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Decapitating my Cephalotus?

Wolfn

Agent of Chaos
Greetings. My Cephalotus is starting to become a little over-grown. Newer leaves are crowding out others and the entire plant is a big mess with multiple grow points.

The obvious solution would be to uproot the plant and separate it, however I don't want to disturb the soil.

I was reading in a carnivorous plant book (the authors were from Peter Pauls Nurseries) and it talked about plant decapitation. Basically, the entire upper portion of the plant is clipped off at ground level, leaving the base of the stem on the surface and the roots ready to start growing again. The clipped portion can then be potted and will grow roots as a cutting.



What do you think? Good idea?
 
If you are wanting to "thin" out the plant,
indeed the cut pieces can be rooted if stem or root portions are included.
Instead of cutting the entire top off, I think I would keep one or two of the best segments still attached.
That way you won't be risking everything, and will be allowing the remaining growth points
the room they need to grow.

I would re-pot / divide, but then I am comfortable doing that & have had quite good succes.
(I have been dividing/re-potting plants for a long, long time, and don't have reservations in doing it to nearly any plant. There are some that are more tender than others, and don't appreciate disturbance. However like most things, the key is in knowing how to handle the plant, and sometimes "when" is the safer/best time to do it.)

The route you are choosing is a compromise to having to do that, and will still give you something to try rooting from. I have also "de-headed" certain plants (but not all by any means!), and while I usually don't do it, you shouldn't have any problems doing this with a ceph. from what I can see. (Do consider my comments about doing this, as they may help.)
You may also want to slightly poke into the loose soil to see if you can bring along some roots when "decapitating" top portions.
The plant may still encounter shock, however it should be less than it might get from dividing.
(I wouldn't try to convince you to divide it if you don't think you can do so successfully.)

Lastly, unless it really seems a mess, you could also just keep allowing it to grow more.
Or, if you want it to be a really small plant instead, let me know & I will trade you a small one for it! :-D

Whatever you decide to do...
Good luck.
:water:

By the way, when you have access to something cheaper, try doing some transplanting and dividing. It wouldn't be a good idea to practice on a Ceph or other expensive plant, but the experience from doing it with cheaper plants will go a long way!
Just a thought
.
 
I was reading in a carnivorous plant book (the authors were from Peter Pauls Nurseries) and it talked about plant decapitation. Basically, the entire upper portion of the plant is clipped off at ground level, leaving the base of the stem on the surface and the roots ready to start growing again. The clipped portion can then be potted and will grow roots as a cutting.

Say what you will of the Pietropaolos and their "uneven" reputations on the various fora, their methods have always proved useful to me; and I have used the "decapitation" method on many occasions over the years and always with success. Their book, Carnivorous Plants of the World has been in constant print for the last twenty-six years for a good reason.

I would, though, encourage the use of a rooting agent on the cut end, though I cannot recall whether it had been recommended . . .
 
I vote decapitation.
I just did this with D. admirabilis since the roots were obscenely large. Was a success all around.
Would be cool to see what happens with Cephalotus. I imagine a large top growth would root pretty easily. And most likely, there's already new growth just below the surface of the root section.
 
I vote decapitation.
I just did this with D. admirabilis since the roots were obscenely large. Was a success all around.
Would be cool to see what happens with Cephalotus. I imagine a large top growth would root pretty easily. And most likely, there's already new growth just below the surface of the root section.

And once the upper portion takes root, I can sell it on ebay for a massive sum of money :D
 
What do you think? Good idea?
I understand what the others are saying and I suspect that you'll have at least some (if not full) success with decapitation. However, I'd still recommend that the 'optimal' approach is to carefully remove the rootball/media from the pot, analyze the situation and separate the plant into as many pieces as makes sense for you. When all the pieces have been repotted - just ensure that they get a somewhat higher humidity environment than normal for a few weeks until they're over their trauma (& water with a Tricho solution).

Do some searches for threads where elgecko & av8tor1 show their repotting efforts. I believe that Av shows both Heli's & Cephs in a few threads - worth a read.

... however I don't want to disturb the soil.
Personally, this strikes me as a borderline silly reason. Disturbing the soil is part of growing these plants - not something to be afraid of. (Unless, of course, it's one of the few CPs that abhor root disturbance -- a group in which Cephs are not included imho).
 
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