Question

First day  

Time ..   When I got my cephalotus it was looking very nice, but now its looking weird. Its strange because the small pitchers seamed to be growing but quickly dried out.  There is one of the pitchers that has stayed green since I received the plant. Now it only has two, one looking green and the other yellow.  It seams to be growing two new pitchers but I worry that they will dry like the others. I heard cephalotus do not need much water or sun. I initially exposed the plant to the first three hours of sun in the morning, now I want to keep it in the shade to see the change. I think those three hours of sun dried out the pitchers.

I'm from Puerto Rico and I just got this beauty from you guys, thanks.

Answer
Hi Gabriel,

Your plant is making a big transition from us here in the Pacific Northwest, to warm, sunny, humid Puerto Rico.  This behavior and appearance is not at all unusual.  I see fuzzy new pitchers being produced in the center of the plant.

Continue to give your plant partial sun, top-water the pot daily, and give it time.  Cephalotus don't grow very fast even in nature.  You don't want to keep your plant in total shade since it makes them more prone to powdery mildew, and they don't grow in the shade in nature.  Loss of older pitchers is normal.  Be sure to not let the plant sit in water since Cephalotus is very prone to root rot if they sit in water.  Don't let it dry out, however.

Here's a webpage with some great natural habitat photos.  It's in German, but you can translate it into Spanish or English.  Christian has great natural habitat photos.  http://www.utricularia.net/deutsch/frame_gattungen.php?gattung=cephalotus&art=fo

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com