FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So I'm planning on getting a cephalotus for my birthday next month and I have had one before and it did super well an was making lots of pitchers and leaves, but then I accidentally killed it. I had it for a couple of months also. I would like to try again after having some more experience and a bit of help from you guys. Here are my questions:

I kept my cephalotus on a windowsill in my bathroom with my nepenthes, should I put my new one there or somewhere else?
I gave it water by spraying the top of the soil with a spray bottle a couple of times, should I change my method of watering?
I also want to get a drosera hamiltonii to grow with it, would it do well in the same spot and conditions as my cephalotus?

I think you can get away with windowsill growing if its fairly bright, although I would recommend you buy a growlight for better results. In the past I have grown a 6 inch pot of Cephaltous under two CFL bulbs so it doesn't take much, but IMO the potential of low light levels by your windowsill isn't something I would recommended screwing around with.

I spray the top of mine since my default watering for indoor plants has become a 1 gallon sprayer. The soil mix is important though and I have had the best results in a very free draining mix: equal parts lava rock, perlite, peat, and sphagnum. I water until it's evenly moist and the water is running out of the bottom of the pot. I then wait a few days for it to dry before watering again. I put it into an oversized pot right when I got it so the extra soil helps retain moisture while still being free draining just because of the amount thats in there. The pot is about 5 inch wide by 6 inch tall. Once they grow their adult pitchers and you can feed them they become more hardy and vigorous and less sensitive like the younger divisions.

SundewWolf wrote:I think you can get away with windowsill growing if its fairly bright, although I would recommend you buy a growlight for better results. In the past I have grown a 6 inch pot of Cephaltous under two CFL bulbs so it doesn't take much, but IMO the potential of low light levels by your windowsill isn't something I would recommended screwing around with.

I spray the top of mine since my default watering for indoor plants has become a 1 gallon sprayer. The soil mix is important though and I have had the best results in a very free draining mix: equal parts lava rock, perlite, peat, and sphagnum. I water until it's evenly moist and the water is running out of the bottom of the pot. I then wait a few days for it to dry before watering again. I put it into an oversized pot right when I got it so the extra soil helps retain moisture while still being free draining just because of the amount thats in there. The pot is about 5 inch wide by 6 inch tall. Once they grow their adult pitchers and you can feed them they become more hardy and vigorous and less sensitive like the younger divisions.

Sorry for the late reply, but, are there any specific grow lights you would recommend for it. If I were to use a grow light I probably would need to move my ceph to a place with little sunlight in my house because the windowsill I would grow it on is too crowded with nepenthes ventrata. Also, a direct link to where I could buy that light would be great. Thanks!

MarsHydro 300 is a good one to consider if you don't mind the blurple lights. Here's a link of results of a Ceph growing from under it: nauz-s-giveaway-cephalotus-update-t38880.html

And here it is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/MarsHydro-Spectr ... r=8-4&th=1

Coco wrote:MarsHydro 300 is a good one to consider if you don't mind the blurple lights. Here's a link of results of a Ceph growing from under it: nauz-s-giveaway-cephalotus-update-t38880.html

And here it is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/MarsHydro-Spectr ... r=8-4&th=1

That plant looks beautiful! This seems really good to me. Thankyou!

Coco wrote:MarsHydro 300 is a good one to consider if you don't mind the blurple lights. Here's a link of results of a Ceph growing from under it: nauz-s-giveaway-cephalotus-update-t38880.html

And here it is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/MarsHydro-Spectr ... r=8-4&th=1

Also, how high should the light be above the ceph?

I keep mine in a duo-pot
one pot with the plant, and beneath it a pot filled with paper towels
that way I don't have to worry about much/litte water

18 inches above the plant will be a good start. And then observe and adjust accordingly.

SarraceniaLover319 wrote: Sorry for the late reply, but, are there any specific grow lights you would recommend for it. If I were to use a grow light I probably would need to move my ceph to a place with little sunlight in my house because the windowsill I would grow it on is too crowded with nepenthes ventrata. Also, a direct link to where I could buy that light would be great. Thanks!

I use Yescom 225 because I'm cheap and they get the job done (8 inches above my tropical shelf) growing my cephalotus and giving a bit of color. Hell, I use to grow my 6-inch pot of cephs under two daylight CFL bulbs, but there are definitely better options on the market if you don't mind spending more money. There is a group on fb, I think called "carnivorous lights" where you can see a variety of options. Of course the MarsHydro are a classic recommendation but there is a variety of lights that can work. Up to now I have only used low-budget options, and have not done much research on grow lights to be able to give you a good range of options.

SundewWolf wrote:

SarraceniaLover319 wrote: Sorry for the late reply, but, are there any specific grow lights you would recommend for it. If I were to use a grow light I probably would need to move my ceph to a place with little sunlight in my house because the windowsill I would grow it on is too crowded with nepenthes ventrata. Also, a direct link to where I could buy that light would be great. Thanks!

I use Yescom 225 because I'm cheap and they get the job done (8 inches above my tropical shelf) growing my cephalotus and giving a bit of color. Hell, I use to grow my 6-inch pot of cephs under two daylight CFL bulbs, but there are definitely better options on the market if you don't mind spending more money. There is a group on fb, I think called "carnivorous lights" where you can see a variety of options. Of course the MarsHydro are a classic recommendation but there is a variety of lights that can work. Up to now I have only used low-budget options, and have not done much research on grow lights to be able to give you a good range of options.

I would like to get the mars hydro so I can eventually grow heliamphora with it.

SarraceniaLover319 wrote: I would like to get the mars hydro so I can eventually grow heliamphora with it.

They definitely don't require a Mars Hydro...in fact at this point the Yescom would probably be an upgrade for my Heli collection as they are all still under two Home Depot LED's haha. Of course I am not discouraging you from buying good quality grow lights, but I wanted to mention this because I have seen my Heli's color up from some cheap purple LED screw in bulb replacements (i.e. some folliculata pitchers closest to it turned completely red). If you put a Mars over them I would highly encourage you to start with the lights high above the plants and then adjust them lower to make sure the foliage does not burn.

What kind of soil were you using? That's very important. You'll also get varying opinions about whether or not to leave it sitting in water, but that partly depends on the temperature where you are, the soil mix and how boggy it is, and how quickly it dries out.

Ideally, you want a soil that drains really well, but stays moist. With that, and a tall enough pot, you could probably leave it in water all the time. I leave mine in a tiny bit of water in winter, and a lot in summer, in a high drainage soil, but I also grow mine outdoors.

My soil is: 50% perlite, 10% pumice, 20% peat, 20% sphag. Some people use sand but actually sand can get boggy too and not breathe as well.

Alternatively you could do 60% perlite if you don't have pumice. That should work pretty well. It'll stay moist but drain well.