My young Cephalotus arrived on April 5, 2012.
I planted it in a 2:1 mix of silica sand/peat moss. The extra sand helps keep the soil from staying too soggy, which it seems to appreciate, but it does dry out faster than other soils.
The day after I got it, transplant shock set in, and the tiny red pitchers to start to turn black; I had put it under T5's so I didn't think to acclimate it more carefully. Every darkened pitcher you see below, except the smallest one in the center, was dead within a week.
April 6, 2012:
Click the image to zoom in.
<img src="http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=17016" width="500">
It slowly started growing additional immature pitchers to replace the lost ones. These things really are much more resilient than they're given credit for.
Months passed.
In early/mid August, I fed one of the immature pitchers two flightless fruit flies, as they were finally large enough that gnat-sized insects would fit inside.
A week later, I noticed one of the new immature pitchers was overdue to pop open - one that started developing just before this one had already popped.
I checked it again a week later and it was still not open but was getting larger.
After two more weeks of ballooning up more and more, it finally popped a couple days ago, revealing the first mature pitcher.
Here are a few macro shots, 5 months later.
September 6, 2012:
Click the images to zoom in.
Peristome focus:
<img src="http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=17017" width="500">
<img src="http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=17019" width="500">
Front rib focus:
<img src="http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=17018" width="500">
Comparison shot between the current immature pitchers vs. the first mature pitcher:
<img src="http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=17020" width="500">
I planted it in a 2:1 mix of silica sand/peat moss. The extra sand helps keep the soil from staying too soggy, which it seems to appreciate, but it does dry out faster than other soils.
The day after I got it, transplant shock set in, and the tiny red pitchers to start to turn black; I had put it under T5's so I didn't think to acclimate it more carefully. Every darkened pitcher you see below, except the smallest one in the center, was dead within a week.
April 6, 2012:
Click the image to zoom in.
<img src="http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=17016" width="500">
It slowly started growing additional immature pitchers to replace the lost ones. These things really are much more resilient than they're given credit for.
Months passed.
In early/mid August, I fed one of the immature pitchers two flightless fruit flies, as they were finally large enough that gnat-sized insects would fit inside.
A week later, I noticed one of the new immature pitchers was overdue to pop open - one that started developing just before this one had already popped.
I checked it again a week later and it was still not open but was getting larger.
After two more weeks of ballooning up more and more, it finally popped a couple days ago, revealing the first mature pitcher.
Here are a few macro shots, 5 months later.
September 6, 2012:
Click the images to zoom in.
Peristome focus:
<img src="http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=17017" width="500">
<img src="http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=17019" width="500">
Front rib focus:
<img src="http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=17018" width="500">
Comparison shot between the current immature pitchers vs. the first mature pitcher:
<img src="http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=17020" width="500">
