Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 9/28/2011

Question
I recently got a Cephalotus plant, its a very small plant. I put it in a 7-8 inch plastic pot with the fast draining soil mix. It sits in my dorm room in a south facing window with my other carnivorous plants. The room on a sunny day can warm up to 80 degrees but usually cools to around 70 or lower at nighttime. When I got the plant it was bare root, so I'm worried if root disturbance could be an issue. So far the original leaves have all withered, although new pitchers have started developing. Also the growing points and the very newest pitchers have browned up which to me isn't a good sign. Is my plant dying or is it just suffering from transplant stress?

Answer
I can't say for certain if your plant is dying.  The only thing I can say is that time will tell.  Even if the plant were in my care, the most I can do is wait and see.  If there were root damage from bareroot shipping and repotting, then the damage is already done.  There isn't anything can do to reverse it.  With root damage, you just have to let it play itself out.  The most you can do is provide the proper lighting, water and temperatures.  The new growth is encouraging, but it may take at least a month to determine if your plant will survive.  After that, it may take a few more months to see a new set of pitchers.  

For general information on caring for Cephalotus, read our care sheets online.  For detailed growing information, watch Volume 3 of the Grow Carnivorous Plants DVD series.
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets
http://www.cobraplant.com/DVD

On another note, you should avoid purchasing Cephalotus bareroot.  This species don't tolerate root disturbance very well.  If they survive the shipping process bareroot, it often takes several months for the plant to recover.  For this reason, we never ship plants bareroot, especially Cephalotus, Heliamphora, Darlingtonia and Drosera.  These plants tend to be more sensitive to root disturbance than other species, such as Sarracenia, Dionaea and Nepenthes.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin