11 replies to this topic

[martyp]

Hi all,

I totally adore my single little Cephalotus which I have managed to keep going for quite a few years. It doesn't seem to have grown that much or really spread across the new bigger pot after I repotted it a few years ago. I understand they're fairly slow growing(?) but hoped I might be able to get a decent sized clump in the pot some day rather than one little plant surrounded by bare soil and moss. I have on occasion dropped a spider or a few ants into the pitchers (my cat tends to catch spiders and ants get accidentally killed in the kitchen, all fresh not dead for ages). I have also tried some freeze dried tubifex worms and so far the plant doesn't seem to have shown any negative effects. I did read somewhere about using a single osmocote slow release granule in the pitchers? I was considering trying that?

I water it through the tray method, following info I had read I let the water disappear and the tray dries up before it is refilled. Seems to have worked so far, for a couple of years I worried I had neglected it as it would dry up without me realising and I would quickly fill it up again. It's on a south facing windowsill as well by the way.

Many thanks

Edited by martyp, 30 June 2012 - 09:57 AM.

[mobile]

I don't let the tray/saucer on my Cephalotus dry out at all during the summer months. In winter I allow it to drain, as per your method above. I also fertilize, with a liquid fertilizer. What growing medium are you using?

I wouldn't recommend dropping am Osmocote into a pitcher, as it could break down rather fast in the liquid and release all the nutrients in one go. I have read of people adding Osmocote to the soil mix but as I said, I use a liquid fertilizer as I can control the amount and frequency that way.

[martyp]

Many thanks mobile, I can't recall what I potted it in now. As far as I recall it was just a moss peat to silver sand mix but can't remember to what proportions, more sandy I think. I'll make sure I water it more during the summer in that case, what fertilizer brand do you use, in what amounts and how often etc?
I bought the plant in May 2006, it was about the size of a 50 pence piece at the time, it's now about 3 inches across, possibly 3 crowns I think now.

Edited by martyp, 30 June 2012 - 12:39 PM.

[mobile]

Silver sand is too fine and will compact, reducing aeration. Sharp sand is better, but I still don't like it, as the few brands I have tested in the UK fizz when tested with acid. I much prefer to use something inert, such as perlite (though I don't like the aesthetics).

There are two types of nitrogen sources found in fertilizers, those being ureic and non-ureic. Ureic require bacteria found in soil to make them usable by plants. I usually either use Orchid Focus, which is non-ureic or Tomorite, which has a combination of both ureic and non-ureic. I can't honestly say that I've noticed a difference between them.

[martyp]

Many thanks mobile, I might get some orchid focus as I have an orchid in the tank with my Nepenthes. Could the orchid focus be used with the Nepenthes as well?
Below is my Cephalotus as it is today, I may have been wrong about the mixture as I recall having sharp sand at the time as I remember washing it and also some perlite. I either got the mix from the website that comes up about cephalotus when you google it or one of my books and they all seem to suggest sharp sand so I think I did use that in the end, sorry. I recall like you say the bubbling etc when rinsing it, also a lot of stuff coming out of the sand when washing it. I can remember washing it quite a bit to get any sorts of chemicals out of it. It had problems with scale last year but I used systemic insecticide thanks to a suggestion on here and they seem to have gone now thankfully.

[mobile]

Yes, Orchid Focus could be used on Nepenthes. It can also be applied as a foliar spray, as it's non-ureic based, so doesn't need soil to make is usable.

The soil your plant is in doesn't look good to me. The surface generally looks 'dead' and the crusty surround doesn't look healthy. Are you in a hard water area and do you use tap water to water you plant, as the crusty stuff looks like mineral deposits. You might want to wait for a few other members comments though.

[Richard Bunn]

Mobile, out of curiosity how much do you dilute your Orchid Focus & is it the 'Grow' or the 'Bloom' one? I think there's very little difference in the NPK ratios between the two formulas anyway though.

[mobile]

I have Orchid Focus Grow, but as you said, I doubt that there is much difference between it and Bloom. Being an orchid fertilizer, it will be quite dilute anyway, so I use the dilution rate given on the bottle. When measuring my bottle, at a dilution rate of 5ml / 2 litres, it has a EC of 0.4. In comparison, Growth Technology Ionic has a recommended EC of 1.5 for soil grown plants.

[Richard Bunn]

What's EC?

[mobile]

TDS and pH Explained

[Richard Bunn]

Ah now the word conductivity I do know.

[martyp]

Many thanks mobile, also how often do you add the orchid focus to the water? I was thinking the soil was that way as I wasn't watering it often enough, leaving it to dry out for a while before watering again. I think I might have overreacted to info I read about crown rot etc if too wet but as it's a tall pot I'm thinking it probably needs a lot more water than I have been giving it. I give all my CPs rain water, I'm not sure how safe my tap water is. There's some kind of device on the water pipe coming into the house that is supposed to soften the water but I wouldn't trust it for my CPs still, even my Nepenthes.
I did worry about the crustiness of the soil, when I kept some of my other CPs in water all the time (after winter) the moss started growing a lot so I thought it was just the dryness causing the soil on the cephalotus to look a bit bare. I sort of hoped too it would help improve the root system of the plant by having to go down deeper if it was drier near the top of the soil?