Cephalotus lids waaay up

swords · Jan 9, 2003

I was startled today by something weird. The lids on my cephalotus are sticking 90* straight up and down (meaning the mouth is wide open) instead of "gracefully" arching over like they normally do. What do you suppose would cause this?

Are they hungry?

I have not fed this plant anything ever. It only gets an occasional fertilizing and whatever gnats it catches. It has formed a pretty large, very tight 5" mass, in the center of a 10" pot. Is it indicating that it needs to be divided and repotted even though there appears to be plenty of room?

GEORGE-CP · Jan 9, 2003

hey josh,

this you opened a topic about questions on the Austie i hope you don't mind me adding a question also.

does this plant go dorment at all?

the one i have has turned all brown in color with a little green still in it. ever since the first cold spell hit here it start to looking really bad. at least it does to me. i grow this one right along with all the sarr. i have outside. so it does get the direct weather that i get here. so it has been down to the upper 30's here but the day time temp. is latly in the upper 60's. so please any help or answers will be great.

swords · Jan 9, 2003

I've asked the question about dormancy a long time ago. I think the answer was "it can go dormant but doesn't need to". If it gets too cold the top will die but the plant can come back from the roots when the weather gets warmer.
I've never had a pitcher go black and die since I got the plant back in June so they must last an incredible amount of time in acceptable temps (mines in the highland tank which only occasionally gets below 50*F at night).

GEORGE-CP · Jan 9, 2003

well at least it is good to know that it will start to grow again in the spring here or late winter.

well it atually started to do this around halloween and it was no where near as cold as 50 maybe if i remember right it only got down to the upper 60's then.

josh, if you look at the opening pic of the ceph info web page
the pitcher on there is almost at a 90 degree angle but, i'm no expert by far with is plant. there is an e-mail addy some where in the web page ask him and see what he says

cephalotus.info · Jan 14, 2003

Josh,
The ceph lids open more when the humidity is high and can close quite a bit when the humidity drops or the compost starts to dry out. So its nothing to worry about.

George,
Not sure where you are located, but, if you are likely to get frost of any sort - watch out. Its such a shame with these plants to lose any top growth when they are so slow growing anyway. They will come back from any remaining root system however small - but again why risk it.
They don't need dormancy.
Try to keep at 7o - 75 for growth all year round during day and 45-50 at night. Keep the humidity up and don't keep compost too wet it can encourage rot - let the tray dry out for a couple of days before watering again.

Regards
Jonathan at www.cephalotus.info

swords · Jan 14, 2003

Ah, thanks Jonathan! It was such a shock to look in and see the bright white and purple striped underside of the lids it startled me and made me a bit worried.
I finally fed the plant a few crickets into the largest pitchers (almost 2") so hopefully it's growth will speed up a little bit.

GEORGE-CP · Jan 14, 2003

Jonathan,
no i do not get any frost what so ever here in mid. Florida. lowest temp. gets to about 45 during in the winter months. ever since i received it, it was in bad shape due to shipping. with what u stated about the temps that is basically what it is here during the winter months but, stays warmer during the rest of the year. i have only had this plant for maybe 4 months now. so i will be able to tell more next year.
with the watering i don't leave it sitting in water and water it once a week. somewhere i read that it doesn't like sitting in water at all so after a week of having it growing in its pot i let the water dry up in the tray under it.

swords · Jan 14, 2003

huh, I always heard they didn't like excess water so i never used a tray of any kind, both of you mention letting water in the tray dry up the only water my plant gets is what the soil can hold. I water the ceph the same way as my highland Neps & orchid plants with a flush per week, less for teh Ceph cos he's in peat/pearlite with live moss ontop and his soil really holds water. Should I start to use a tray? How deep of a tray, just like a sundew or ping at about 1" or tall enough to flood the soil for a week at a time?

cephalotus88 · Jan 14, 2003

My cephalotus also has its lid up, but probably not as much as 90degrees

. I grow mine in a 5inch pot in a mix of peat,perlite,lava rock. It is about 3inches in diameter and has large leaves and medium sized pitchers. Mine doesnt go dormant and is in the terraium year round. I dont water it much, but when i do (maybe once every 2 weeks) i water it like a nep, by misting the top soil around the plant.

I used a tray for one of my past cephs, and it works well if allowed to dry up. I use an size saucer and por about 1inch of water in it. After it dries up, i wait till a week or so then add more.

As a rule, if humidity is higher, you can water less.

Hope this helps.

cephalotus.info · Jan 15, 2003

Josh,George,Ceph88
Watch your plant carefully now you have fed it crickets.
For some reason they don't like too much large food. In the wild they mainly catch ants and midges - very small food.
So, the pitcher might start to rot - if it turns yellowish - cut it off. I find they respond better to ants or ant eggs and/or foliar feeding.

As to trays - I personally only water from the top and mist spray, I only mentioned letting the trays dry out because most people treat them as sarracenias and keep them in the same conditions. I keep mine quite moist (water once a week in summer, once a month in winter) and in 7 - 10 inch pots which maintains a more even compost moisture.

Jonathan