Question

Cephalotus   Hi there. I received a medium Cephalotus from you all a couple days ago. I sent in an e-mail asking about the health of the plant because I noticed that its pitchers were very wilted and flimsy once I unpacked it. I received a nice response from Jacob Farin stating that it was likely the old age of the mature pitchers and that they were dying, however, I'm not entirely convinced that is the problem because all of the immature pitchers are also wilted. I attached a picture of what the plant looks like currently.
   Usually when I encounter wilted pitchers, they are about to die, which would mean that all of its pitchers are going to die. I understand that it could be entering or is in dormancy, but I've never seen a healthy Ceph kill off all of its pitchers at the same time. Its non-carnivorous leaves don't appear to be wilted, but they do not have the healthy, shiny sheen that I usually see on my other Cephs. Also, when the Ceph arrived it already had about 8 dead immature pitchers that I carefully removed. Since I received it, I've only given it about 4 hours of morning sun and then put it in indirect light for the rest of the day and a little bit of distilled water since I've received it. The soil is damp, but not extremely wet. I know Cephs don't like to be very wet. Also, I live in California. I have a second Ceph that I received from you all a couple months ago that is doing great and never became wilted. I'd really appreciate any help - I've only been growing Cephs for about half a year and I haven't encountered this problem before. Thank you in advance!

Answer
Hi Nicholas,

I have to agree with Jacob.  This looks like older pitchers just reaching the end of their lifespan.  Winter shipping can make this process happen faster when the plants are packed in a dark box for a few days.  We experience this in the nursery during the winter when plants are only under natural light, and the short days often has them producing mostly leaves instead of pitchers.

For now just keep up what you're doing, and give the plant time to adapt to it's new home.  Go ahead and cut off the pitcher on the right I see in the picture since it is just about gone.  If any of the little ones are brown, remove those too.  You should see new ones being produced in the crown among the leaves as it grows.  Now that we are past the solstice and the days are getting longer, you should see some better growth as we get closer to spring.  Keep us updated on how it does.

Good Growing!

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