FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello,

So I will be getting my first ceph soon, having only had VFT's before. I saw in one of Matts post he uses LFS however looking online I've not seen anyone else using it, what would be the best for someone new to them as I really don't want them to get crown rot, thanks

kieran1203 wrote:Hello,

So I will be getting my first ceph soon, having only had VFT's before. I saw in one of Matts post he uses LFS however looking online I've not seen anyone else using it, what would be the best for someone new to them as I really don't want them to get crown rot, thanks

Sand and peat

I don't think the plants are terribly picky about soil. Providing a proper winter dormancy period seems to be the key to keeping Cephalotus healthy. I know someone who keeps his growing in water trays and the plants will apparently put out new growth under the water level at times.

There seem to be a lot of different recipes for ceph media. Alvin415 experiments a lot and he has ones growing in turface and sand and peat(?) mixes. Some people like to cover the top layer with sand since it doesn't float when they are watered.

nimbulan wrote:I don't think the plants are terribly picky about soil. Providing a proper winter dormancy period seems to be the key to keeping Cephalotus healthy. I know someone who keeps his growing in water trays and the plants will apparently put out new growth under the water level at times.

Hmm what I've read previously they don't really have/need a dormancy period?, I'm always worried about leaving plants always sitting in water (don't do it with dionaea), but perhaps I could do it with cephs if I just get a deep pot?

I don't put mine in dormancy, not for the last 2 and a half years, they seem fine

I have mine in 30/70 , peat/ sand...In deep pots on a capillary mat...The plants wick up the water as needed.. I use rinsed APS as a top dressing... The media must be well draining...that's the important thing IMO
(Aquatic plant soil)
Mine did go dormant last winter and growth slowed down and its leaves were wider.
In the spring it put on a flower stalk.

I don't believe there to be a secret soil formula for Cephalotus. They seem to grow well in pretty much anything. I've seen people grow them in everything from pure sand, to pure Miracle-gro enriched peat moss, to pure NZ long fiber sphagnum (like we do). It seems to be more about how they are watered and cared for that results in the success of growing them.

Many growers prefer a sandy peat mix (60/40 or 70/30 sand to peat ratio) and leave them sitting in water with that sort of mix.

I used to use the sand/peat mix but as with the flytraps, the Cephalotus seem to grow better for us in the pure NZ LFS and we've not had any cases of crown rot or "sudden Cephalotus death syndrome" since switching to pure NZ LFS. I think that peat tends to have a lot more nasties (bacteria and mold spores) in it than LFS, which actually has antibacterial properties. That's my guess as to why we've had more success growing Cephs in LFS than in peat/sand mixes.

I'm no ceph expert, but they do seem to grow well in lots of different mixes. Below are a few pics from today that show some of the different mixes I'm trying. Some of these don't contain any peat.

As Matt mentioned, there are accounts of folks growing cephs in Miracle-Gro. I might try this one day just to see for myself.

Welcome to the word of growing cephs! Good luck!




Grow list with pics: http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/alvin ... 25873.html

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Alvin 415 wrote:I'm no ceph expert, but they do seem to grow well in lots of different mixes. Below are a few pics from today that show some of the different mixes I'm trying. Some of these don't contain any peat.

As Matt mentioned, there are accounts of folks growing cephs in Miracle-Gro. I might try this one day just to see for myself.

Welcome to the word of growing cephs! Good luck!




Grow list with pics: http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/alvin ... 25873.html

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Vary nice Alvin

Very cool pictures!, I think I'm going to just go peat moss and sand as my plan is just to sit them in a tray of water and hopefully they'll be absolutely fine in a deeper pot!

Very informative thread. I have some cephalotus I need to get cuttings from, this will be very helpful.

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HeliamphoraWalnut wrote:I don't put mine in dormancy, not for the last 2 and a half years, they seem fine

Not a lot of time for a slower growing plant. I'm fairly sure that Cephs are more likely to randomly collapse if not given a resting period.