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Cobra Plant

ieat100s

Cephalotus June 2009
P1010165.jpg


Whats wrong with my cobra? I really need some tips on this species. I got it from a death cube, and it isn't adjusting well.


Thanks a MILLION!
 
looks like humidity shock. give it a little TLC and it should bounce back. just be careful with watering. what mix is it in?

Alex
 
Conditions and details, please. When did you get it? Where are you growing it? How are you growing it? etc. Also, I wouldn't used peat & perlite for cobras.
 
looks like humidity shock. give it a little TLC and it should bounce back. just be careful with watering. what mix is it in?

Alex

What is TLC?
 
peat is ok for cobras. but you need a very high amount of something more airy, mini pine nuggets, lots of perlite or just straight LFS. for when i still had cobras i used straight LFS for one, 1:3 peat perlite for one and 1:2:1 peat perlite and mini pine nuggets for the last one. all did pretty well until i forgot to water them before i left on a trip and they dried out (pretty quickly at that)

assuming that you just got it, the sudden drop in humidity from the death rectangular prism would cause it to shrivel up. it doesnt look very bad so the roots may still be ok. if they werent, be sure not to over water it cause that will cause it to rot away.

Alex
 
Peat/perlite is generally not recommended because it's too dense. It doesn't drain quickly, which isn't a terrible thing until you take into account that it also doesn't hold much air, which causes it to smother roots that don't enjoy waterlogged conditions. The dark color conspires with the above properties to make it warm quickly in the sun, which is one more thing that Darlingtonia really dislike. I use peat and perlite with my plants, but I usually mix in big chunks of pumice and live Sphagnum. At the very least, more perlite than peat as the others have said.
I know it looks like it's hurting, ieat, but I don't think it's a total loss. Keep the pot in water at all times, but it might be good to keep the water level shallow as well. You might try putting it in a large open-mouthed jar or a large plastic bag with the mouth open. Extra humidity may help - I don't think you should put it in a closed container like the death cube though. If you can add pumice, coarse perlite, or some other large aggregate into the mix, then the sooner you do it the better. But with care you can make it work how it is. A larger pot will work wonders, as well - Darlingtonia like pots where they can spread out wide.
Also, it might help us to know a few more details. When did you get it? When did you repot it? How long has it been out of the cube? Is it outdoors, or inside on a windowsill, or under lights? How are you watering, and what are the temperature/humidity ranges it's experiencing?
~Joe
 
Everybody has their favorite potting mixes. What works best probably depends a lot on your climate.

The care sheets that came with the Darlingtonia that I bought from a nursery in Oregon recommended a peat/perlite mix that was mostly peat. Either 90% or 70% peat. I don't recall the exact proportions. I probably still have the sheets or the email somewhere, but not worth digging up right now. I was surprised since most recommendations I've gotten were for 50-70% perlite. But then the supplier has been growing CPs for a long time.

And now it turns out that Darlingtonia are fluoride sensitive so pumice/lava rock are a better choice since (depending on the source) perlite is high in fluorides.
 
  • #10
the fluorides are why i stick to pure LFS in my plants and try to stay with atleast some live stuff in the mix.
currently all of my temperates are frozen completely solid since out of nowhere we got a huge winter chill that came through, hit around 7ºF last night here which is rather rare for our area especially at this time of the year...


Iea100s, in my opinion, it definitely looks like a humidity and a heat issue,
How are you growing this plant? When did you receive it?
ive grown cobras for a couple years now, and i have to say they definitely dont like dry air and heat, if its too hot, considering refrigerating the RO water you use for the plants, or even put icecubes in the media.
But it definitely needs to get out of that peat, problem with Cobras is that they usually dont respond too well to being repotted, i havent had problem, but i use LFS so i just simply take the plant with the current LFS and put it in new LFS in a bigger pot....
 
  • #11
I had not heard about either Darlingtonia's sensitivity to -- nor perlite's concentration of fluoride and have successfully used it in my mixes (along with some pumice) for years . . .
 
  • #13
I got this plant from Lowes. I took it out of the death cube and put it by my window, because it was about 40 degrees F. that day. Then it started to look all shirveled up, so I gave it some water. Its looked this way for the past week. I really need some help on this species, as you can see.
 
  • #14
I do not have any experience with this species, but most plants from Lowe's will suffer major humidity shock if taken out of the cube suddenly.
 
  • #15
Well, I used the cube in giving a home to some terrestrial bladderworts, so theres nothin' I can do with that.
 
  • #17
Thats what I was thinking.
 
  • #18
A bag should work. My 2¢ would be to not put the bag over it, though. Place it in the bag and leave the top open. You just want to protect it from drafts, not seal it up again. On a window, it's going to experience a lot of air circulation as the room-temperature air cools against the glass, gets heavier and sinks to the floor. The air movement carries moisture away rapidly (especially with the air cooling and then warming up again.) Closing the plant in a bag will just make it think that it can rely on the air being at 100% RH all the time. An open container will slow the loss of moisture without misleading your plant about the conditions it's in.
~Joe
 
  • #19
This is very useful,seedjar. Thank you.
 
  • #20
i also picked up a couple of darlingtonia from lowes a week or so ago..
i didnt worry to much about acclimating them as my area is pretty high in humidity, but they are in active growth so i have them under strong lighting and i still keep their roots nice and cold however.
Your media looks like its made of mostly peat, which is not something id exactly advise for Darlingtonia, though i have a couple that arrived as part of an order potted in peat....they are dormant and completely frozen currently, so i wont worry about repotting them until just before the end of dormancy.
Your darlingtonia, im not sure which style of death cube they came in, but mine was in the plastic cubes from lowes that you generally see adelae, VFTs, N. ventricosa, or various Sarrs in....
Provide it with good humidity, strong light, and a nice cool root system and it should be a happy plant in no time....Darlingtonia are pretty damn hardy imo, coastal locations might be a little more temperamental but if you give it some love, it will be gorgeous and happy in a few months....
 
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