QuestionQUESTION: I recently ordered a "Hummer's Giant" (#4) from you and I was wondering how long will it take it to become an adult plant. I do understand they are very slow growers and I am just curious-Thanks!
ANSWER: Hi Michael,
Cephalotus is a slow grower. With good growing conditions, they can roughly double in size in a year. With plenty of sun, and consistent temperatures you can see a new pitcher about every 3 weeks during the summer. All of this is very hard to speculate on since everyone's growing conditions and micro-climate is so different.
Good Growing!
Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com
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QUESTION: I apologize for not giving more specifics about my growing conditions. I live in Eastern Kentucky. I repotted my Hummers Giant in a mixture of 1 part peat moss, 1 part perlite, silica sand ( Mystic White II pool filter sand)and have it in a South facing window. I belive my growing conditions are good if I understood correctly information form your Care Sheets and Grow Carnivorous Plants DVD Vol. 3 ? My following question is in general to your experience of growing Cephalotus, in idea conditions, how long does it take to reach full mature pitcher size from seed? from a small plant division? The reason I am asking is because I cannot find this information anywhere. I am just looking for a general time-frame. I am assuming it is in years? Thank's!!!
AnswerHi Michael,
From seed, Cephs easily take four to five years to begin developing mature pitchers. We have several hundred seedlings right now that are over a year old, and they are just 1/8 - 1/4" wide. Divisions are much quicker. You can get a nice looking plant in a year from a division. Leaf cuttings take about two years. Your plant in the south window is in similar conditions to the one in the volume #3 DVD. I still have that plant there, and it's about 50% larger than when we did the video. It might be larger, but I've had to treat it for scale. Similar sized plants in the greenhouse have grown more.
Here's a website that might be helpful on everything Cephalotus: http://www.foxoles.dsl.pipex.com/index.html I've used this site frequently in the past as a resource.
Good Growing!
Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com
