Should I do something about this?

[b.t.]

one of my ceph's is getting overrun by this moss. its not sphagnum. this is an older photo. in later ones, even more of the ceph is being swallowed, and you can only see 2 or 3 pitchers at most. Will it eventually get choked to death if i dont quickly dig it out now?

 

[Clint]

If that were my plant, I wouldn't be worried because the Cephalotus will eventually put on a growth spurt.

If you do get rid of it, leave the Cephalotus alone and trim the moss out. Don't disturb the Cephalotus over a little moss.

 

[creepa200]

wow what condition you providing that? I can;t get my moss to spread only grow little stems out of it lol

 

[Clint]

*cough cough* that's not Sphagnum, Creepa.

 

[creepa200]

pill what is it then That's exactly what the stuff around my plants look like. Just smaller and with like stems/hairs coming out of the middle

 

[creepa200]

Mine looks like that so bad. Little stars about this size of this O with stems coming out of the middle like.

 

[Clint]

I'm not a moss expert lol, but I do know if your moss looks just like that, it's not Sphagnum.

 

[Not a Number]

http://www.botanik.univie.ac.at/~temsch/morpho.html

 

[jimscott]

I'd just manually remove the moss.

 

[Alexis]

It won't do any harm.

I'd remove it just because non-sphagum moss just looks wrong growing with CPs!

 

[vraev]

lol! yeah! that is not sphagnum....but I actually PLANTED by hand some of that moss into my ceph pot. LMAO! But my media is very very airy so the moss cannot plug it up. I would definately take a small tweezers and slowly remove the moss.

 

[mobile]

I have that type of moss growing on my Cephalotus compost and it has done no harm at all. Personally I like the look of it and given the right conditions it will completely cover the surface which is better looking that the perlite you usually see. Attempting to remove it will probably be unsuccessful because it will re-grow from even the tiniest remaining piece, plus you run the risk of disturbing the Cephalotus.

 

[Nepenthes]

I too had the same issue with one of my Cephs, so I repotted it, and put sand on the surface of the media to minimize the chance of it happening again. I find Cephs to be a lot hardier than given credit for (even their root systems).

My moss had gotten way too outta control, and it made a clump at the surface of the soil thereby inhibiting drainage.

 

[jm82792]

I hate that moss I remove it when I see it ...

 

[Nepenthes]

Heres My Ceph Before Repotting:

Ceph Bareroot:

Ceph Repotted:

The sand also helps to prevent the Perlite from rising to the top when watering (On top of inhibiting moss growth).

 

[Cindy]

b.t. -
You are keeping the media a little too moist and conducive for moss growth. The moss in my pots grows on the slopes of the mound of media. In that way, they don't grow as tall as the Cephs.

The rest -
Anyone seen Cephs in the wild? I have seen from photos that they grow in mats of moss.

Btw, I love the look of moss around my Cephs!

Like this.

 

[mobile]

I think it's probably all down to aesthetics, if you don't mind the look of it then leave it as it'll do no harm. Plants growing in the wild are often surrounded by mosses and grasses, not a sterile looking peat, sand and perlite ground.

 

[b.t.]

I don't mind it but it has been steadily creeping into the cephalotus. I looked at the ceph just now, theres maybe 3 pitchers still visible.

The moss is growing realy well cause I'm fertilizing the pot. The moss wasnt doing much at all before I started fertilizing. Lol... my ceph isnt benefitting from any fertilizer, cause the moss eats all!

 

[b.t.]

Heres My Ceph Before Repotting:

Ceph Bareroot:

Ceph Repotted:

The sand also helps to prevent the Perlite from rising to the top when watering (On top of inhibiting moss growth).

Gasp! If it aint broke dont touch it!! You dug out a healthy ceph @_@x
Everytime I dig out a ceph I lose it!!!

 

[mobile]

I don't mind it but it has been steadily creeping into the cephalotus. I looked at the ceph just now, theres maybe 3 pitchers still visible.

The moss is growing realy well cause I'm fertilizing the pot. The moss wasnt doing much at all before I started fertilizing. Lol... my ceph isnt benefitting from any fertilizer, cause the moss eats all!

I don't really want to get into the fertilizer debate with CPs as some growers strongly disagree with it, but I have used a very dilute foliar fertilizer on Cephalotus which I put directly into the pitcher using a pipette, not on the compost. Fertilizer can damage the roots and tends to build up in the compost.