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Cephalous in leaf mold

Hello every one. I read in Adrian slackes Cp book on the section were it explaines how to grow Cephalotus that this plant would apriciate some amount of leaf mold (It sais there either oak or beech leaf mold). I guss the info in the book is not up to date but any one had any experiance with this? Would it be harmfull to the plant to use Oak tree leaf mold? I read all parts in Oaks have some toxics in them that the tree produces and that they disturb ohter plants growth.

Thanks

YtK
 
Sory, Has= As

YtK
 
The "toxin" is tanin....the chemical used for tanning hides. As for growing the plants in it I dont know,but non cps enjoy it!
 
In Slack's second book he mentions that leaf mould is not necessary. I've tried adding leaf mould and I have not noticed any benefit. Plain peat and sand tends to give me the best results. FWIW, I find piling the media above the rim of the pot and planting the ceph into the mound ihelps a little. Adding Trichoderma to the mix also vastly improves my success with this plant.

As for phytotoxins in the oak leaves, the toxins are easily broken down during the composting process that produces leaf mould.

Andrew
 
Thanks very much for this information Andrew. I guss when i have more Cephalotuses i can experiance.

All the best


YtK
 
The tanin will just act to make things more acidic, so I don't see any benefit if it's already in a peat based media. In the wild they grow in soils which are full of broken down material such as leaves, so I suppose it would help replicate its natural environment.
 
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