FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello my name is Jared and I'm new to forums for one and 2 I've bought 3 cephalotus's and really I'm still learning how to grow them all of them but 1 are now doin fairly well least I think so anyways does anyone know how far u should keep one of these plants away from a 1500 watt cree cob philizon light maybe I've had several problems as far as cooking them some and I can't find the sweet spot for it but I want them to acclimate n not just keep moving them around..... secondly my czech giant ceph is getting brown spots on the lower porch ions of the pitcher on 3 of the bigger pitchers and Idk if there suntanning or dieing ill put a pic up so someone might can help I just got this plant less then a week ago in the mail n dunno if it's from shock or something else...... I did maxsea spray the top of it about 3 days ago and put a few drops in a few pitchers do u think the spots are fertlizer burns or just being cooked from the light either way I'll stop rambling please help with any input would be much appreciated

You might want to let the plants settle in before you hit them with the fertilizer. They may still be struggling to adapt, and are dropping some vegetation in order to focus on surviving.

With a light that strong, the plants will probably need an adjustment period, particularly considering how green they are. The plants will handle extremely strong light once adapted (and the pitchers will turn red/purple.)

What type of fertilizer did you use?

Thanks for the reply and I use maxsea fertlizer I usually use it first I just started using dyno pro orchid fertlizer for the roots for My other few but I Def not gonna use it on this green one for a while due to worry over hurting it.

Since I got yall here so my care sheet for these plants that I received from the seller said to leave the plastic humidity dome on these for a week to acclimate do u think its a good idea to leave it in the dome for a little longer I've had it a week from today now or should I just let it acclimate out of it n just let it adjust to it. Everytime I take it out of the dome 2 of the pitchers close I run a alternating fan on them but I run a humidifier and it stays between 60 and 70% at all time.

Yeah pitchers closing is a sign of some sort of moisture stress in Cephalotus. Generally what you want to do is open up the dome a little bit more at regular intervals, and just slow down if the plant starts showing signs of stress. However, Cephalotus do not need elevated humidity to grow, and actually can be easier to grow in lower humidity since they're prone to fungal issues.

I second cephalotus growing better in lower humidity over total humidity. I usually only grow them in domes until they're rooted/established enough to survive on their own. For me, I'll usually open vents and let it grow like that for a couple weeks and then remove them. As far as distance from the light goes, the most important factor is how hot the plant is getting under the light. For instance, I've grown cephalotus 2-3 inches below a yescom but under a Mars Hydro it roasts the plant 6-8 inches away.

Matthew reynolds wrote: ↑Wed Aug 31, 2022 3:25 pm Thanks for the reply and I use maxsea fertlizer I usually use it first I just started using dyno pro orchid fertlizer for the roots for My other few but I Def not gonna use it on this green one for a while due to worry over hurting it.

I have to say that's a lot of fertilizer. You've got to let the plants harden up first or that's additional stress.
Also, seconded on lower humidity. They don't like to be soaking wet, in the dirt or air.

Thanks so much for all ur help and yes I really want to break it from the de but I do want it to be happy to. So do u think I should take it off a few hours a day from dome or do a half and half a day type thing til it acclimates? Btw here's My set up on the light situation I don't think I can get much further away from light before it doesn't get enough this is almost 2 and half foot away from this light the one in the dome is the plant on the shelf.

Matthew reynolds wrote:Thanks so much for all ur help and yes I really want to break it from the de but I do want it to be happy to. So do u think I should take it off a few hours a day from dome or do a half and half a day type thing til it acclimates?

No you don't want to go repeatedly changing the environmental conditions like that. Just open it up a little more each day or two, like propping the edge of the dome up slightly. People will also use ziplock bags for acclimation and just open the zip up gradually.

I thot of that to but it's a fairly larger plant n didn't no if the bag method would've worked but yeah I can try it thanks.

The main reason I used maxsea so early on this plant because I've heard u can bring a plant out of shipping shock early if u give a boost like that but maybe I was wrong it's all part of learning I guess I haven't killed any of my cephs so I'm guessing I'm doing ok or just barely scooting by without killing any of them I do worry alot about fert even if it looks like I'm confident I worry everytime I do it but I watch alot of ceph care on califonia carnivores so I get alot of my care tips n using fertlizer watching there videos I just figured if they can do it im confident I can and not kill my plants not goin overkill on them.

Generally, the rule of thumb when it comes to fertilizing carnivorous plants is that you should do it sparingly and cautiously, and not at all if you're not sure. And to test a little before doing it on every plant.

If I do I have the dose really light and I try small amounts before pouring it on it I have 3 of them so I test on diffrent ones til I get it right that new one tho doesn't seem to like squat least not yet. You ever just get a plant that won't accept anything? And it could be the same species just a diffrent plant.