Some minor questions

[Hikenyura]

Im expecting a cephalotus tommorow and I have some minor questions about it. I know that my climate is great for a ceph, but can a ceph get burned by too much sun? Also in generall how long does it take for a single pitcher to grow? And about how many pitchers does the plant usually lose after transplant (it's a potted plant)?

And just a side question, are cephs hard to grow, or is it just a slow plant?

[Michael Catalani]

hikenyura said:

I know that my climate is great for a ceph, but can a ceph get burned by too much sun?

Almost any plant can get too much sun after receiving it. Keep it more shaded for a few weeks, and then increase the sunlight level. Mine take full sun.

Also in generall how long does it take for a single pitcher to grow?

About 3-6 weeks once I spot them forming, depending on the plant.

And about how many pitchers does the plant usually lose after transplant (it's a potted plant)?

It may not lose any. Some pitchers may be about ready to die down, and transplanting will certainly give the plant more of a reason to drop it. There's no hard and fast answer to this one, it may not lose any, or it may lose all of them.

And just a side question, are cephs hard to grow, or is it just a slow plant?

It's a slower plant, especially up until it forms a series of serious tap roots. These roots look like skinny carrots, and there can be many per plant. Once it develops a good root system, it will increase the number of growth points. This will make the plant appear to grow faster than it used to, because there can be a lot going on once a plant gets a lot of growing points. Until then, a single growth point Cephalotus can appear agonizingly slow.

It's not a hard plant to grow, but you'll want to grow in a deep pot. The growth point can easily be killed by keeping the crown too wet for too long. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 3.

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[vraev]

well....let me tell ya...its been almost 20 days and still the pitcher is growing from the bud...and I think its less than half way to finish...so yeah.... these things are slower than nep pitchers. But, well.... I guess as michael put it, I would suppose..the better the root system and the longer the plant is established...the faster it might SEEM.

[Hikenyura]

I have for pither plants for the last 3 weeks and only one pitchered once.

[Hikenyura]

I just had another question, i read that if you are going to give a cephalotus cold temperatures, it's important to keep to keep water at a very low level. Is this true?

Also that the plant will die in too low humdidity is that true also?

[locko]

My ceph is kept pretty wet compared to some peoples and its okay in temps as low as 10 Celcius. I keep humidity at probably 80-100% so cant help with the second question but heaps of people grow it outside so it would acclimatise to your conditions.

[jm82792]

You can kill any cp from too much sun,
I killed a few in hawaii from the intense and long lasting sun.
But I later found out you could adjust them and grow nepenthes in full sun along with others
I even killed a cape down to its roots because of the sun

[Hikenyura]

Did you accilimate it to the sun or did you just shove them right into it?

[elgecko]

hikenyura said:

Also that the plant will die in too low humdidity is that true also?

I grow some on the Kitchen table with the average humidity being around 30%.

What is more likely to kill the plant is the one cat that keeps taking nibbles off the pitchers, and pulling the plant out of the soil in the process. LOL I've had to place it back in the soil twice now.

[wadave]

Hi Hikeynura,

You may want to aclimatise it to its new home before shoveing it in full sun but there are spots where it grows in the full Australian sun all day. Some plants look almost black they get so much sun.

Perth and Souther California have very similar climates, hot dry summers and mild wet winters.

Depending on when you transplant and how much root disturbance the plant receives at the time will determine if and how many pitchers you will lose.

I repotted mine mid winter this year (our winter had a bit of an autumn hiccup and then went back into winter). The older traps that would have naturally died back to make way for the new spring growth started to go but the new traps and non carnivorous leaves grew strongly so that should give you a good sign the plant isn't suffering stress from impropper handling.

In my experience the traps can take many weeks, the closer they are watched the longer they seem to take.

Cephs are like any plant give them bad conditions and they will struggle, give them the right conditions and they will thrive, look great and be resistant to pest and diseases.

The plant can survive brief periods of frost, winter days rarely go below 10 deg C but again they are tough if grown in good conditions. Here in winter they are sitting in or at the edge of swamps and streams but it is important to know the water is constantly moving slowly past the roots and isn't stagnant like in a tray.

I've found the best way to water them is have fresh water pass by their roots on a constant basis like cobras. Mine get overhead water and don't sit in a tray.

Dave.

[RL7836]

hikenyura said:

Did you accilimate it to the sun or did you just shove them right into it?

Every few years I seem to forget and just place some plants in full day sun after overwintering in basement. Sometimes I get lucky and they just die back for a while & other times they die permanently. I've lost more Cephs to this stupidity than any other reason (so far).

As for low humidity, high humidity - like almost any plant, if you take it from a high humidity environment and just place it in low humidity w/o acclimating it - it's going to suffer (& maybe die). A good general guideline for any major change is to do it slowly and watch it closely. The plant will usually tell you if it's unhappy.