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Post by dvg on May 13, 2020 12:29:46 GMT -5
dvg Thanks! I'm torn between giving them super bright light to get them darker, and lower light to get them bigger. I tend to move them around and change it up, hence the odd mix of dark and green pitchers. You can have your cake and eat it too with these. You can grow them in lower light to get them to a size to your liking, and then once they're big enough, you can move them to brighter light to darken them up nicely, before you show them again. dvg
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Post by gj on May 13, 2020 14:32:38 GMT -5
perrywing I don't know if it makes any difference to your observations, but I just happened to catch myself looking at the rib on one of my C. follicularis pitchers that I got from Cole's Halloween giveaway last year, and it appears to not taper as much as your typical does, but also doesn't jut out near the bottom like your Hummer's. But that said, I believe the one pictured is a relatively small pitcher compared to the ones you were comparing. It is about the 1/2" wide and around 3/4" tall (not including the lid), so perhaps with maturity, it will trend one way or the other.
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Post by perrywing on May 13, 2020 19:24:49 GMT -5
dvg Awesome! I have been accomplishing that to a degree, but my cp tank is quickly outgrowing my hobby and it's getting a little tight in there to move stuff around freely. Guess I'll just have to upgrade, haha! gj Neat! Yes, the size of the two pitchers I compared are about 1 1/4 inch long and 3/4 inch wide, so yours is a bit smaller. I took a closer look at my cephs and most of the typicals have tapered ribs no matter the size! With individual exceptions of course. Here's one closer to the size pitcher you have and probably the least tapered typical I could find: It does taper further down but still not nearly as far as the Hummer's Giant. Even the smallest Hummer's has a very large, long rib: It's pretty much the same width right from the peristome down to the base. Again, this could totally be a variation with my cephs (although I have typicals from two different sources and they are all similar) or simply a difference in care (my tank is maybe too humid at 80-95%). You'll have to keep me posted and let me know if your pitchers change shape as they age! I also have typicals from Bonfield so the comparison is fascinating. Thanks for the photo, it definitely broadens the sample size, haha! On that note, if anyone here also has Hummer's Giant I'd love to see a side-shot to compare!
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va
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Post by va on May 26, 2020 22:51:46 GMT -5
I managed to pick up this little gem from someone who was selling off their CP collection. I've never seen cephs grown like this, but it's pretty cool, mimicking how they might grow in the wild on Australian cliffsides. It's currently sitting in a tray of water alongside a Hummer's giant and a coal mine beach I also picked up from the same seller. Does anyone else grow cephs like this? Sorry for the poor quality - my phone sucks and I need a new one, but I keep spending that money on plants. _ Haha! I did grow a cephalotus exactly like this in the past. it worked pretty well. After a while I got some root mealybugs which has wrecked my collection so I had to remove this setup and I went back to growing them the usual way in a pot. If it were up to me I would try to grow it in a more "visually-appealing" way next time. Perhaps next to a waterfall or something.
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va
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Post by va on May 26, 2020 22:57:40 GMT -5
I also grew them like this to give it a more visually planted feel. However, the pot was too small and the scale became skewed as the plant grew bigger. In a bigger pot, I think this would look pretty slick and clean.
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benny
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Post by benny on May 26, 2020 23:08:14 GMT -5
Is there a known benefit to growing them on a slant?
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va
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Post by va on May 26, 2020 23:17:40 GMT -5
Is there a known benefit to growing them on a slant? Not really. Most people grow them conventionally. They have huge pots of plants.Theoretically, growing them on a slant would mean less water logging and faster drainage, but again, if your growing conditions aren't up to snuff, growing them on a slant won't do much either.
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Post by dvg on May 27, 2020 12:28:59 GMT -5
Beautiful plants in your set up Varun! Thanks for sharing. dvg
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Post by perrywing on May 27, 2020 19:36:29 GMT -5
va Wow, beautiful plants and setup! I really like the orchids hanging off the back wall, too! It's so neat to see a similar setup as mine. I'm actually planning out a small project that will up-scale my ceph wall into a 10-gallon tank, which I'll probably be posting about shortly. I love making miniature versions of wild scapes - it's kind of this thing that I do, haha! Thanks for sharing! benny No, I don't really think there's any benefit of growing them on a slant, other than maybe better drainage, like Varun mentioned. I do find I have to water it a bit more than my regularly-potted cephs. I like it purely for the visual aesthetic and the novelty of growing it like it might grow in the wild, on cliff faces.
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Post by dvg on May 27, 2020 21:09:03 GMT -5
I love making miniature versions of wild scapes - it's kind of this thing that I do, haha! benny No, I don't really think there's any benefit of growing them on a slant, other than maybe better drainage, like Varun mentioned. I do find I have to water it a bit more than my regularly-potted cephs. I like it purely for the visual aesthetic and the novelty of growing it like it might grow in the wild, on cliff faces. Perrywing, do you have any other miniature landscapes going now...ones you could share pics of? Lately, ive been thinking of some of those Japanese inspired small simple plantings, in tiny pots...they seem so humble, yet so whole. Even some small figurines strategically placed atop the pots mosses, brings a grin. Also, with regards to the slanting pots, cutaway at an oblique angle, one advantage is that a larger surface area is made available for growing on, than was previously available, if grown conventionally in the original pot. Cheers, Doug dvg
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va
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Post by va on May 27, 2020 21:15:15 GMT -5
Thanks guys. I would agree, if you can, go with a bigger pot for a good sense of scale. Or else, once the pitchers cover the surface, you don't necessarily get the right sense of scale as you would if you have a 1' x 1' area. Would love to see your landscapes as well.
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Post by gj on May 27, 2020 21:39:49 GMT -5
As I was looking at photos, I noticed that large clusters of Cephalotus on flat media sometimes have pitchers that are lying almost horizontally, which got me to wondering if perhaps cephs growing on mounds would perhaps keep more of their pitchers upright, and whether this might be some kind of advantage when it comes to catching prey. A horizontal pitcher's internal fluid would probably be less deep inside, spreading across the length of the pitcher rather than pooling at the bottom, and would also lose the advantage of its prey having to climb out the walls of the pitcher, instead giving them the opportunity to potentially just crawl right out. If this were the case, then the consequence would be that the cephs on the mound would be slightly more effective trappers.
Now, all that said, with the amount of pitchers that were perfectly upright, compared to the very few that were horizontal when planted on flat surfaces, I'm sure the difference would be negligible, not to mention the fact that our plants can often depend on us for food, rather than what they are able to catch themselves, making this even less consequential, but nonetheless, I'll be pondering over it until my next zany theory strikes haha.
Regardless, I'm still loving the look of these!
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va
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Post by va on May 27, 2020 22:29:30 GMT -5
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Post by gj on May 28, 2020 4:38:20 GMT -5
Haha the horizontal one looks like a still shot of a great concert with some crowd surfing breaking out. And seeing how erect the mound and wall style pots are in comparison with the extra room for the bottoms of the pitchers to occupy is exactly what got me wondering about if perhaps there was some advantage there (along with the discussion perrywing and Benny were having).
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va
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Post by va on May 28, 2020 21:16:10 GMT -5
I think for us it seems more pleasing to have a more vertical alongside a horizontal growth. Once again, given how they seem to grow in the wild, it just gives a pleasing look. However, it is important to remember that the way these plants grow, they tend to raise up as clusters from a point. The "leaf" itself does not have the capacity to grow outwards too far. As a result, the plant readily forms sub growths underneath that raise up and form another cluster alongside the main growth point. This is very conducive to growing along a slope. If we think about it a bit more broadly, Cephalotus has a branch structure under the soil . Imagine roots almost like branches growing under the soil. The point where it forms leaves on the surface, it forms a cluster of pitchers. Hence, I think the plant itself is well adapted for this underground scrambling habit. (This is my personal theory... I don't know if botanists agree with it). In culture most of the expert growers grow these plants on mounds of soil. This is to help the water drain away and help more aeration at the centre of that cluster. Otherwise the plants are very prone to fungal infections.
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