Transplanting Cephalotus

[billsbuggyplants]

     This is my first post in this forum. I am from Florida, and now that it is nearly Summer the humidity has really gone up. My plants are loving it!
     About a month and a half ago I received a small Cephalotus from an online nursery. It came in a 3" square pot. The pitchers at that time were only about the size of my little pinky. But since then it has really taken off growing. I now have one pitcher as big as my thumb, and two more on their way to getting that big as well. I want to plant it in a 7" pot with equal parts of sphagnum peat, perlite, and silica sand. But I have heard that many times their growth is set back by transplanting. By the photo I have posted it is obvious that it is getting to large for the pot it's in. I was planning to cut the pot and just move everything to the new pot with out disturbing the soil and roots any more than necessary! I would like to see the plant have plenty of room to grow before it reaches the edge of the pot. Would this be wise to transplant now, or just wait till it slows down in the fall to transplant it?
      I also understand that Cephalotus likes cool nights of 70 degrees F or less. Nights in Florida in the Summer, don’t get much less than 80 degrees, unless we just had a rain! Any one else in Florida have success with Cephalotus?  Any suggestions would be helpful! Thanks! Happy Growing!

BillsBuggyPlants

[31drew31]

Can't comment on growing in Florida, but I have found healthy Cephalotus do just fine with repotting. As long as you're gentle, they start growing again within 2-3 weeks for me irrespective of size. I like to pull as much media away as possible without breaking too many roots, this is easier with smaller plants as they have less roots. If the media still looks good you can probably just plop the entire rootball and media into a larger pot then fill around. If the media looks old, Id recommend removing as much as you can without damaging the roots too much. I like to repot in the fall or early spring when temperatures are cooler, but that is just me. There was a topic about when to repot Cephs on another forum and it seemed some always did spring, some in the fall and others whenever they felt like it. 

In my opinion though, your plant can easily go another 6-12 months and I would be in no hurry to repot. 

[billsbuggyplants]

Thanks for the info! I might wait till fall, or early Spring next year. Appreciated!

[fredg]

If you continue with your first idea and transplant the medium block intact, you could do it at any time and the plant will not even know it has been moved. It's also the safest method.