Higher temperatures seems to encourage the bacteria/fungus/virus to thrive and cause root rot.
When grown outdoors, try and keep the pot from direct sunlight. During summer in Australia, the plants all die down to nothing and regenerate from the rhizomes during autumn. So unless you are prepared for the top growth to go botak...then try to keep the plants cooler in our weather especially during the hot months. But with the recent rain, I think "summer" is over.
Peat/sand, LFS/perlite would both be fine outdoors. But if under the rain, the more loose the media is, the better. Pine bark is good for larger plants because the drainage is better. LFS/perlite has to be used loosely i.e. when potting up the plant, don't compact the media. I use coarse sand which is 3-4mm per grain.
Another tip about watering, for clumps like yours, don't water the Cephs. Water the media and don't let the water don't touch the plants. Otherwise, when water is caught inbetween the pitchers, fungus can grow very quickly in warm conditions.
I have all my established plants on mounds of media. So even when I top water my Cephs, the water runs off very quickly and does not accummulate at the centre of the plants.
Don't let my Neps see this...my fav CPs are Sarracenia and Ceph. And if I can afford it, the next would have to be a Darlingtonia.
