Cephalotus dormancy -- do you do it?

[Nepfreak]

Hello,
I've heard mixed replies on whether or not to give C. follicularis a dormancy period or not. In its natural habitat, the plant apparently gets a brief couple months of dormancy with light frosts at night. Some say that in order for cephalotus to grow strongly in cultivation a similar dormancy is required. Others say that cephalotus dormancy is "not necessary" and back their statements up with nice looking plants. I'd like to adress this issue and perhaps have a bit of a debate. Is cephalotus dormancy required or not? Go!

 

[Capensis]

IMO...it probably does, seeing they receive it in nature. In the ICPS site, it talked about dormancy and how his/hers stops growing in the summer for a while.

 

[Steven Magee]

From what I have read you the only real reason to induce dormancy is to cause the plant to flower. Other than that I do not think they need one and I have been growing about 20-25 for over a year without dormancy.

 

[jimscott]

Still I keep them on the window sill and allow them to experience the lower photoperiod and cooler temps that are generated by being on a sill. The room may be ~70 F but the sill must be in the 50's. But then again, I've never had a flower!

 

[Cindy]

Cephalotus does not go dormant. It loses most of its growth during the summer when the temperatures get very high. During winter, the growth slows down but that it just with any other plant because of the lower light intensity and lower temperature.

 

[BigBella]

Hello,
I've heard mixed replies on whether or not to give C. follicularis a dormancy period or not. In its natural habitat, the plant apparently gets a brief couple months of dormancy with light frosts at night. Some say that in order for cephalotus to grow strongly in cultivation a similar dormancy is required. Others say that cephalotus dormancy is "not necessary" and back their statements up with nice looking plants. I'd like to adress this issue and perhaps have a bit of a debate. Is cephalotus dormancy required or not? Go!

There is a brief period around December to January or February (in the Northern Hemisphere) when Cephalotus slows its growth to some degree but I wouldn't really consider it the "true" dormancy that, say, Sarracenia or Dionaea experience. I generally water the plants less during those months (simply because it is not necessary to do so with the cooler, wetter climate) but little else is taken into consideration. I have never had a problem with Cephalotus and the plants flower regularly -- dormancy "observed" or otherwise . . .

 

[MrFus]

So the dormancy period isn't really a dormancy, is more like a slowdown on the grow due to lower temperature and short photoperiod...

 

[Wolfn]

So the dormancy period isn't really a dormancy, is more like a slowdown on the grow due to lower temperature and short photoperiod...

Yeah, similar to Mexican butterworts. They just change their leaf form, so they are not exactly "dormant"

 

[Alexis]

I keep mine in an unheated greenhouse with the dionaea and sarracenia. It experiences 4 months of cold with frosts and ceases growth before restarting again in spring.

 

[SirKristoff]

ive seen people grow cephs without their winter leaf phase and they still get it to flower repeatedly throughout the year...i dont think it has to do with flowering entirely....but it might allow the plant to build up energy to explode in growth later that year

 

[vraev]

I notice that the plant given the variation in temps, it just changes leaf morphology and there are more leaves than traps during winter.