Another Struggling Cephalotus...

[Jefforever]

I have a 3 year old + cephalotus that has been dying back a lot. I keep it in a 10 gallon tank exactly 9 inches from 2 florescent tubes. It gets a little sun every now and then. I keep it on a tray of wet soil and keep soaking that soil so the plant gets water from that. The top of the tank has a piece of glass over it to keep the humidity up. The gap between the glass and the sides of the tank it about 2 and a half inches on both sides.
It's not happy.

Any comments are welcome! Thanks! Some pics...

Proof that I grow other cephalotus well (pic taken today):

And proof that these Ventricosa hybrids look cool

 

[EdaxFlamma]

I like the last one a lot! What is it?

Thanks,
-J.P.

 

[Jefforever]

Hi J.P.,

It is a Ventricosa x Inermis.

 

[D_muscipula]

I think the soil could be too wet for the ceph I have never grown one before though.

 

[pingman]

Too wet! and maybe too humid too. They need air circulation...
Peter.

 

[BuddhistAdam]

in addition to that it could be a winter phase but i doubt it...

 

[LLeopardGGecko]

Did you recently change its conditions? I have a pot of Cephs that died back just like yours, and it was after I upped the lighting and the temperature. It's slowly bouncing back now. It maybe also be a moisture issue. I let my Cephs dry out slightly between waterings to avoid root rot.

 

[WildBill]

I agree -

It looks too wet to me. When I water my cephs, I only water around the perimeter of the pot and NOT anywhere near the crown. I also feed them every once in a while with small fish food pellets.

Right now, I have a ceph growing in a windowsill (ieut of a tank) and it is doing fine and putting out nice big juicy leaves. That's the first step to getting pitchers. It gets a few hours of dappled sunlight each day. If you were to move yours, don't pop it in to the sun right away.....let it acclimate in a shadier part of the window first.

I'm in Zone 5 and we have relatively cool summers here. After speaking with Jmatt, last year I tried growing a couple of cephs outside (spring, summer, fall). They were in a mostly shady spot and did VERY well. They both flowered late summer.

I do have cephs in a tank under lights. The lid is gapped about an inch on both ends so there is air circulation. The lights are on about 17 hours a day.

I hope this information helps. Good luck!!

Bill

 

[DerbyCityNeps]

i water my ceph when the very top of the soil is dry. then i pour water around the plant mass till it drains from the bottom.

on a side note. is that spectabilis x ventricosa? i love it! the red and black are awesome. its my college team colors another reason i bought one!

Alex

 

[Clint]

High humidity is perfectly fine, as long as you have plenty of air circulation to go with it. I doubt your humidity is too high, since your terrarium looks very open. My humidity stays very high, but I've got the air circulation going on so it's not a liability. Air circulation, whether the humidity is high or low, is important for all plants, but especially if it's high. More light couldn't hurt.

It's definitely too wet. Treat it like a Nepenthes. No need for a tray of water (not that you can't do that, but IMO they do better without it and there's less risk of root rot. If you do this, let it go dry for 3 or 4 days before refilling a quarter inch), and it's better to underwater this plant than over water it. What media is it in? Is the media old? Could the moss be clogging the top, preventing air circulation within the media?

This is also a perfect example of why I like clay pots for Cephalotus. It increases air circulation within the media (as well as ambient humidity!), and wicks water away from the media so it doesn't stay soggy.

 

[jimscott]

If it were me, I would pull the mature winter leaves and begin anew.

 

[CP30]

I would suggest, like others, that the media is too wet. Unfortunatley I am an expert at this having rotted many little cephs.. .
If I were you I would dry out the media and increase air flow. I use small computer fans ain tanks and larger ones for grow racks. This seems to help cephs a lot

 

[xvart]

Unfortunatley I am an expert at this

What a tragedy, being an expert at something... lol.

xvart.

 

[vraev]

yup! media seems too wet and IMO too heavy. I would definately repot....go light on the media. My media is insanely light...but the ceph atleast grows fine. I use like 50% perlite, 40% peat, 10% bark. very very open and this is apparent as water flows out of the drainage holes within like 10 secs of me watering the plant.