the roots intact, it sets back the main plant. I can't think of any. If anything, the main growth is sometimes strengthened.

Here's a closeup view of the biggest plant. Notice how the emerging pitcher at 6 o'clock has a thicker petiole and noticeably longer hairs than the older (pale) pitcher at about 8:30. (other still growing pitchers are at 2:30, 9:30, and the newest one at almost midnight). I take it those are consistent with a larger pitcher, if nothing else?

 

[Jcal]

Retracted

 

[RandyS]

It should be emphasized that what I did was more like taking cuttings. I cut off two secondary rosettes. The rootball was not divided, nor even significantly exposed to do this. It is probably best compared to other situations where cuttings are taken, and the roots are not disrupted. Certainly removing the first tiny division/cutting was more like removing a leaf than splitting a plant in two.

I haven't seen any sign of pitcher or leaf loss (other than those I've deliberately removed). I did accidentally break off the one mature pitcher the division came with (mostly obscured in the upper right of the first photo). The 2 divisions/cuttings look unfazed as well. Does the leaf/pitcher loss set in after time? The new growth on all 3 also looks good.

I'm guessing the plant underwent more trauma traveling several thousand miles, being repotted and grown in a new environment, than it did having two small side rosettes sliced off with a razor blade. Presumably the side rosettes would show the greatest problems, and I don't see any yet.

 

[RandyS]

Here's another view of the newly emerging pitchers:



The one in the middle is an existing pitcher; the others are new growth.

 

[RandyS]

Here is a comparison of one of the existing pitchers (left) and one of the emerging, and still growing pitchers (right). The scale is not exact, but the pitchers are about the same size.

 

[pmatil]

My largest Cephalotus took just about 3 years to start regularly producing mature pitchers.

That's a long wait. I'm waiting for my hummer's to produce adult pitchers. The person who I got it from propagated it from a leaf pulling on 9/6/2013. It is still making teeny tiny pitchers in my care.

 

[Dexenthes]

That's a long wait. I'm waiting for my hummer's to produce adult pitchers. The person who I got it from propagated it from a leaf pulling on 9/6/2013. It is still making teeny tiny pitchers in my care.

My conditions were variable as well, so it's not as if I was the premier Cephalotus care-taker, but it certainly is a long time considering how small the plant (still) is.

 

[RandyS]

I don't know if this qualifies as a small mature pitcher, but the plants seem to be doing well:



And this is the smallest plant I removed from the main one, as well as the first leaf pulling, which is showing growth of a plantlet:

 

[RandyS]

I just wanted to follow up with a photo of the original leaf pulling. It's been 2 months since my first post, so the leaf pulling is 2 months 3 weeks, or a little less. I'm surprised how fast it grows.



And here's a closeup:



It looks like there are at least 3 independent growing points on the leaf pulling. This is probably not clear from the photo. If anyone is curious, I can repost the zoomed photo with arrows as to where I think these are.

I realize none of this is new to many, but I wanted to document what I was doing for my own information. I also find that photos of things like young plantlets are not necessarily easy to find, yet can be helpful to understanding how the propagation works.

I've recently been very aggressive, since the largest plant (and probably the second largest as well) seems destined to make lots of mature pitchers. So my goal is to preserve those, while seeing how many new plants I can crank out. Right now, the total of rooted plants (3) + leaf pullings + leaf/pitcher pullings is about 15. I sent one rooted leaf pulling to someone else.

 

[RandyS]

Just an update on the little guys. This is the plant(s) resulting from the first leaf pulling. I decided it was time to give it its own pot.

The oldest this plant can be is 3 months, 3 weeks from the time of the leaf pulling:


(that is a quarter...)

Zoomed in:



I potted up everything (leaves, pitcher leaves) with roots and/or new growth at this point, as I fully expect them to become plants, if they are not already. Combined with the 3 initial plants from dividing the original, I have 9 pots with independently rooted plants/leaves. Plus I gave one rooted leaf away. I got the original plant almost exactly 4 months ago.