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Post by Dennis Z on Oct 24, 2015 18:20:25 GMT -5
One of my cephs has something peculiar going on. It was doing fantastic and growing very fast but all of a sudden stopped growing mid-summer. All of it's pitchers (new and old) started yellowing (not from the base-up, rather that leaf-down and the pitchers did not wilt or close) and eventually fell off. At late august I was left with a bare stalk. I thought it might have been a seasonal phenomenon but it's weird that a ceph would shed everything. New growth started peaking from the stalk a few weeks ago and today, I noticed that the growth points are once again, turning yellow before the pitchers have a chance to form. Anyone have any input on this? I am thinking of doing a repotting, maybe the media is too old. I have no problems with my other cephs.
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Post by lloyd on Oct 24, 2015 18:45:25 GMT -5
That happens to me. It's likely a problem with temp/humidity/light conditons and cycling of conditions-less than ideal growing conditions. Look at the posts on the forum of experts and try to imitate what they do. Cephs will do great if you please them but if you try to do it "your" way, you will probably have cyclic die back. Repotting may help temporarily.
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Post by WillyCKH on Oct 24, 2015 22:06:03 GMT -5
Hi Dennis, I have similar problem, mine had 2 pitchers with weird color - pink and orange, and then after I shared on here, experts told me that it could be a problem. I repotted the Ceph right the way, and I found that the old soil smells (fungus issue? Not enough aeration?). Also the moss on top was too tight, strangling the Ceph. After potting in new soil, few pitchers along with pink and orange turned yellow and died, but after that the Ceph becomes healthy again. It is now growing and seems to be happy Good luck with yours, hope it's not too late to save it.
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Post by snapperhead51 on Oct 25, 2015 18:50:23 GMT -5
can be many reasons for the cephs to not grow or drop foliage, usually if the plant is not growing the water light or soil is wrong!. seems obvious but not all ways easy to know what is the problem. if your soak tray watering you must be aware that your pots are always wet and decay quicker or will get soil problems causing ceph root rot more than a non tray water , being just over head watering . both have there draw backs . Cephs in summer time if the tepms get to 30 c and above will slow to stop growing as its usually to hot and will start growing again when temps get a bit lower as there best grow temp is approx 22 to 25 c . Soil mix choices are important if your going to use tray watering method, do not use sphag moss in the bottom of the pot or in the mix as it will go rotten and smell in a short time , use a hard base material like baked clay balls , suitable size gravel or what ever ,then the potting mix on top using more suitable potting mix materials like sand, peat and perlite , with over head watering you can add the spah to the mix but still not in the bottom of the pot still will go smelly as well and flow the mix , but over head water requires more attention and precise water procedures as your mix will dry out quicker in warmer temps . If your plant is not growing well out side the dormant time , usually you have a issue , ,my first look is the soil or potting mix, to wet , smelly , to dry , to old , water quality , then the light , all though light is generally not the problem with ceph's unless its to much sun causing dehydration and smaller pitching. and lack of ventilation , they like moving air a lot . So its usually the mix and watering it gets down to , re-potting to a more suitable mix works ,and really should only be done in cooler times not in summer growth time as it has a tendency to make the plant go backwards for a time , but if necessary you can do it , for full re- pot you need to wash off all the old mix ""gently very gently "" from roots ,do not break or damage roots the fine ones are critical as well , and re-pot very gently as well be as quick as you can as well ,less damage to roots quicker it will regain growth time . don't press in mix to much they like a more open mix over all just slightly firm. washing off roots by using a pump spry the 7 to 9 LT ones so u can regulate the water pressure easier and be more precise with the water wash off , use a sieve with 70% shade cloth in it so u have both hand free to help the procedure , use rain water or pure water to wash off only not tap water . hope that may helps a bit sorry if any spelling errors u know by now i cant spell
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Post by Maiden on Oct 25, 2015 19:59:26 GMT -5
A ceph Jedi is in the house
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Post by WillyCKH on Oct 25, 2015 20:29:31 GMT -5
I always learn something new from John! Thanks, John!
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Post by cyberpeter on Nov 5, 2015 19:36:29 GMT -5
I have this problem too, thanks for sharing the knowledge !
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Post by partisangardener on Feb 6, 2016 17:01:11 GMT -5
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Post by lloyd on Feb 6, 2016 21:29:58 GMT -5
Boron deficiency, that's an interesting idea. I looked on Wikipedia. Evidently 12 mg of Boron per kgm. of soil is ideal. I have Borax at home (which has some sodium but no chloride). The molecular weight of Borax is ~ 201 and Boron ~ 11. So if you want to add Boron to soil you could add ~ 200 mg of Borax per kgm of (dry?) soil. You could probably estimate the weight of the soil by just weighing the pot (not a clay pot). Carnivorous plants probably need less than most plants. So to be on the safe side you could water with 1/10 that much.
Example: say a plant in a plastic pot weighs around 150 grams with the soil just moist. Then you could take 0.15 X 1/10 X 200 mg.= 3 mg of Borax in say 5 cc. distilled water and apply it to the soil.
Definitely worth a try. Could that be the reason that CP's often dwindle and die if not repotted?
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Post by partisangardener on Feb 7, 2016 4:59:40 GMT -5
I think carnivores need very little, because they thrive most of the time in very poor sandy or peaty soil. So I intend to try what they call in the kitchen a knife point of Borax in 0, 2 liters of osmosis water. From this mother solution some drops into 5 liters rainwater to wet my plants would surly not overdo. Just for fun maybe some drops of the latter solution into some pitchers if I see symptoms would get soon results either way.
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Post by partisangardener on Feb 7, 2016 6:56:29 GMT -5
lloyd That was my thought, that this unpredictable dwindling could have this reason. Different clones will probably have different demand. My mothersolution is now ready.
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Post by Dennis Z on Feb 8, 2016 23:07:18 GMT -5
Well my cephs came back, and crashed again. They used to do so well for me. -sigh- I grow D.hamilatonii in the pot with the cephs just so the pot doesn't look boring when they crash.
On the bright side, my lepanthes telipogoniflora is pushing out it's 3rd consecutive bloom!
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Post by vraev on Feb 9, 2016 3:05:41 GMT -5
When cephs were growing on autopilot for me, they never crashed. They just kept growing. They slowed down sometimes (Seasonally) but I had mounds upon mounds of pitchers. Personally, is the pot sitting in water in a tray? I find that it may be very prone to rot that way. cephs send their roots deep. A taller pot is definitely better. My tiny/small pots are cute, but definitely not good for this plant. Giving this plant a taller pot with more open airy media will just help it to grow for a long time without issues.
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Post by partisangardener on Feb 9, 2016 3:50:04 GMT -5
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Post by vraev on Feb 9, 2016 13:32:08 GMT -5
Intersting. Might have to check it out. thanks.
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