Post by coldcoffee on Apr 7, 2012 3:32:12 GMT
Greetings Everyone,
Some of you that were around here about a year ago may remember when I posted about the hummer's giant cephalotus I got. Here is the picture from when I got it:
Ah yes, I remember that day with such fondness.... Love at first sight really. I have been a ceph guy since That photo is dated June 4th, 2011.
Well, about a week ago, I decided it was time (past time really) to transplant. So, I thought it might be helpful for some if I documented the process I chose to use and the end result. Warning, I was doing the transplanting and photo taking simultaneously, so the "action shots" are not all that great.
Here is how it looked on March 30th, 2012 next to the pot I chose to transplant it into (if I had my life to live over I would have chosen a slightly larger one, you will see why at the end....). BOOM! That plant grew!:
So, lets begin. First, I used a soil mixture of 3 parts peat, 1 part horticultural charcoal, 1 part perlite and 1 part coarse silica sand:
Here is how the soil looked after it was good and mixed and some RO water was added:
Now, soil mixed, I got my area ready, this entailed getting a bowl of RO water, the ceph, and a pair of scissors (Anyone else think its weird we call it a "pair of scissors?"):
I initially tried pulling the ceph out of the pot (against the advice of the entire internet), but the plant was quite rootbound so I instead cut the pot off. Personally, I try to avoid disturbing the root system as much as possible. I then placed the rootball into the water for a few minutes while I finished getting everything else ready (Putting the plant into water like this is usually done to prevent shock- at least when I worked at the nursery, that was our reasoning for doing it. I know of at least two growers who add a couple of drops of a vitamin B-1 solution to give it a little extra punch in preventing shock. I personally just use water when I do all of my transplants- I have thought of trying out such supplement, just have not gotten around to it).
Prior to removing the ceph from the old pot, I prepared the new pot. As a general practice I line the bottoms of my pots with a very thin layer of dried long fiber sphagnum. Sometimes I hydrate it, usually I do not- this time I did not. The idea here is simply to prevent soil from escaping out. I got this suggestion from "Savage Garden" by Peter D'Amato. I actually put more in this pot than I normally do. Usually I put about half that. I had no particular reason for the extra, that was just what I grabbed.
After that, I put the soil in and made a hole slightly larger than the root ball (hard to see in the photo).
Now, I carefully picked up the ceph. Usually when I do transplants, I carefully remove the outer soil layer (by carefully scraping it off with my fingers) until I start to expose a few roots. In this case I recall removing a little bit of soil but some roots were already exposed so I did not remove much. I wanted to avoid disturbing the roots too much. I then placed the rootball into the hole I made earlier:
Filled in the soil and lightly packed in:
Then placed it in a bowl of RO water for about 30 minutes:
After that was up, I put it back into its home in my open lid terrarium (Which I should have snapped a picture of, then again, I imagine some of you are thinking, "Why did he bother to snap a photo of that step and that step, words would suffice....").
Alright, here is the end result. This photo was taken shortly before I left for Starbucks to write this post (04/06/2012):
It is sitting in that bowl of water because I watered it right before I took the photo(notice how the lids are slightly closed). I do not keep my cephs in trays of water as a general practice over fear of root fungal infections. The ceph never did display signs of shock throughout this. I kind of wish I had gone with a bigger pot though, it likely will outgrow that one in no time.
Hope this is helpful to someone!
Some of you that were around here about a year ago may remember when I posted about the hummer's giant cephalotus I got. Here is the picture from when I got it:
Ah yes, I remember that day with such fondness.... Love at first sight really. I have been a ceph guy since That photo is dated June 4th, 2011.
Well, about a week ago, I decided it was time (past time really) to transplant. So, I thought it might be helpful for some if I documented the process I chose to use and the end result. Warning, I was doing the transplanting and photo taking simultaneously, so the "action shots" are not all that great.
Here is how it looked on March 30th, 2012 next to the pot I chose to transplant it into (if I had my life to live over I would have chosen a slightly larger one, you will see why at the end....). BOOM! That plant grew!:
So, lets begin. First, I used a soil mixture of 3 parts peat, 1 part horticultural charcoal, 1 part perlite and 1 part coarse silica sand:
Here is how the soil looked after it was good and mixed and some RO water was added:
Now, soil mixed, I got my area ready, this entailed getting a bowl of RO water, the ceph, and a pair of scissors (Anyone else think its weird we call it a "pair of scissors?"):
I initially tried pulling the ceph out of the pot (against the advice of the entire internet), but the plant was quite rootbound so I instead cut the pot off. Personally, I try to avoid disturbing the root system as much as possible. I then placed the rootball into the water for a few minutes while I finished getting everything else ready (Putting the plant into water like this is usually done to prevent shock- at least when I worked at the nursery, that was our reasoning for doing it. I know of at least two growers who add a couple of drops of a vitamin B-1 solution to give it a little extra punch in preventing shock. I personally just use water when I do all of my transplants- I have thought of trying out such supplement, just have not gotten around to it).
Prior to removing the ceph from the old pot, I prepared the new pot. As a general practice I line the bottoms of my pots with a very thin layer of dried long fiber sphagnum. Sometimes I hydrate it, usually I do not- this time I did not. The idea here is simply to prevent soil from escaping out. I got this suggestion from "Savage Garden" by Peter D'Amato. I actually put more in this pot than I normally do. Usually I put about half that. I had no particular reason for the extra, that was just what I grabbed.
After that, I put the soil in and made a hole slightly larger than the root ball (hard to see in the photo).
Now, I carefully picked up the ceph. Usually when I do transplants, I carefully remove the outer soil layer (by carefully scraping it off with my fingers) until I start to expose a few roots. In this case I recall removing a little bit of soil but some roots were already exposed so I did not remove much. I wanted to avoid disturbing the roots too much. I then placed the rootball into the hole I made earlier:
Filled in the soil and lightly packed in:
Then placed it in a bowl of RO water for about 30 minutes:
After that was up, I put it back into its home in my open lid terrarium (Which I should have snapped a picture of, then again, I imagine some of you are thinking, "Why did he bother to snap a photo of that step and that step, words would suffice....").
Alright, here is the end result. This photo was taken shortly before I left for Starbucks to write this post (04/06/2012):
It is sitting in that bowl of water because I watered it right before I took the photo(notice how the lids are slightly closed). I do not keep my cephs in trays of water as a general practice over fear of root fungal infections. The ceph never did display signs of shock throughout this. I kind of wish I had gone with a bigger pot though, it likely will outgrow that one in no time.
Hope this is helpful to someone!