FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

...and discovers that their Cephalotus, which was doing brilliantly thus far as I had it, and whose living conditions have not changed one whit, suddenly looks like this.



It's not DEAD dead. At least not yet. It's still got two pitchers.

But it was doing fine, and hadn't lost a single pitcher the entire time it was here. And then suddenly, in twenty-four hours, this.

Is this the Cephalotus just doing it's Phoenix Imitation Routine? The one where it goes "Haha, I'm about to die-- panic, mortals!" and then goes, "Whoops, nope, was just having you on!" and makes a full recovery? Or is there something *seriously* wrong with my Ceph?

It has good humidity. It is misted three times a day, lightly, with pure rainwater. It is in the air conditioned house, where it is kept at about 68. It gets a bit of morning sun, and I'm looking into getting a light to keep over it-- doesn't get a LOT of direct sun, just some, so that it doesn't get cooked. I water it about once a week, so the soil is kept moist, but the roots are at minimum risk of fungus or root rot.

Help, please?

GothicJackalPaws wrote:Is this the Cephalotus just doing it's Phoenix Imitation Routine? The one where it goes "Haha, I'm about to die-- panic, mortals!" and then goes, "Whoops, nope, was just having you on!" and makes a full recovery? Or is there something *seriously* wrong with my Ceph?

It's hard to say at this point. But bare root Cephalotus usually lose the majority of their pitchers unless kept in very favorable conditions. The conditions you mention sound good for a Cephalotus, but the soil looks a bit wet to me.

GothicJackalPaws wrote:It is misted three times a day, lightly, with pure rainwater.

I usually don't mist the ones I repot, but rather cover them with a dome for 2 weeks or so. They still lose a few pitchers, but usually pitcher loss is minimal. Though on rare occasions, they will lose almost all of their pitchers and have to grow back from the roots.

If it hasn't lost all of the pitchers yet, it will recover. Even if it loses all of them, often times Cephalotus will grow back from the roots. Don't lose hope yet!

I'd probably stop misting so frequently to allow the crown of the plant to dry out a bit and instead cover the plant with some sort of dome. Though at this point it's probably not very necessary since most of the growth has already died. You could probably just start watering it in a similar fashion as you do your flytraps (keeping the soil moist) and allow it to recover.

Matt wrote: It's hard to say at this point. But bare root Cephalotus usually lose the majority of their pitchers unless kept in very favorable conditions. The conditions you mention sound good for a Cephalotus, but the soil looks a bit wet to me.

I hadn't watered it in five days, because I let it dry out a bit before doing so (and since it's indoors, kept somewhat cool, and not in a lot of direct sunlight, it doesn't evaporate quickly), and then when I saw this, I immediately watered it in a panic.

Matt wrote:I usually don't mist the ones I repot, but rather cover them with a dome for 2 weeks or so. They still lose a few pitchers, but usually pitcher loss is minimal. Though on rare occasions, they will lose almost all of their pitchers and have to grow back from the roots.

If it hasn't lost all of the pitchers yet, it will recover. Even if it loses all of them, often times Cephalotus will grow back from the roots. Don't lose hope yet!

I'd probably stop misting so frequently to allow the crown of the plant to dry out a bit and instead cover the plant with some sort of dome. Though at this point it's probably not very necessary since most of the growth has already died. You could probably just start watering it in a similar fashion as you do your flytraps (keeping the soil moist) and allow it to recover.

Got it covered with a dome, will stop misting daily!

Ok. I mean, it was to be expected, right? Cephs sometimes sulk after being repotted. And it *was* bare-root, so it didn't go from being in a pot to being transferred with its soil-and-root network still intact, so it's probably still adjusting. I'd check the roots, but I don't want to disturb the plant or the soil around it to do so. Maybe it's just killing off its pitchers so that it can focus more energy on establishing its roots, since I read they usually do a lot of root-growing before they move onto their pitchers?

I haven't given up hope yet. It's just that it was a shock to come home and see this, after it was doing so well. I think one of the pitchers is still alive, so that tells me the plant isn't *really* dead even though all the other pitchers on it have crashed-died. How long does it usually take for a Ceph to recover? A month?

GothicJackalPaws wrote:Ok. I mean, it was to be expected, right? Cephs sometimes sulk after being repotted.

Right. It's certainly not unexpected to see a Cephalotus drop all of its pitchers after being uprooted. Every one I've received in the mail has done that.

GothicJackalPaws wrote:How long does it usually take for a Ceph to recover? A month?

If I recall correctly, new growth usually starts in 2 to 3 weeks. It's a long slow recovery though. I received a Cephalotus back in December that lost all of its pitchers and leaves. It now has 2 leaves, 6 small pitchers (had adult pitchers when it arrived), and is working on a 7th. But once they hit their stride, Cephalotus can grow fairly quickly.

You should read about the CSDS. Sounds like you haven't heard about them before.

Just listen to Matt's advice and it should be fine.

Matt wrote:If I recall correctly, new growth usually starts in 2 to 3 weeks. It's a long slow recovery though. I received a Cephalotus back in December that lost all of its pitchers and leaves. It now has 2 leaves, 6 small pitchers (had adult pitchers when it arrived), and is working on a 7th. But once they hit their stride, Cephalotus can grow fairly quickly.

Ok. So I'll keep checking on it, and expect to see it start putting up new pitchers in those 2-3 weeks (though of course, variance is expected-- could be a week or two longer, who knows?) and hope that it makes recovery. I sort of expect it to, since this seems to be somewhat typical of cephs from what I'm reading. Thanks so much!

Darkrai283 wrote:You should read about the CSDS. Sounds like you haven't heard about them before.

Just listen to Matt's advice and it should be fine.

CSDS?

GothicJackalPaws wrote:CSDS?

Cephalotus sudden death syndrome. Quite a few people have had an experience when an otherwise healthy Cephalotus up and dies for seemingly no reason and coined the term CSDS. I've experienced it quite a few times myself with larger Cephalotus. For me it seems to happen if they're kept too wet or get too hot.

Matt wrote:

GothicJackalPaws wrote:CSDS?

Cephalotus sudden death syndrome. Quite a few people have had an experience when an otherwise healthy Cephalotus up and dies for seemingly no reason and coined the term CSDS. I've experienced it quite a few times myself with larger Cephalotus. For me it seems to happen if they're kept too wet or get too hot.

Dies dies or pretends to die?

Should I take the dome off of it and focus on keeping it cool?

GothicJackalPaws wrote:Dies dies or pretends to die?

option no. 1

GothicJackalPaws wrote:Should I take the dome off of it and focus on keeping it cool?

Yes, cephs do not like their roots heating up just like darlingtonias so many grow them in white pots to prevent the soil and the pot from overheating. However, ordinary "brown" pots you usually get are fine for my darlingtonias and cephs. But its probably because they only get the cool morning sun and not the scorching afternoon sun.

In the sunniest position on my patio (well, its actually my mum's ) my plants can only get direct sunlight from 8am to 3pm on the longest day of the year so its not that much.

Darkrai283 wrote:

GothicJackalPaws wrote:Dies dies or pretends to die?

option no. 1

GothicJackalPaws wrote:Should I take the dome off of it and focus on keeping it cool?

Yes, cephs do not like their roots heating up just like darlingtonias so many grow them in white pots to prevent the soil and the pot from overheating. However, ordinary "brown" pots you usually get are fine for my darlingtonias and cephs. But its probably because they only get the cool morning sun and not the scorching afternoon sun.

In the sunniest position on my patio (well, its actually my mum's ) my plants can only get direct sunlight from 8am to 3pm on the longest day of the year so its not that much.

Found out what happened to kill mine. I'd had it on top of the A/C vent, and someone moved it aside, so the vent that was keeping the roots cool directly from below was no longer doing so. Ugh ugh ugh. Put it back there, hoping it recovers. -crosses fingers- It's in a brown pot...

Should I cut the dead pitchers away and check the roots, or leave it as it is?