Care Tips for Mexican Pinguicula

11 years ago

Hi CP Folks! This is my first time growing some really tiny Mexican Pings.

I've researched quite a bit on M. Pings, and understood that they prefer well draining soil, but also contain enough minerals for the roots to hold onto.

I primarily grow cacti and succulents, so my mix might still appear to be too gritty.. so would like to hear your soil, care tips and advise.

My mix consist of 1 part - turface, 1 part - grow stones, 1 part - vermiculite, 1 part - perlite and 1 part - mixed peat and coir. They are all screened except till a sieve to prevent dust/finer particles except for the mixed peat and coir part.

I mainly use terra cotta pots (too airy for Pings), so I improvised and poked some drainage holes into some Styrofoam cups.

This is a Pinguicula 'Weser', doesn't seem to have alot of roots, then again like I mentioned I only grew cacti and succulents, so I don't know how much roots to expect. Is this amount of roots normal for a Mexican Ping?

Also, the leaves droop alot! Making it very difficult to pot. What I did, like how I pot most echeverias, is using the soil to pitch a 'mini mount', then anchor the drooping plant over the 'mount'. Hope this is fine.

Pinguicula 'Esseriana', this guy seems to have more roots than the previous one.

The green succulent leaves are signs that it is going dormant? Should I begin to water lesser if the plant is going dormant?

So far, I've only used distilled bottled water, nothing else. Kept them in a humidity tray, and whenever the water in tray is low, or almost completely dehydrated, I water them from the top of the mix, on the edges of the plant. Never over the plant.

They get bright, shaded indirect sunlight. Do I keep them this way? I've read they don't really need much direct sunlight.

Cheers,

Bernard

Featured Answer

bernardyjh
Original Author

10 years ago

More Updates on my plants.. 12/28

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Comments (7)

tommyr_gw Zone 6
11 years ago
Yes bright, indirect Sun is fine. It's still pretty hot out so I doubt they are succulent leaves this early. Water and let dry. Repeat. Mine are in the standard 50/50 peat moss/Perlite mix with some extra calcium added. I use Mir-Cal.
Paul MI
11 years ago
Pings never have much of a root system, just enough to keep from rolling away. Your mix could be fine -- I do know folks who grow some of their Mex. pings in a straight mineral mix w/o any prob. Just means one would adjust one's watering to suit. If using a very free draining mix like you have, I would definitely let them sit in a bit of water as you are doing.

I, too, don't think those are succulent leaves. Appears that the leaf edges are simply curling up at the edges which is completely normal for some pings. Yours have great coloration right now too.

Also, there is no problem with watering from overhead/ on the plant. Happens that way in nature all the time.
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jbraun_gw
10 years ago
You have your Pings looking pretty good! Think of the color as sun tan. If the color starts to fade you might want to increase the light. It seems you are growing them in great media for cacti. Research the varieties that you have and see what kind of growing conditions they come from. There are plenty of different one, some like mostly mineral soils some like more boggy conditions some almost all spaghnum moss. Most like lots of water so your humidity trays are spot on for them. Fill and let dry out then fill again.
oldmangroot
10 years ago
It it seems as if you are using a variety of Al's gritty mix. That mix is designed to allow all the water to drain away from the roots, rapidly. Works great for trees, cacti, and other plants, with frequent watering. That is not an environment friendly to most (not all) carnivorous plants. Most people start CPs in a 50/50 mix of sand and peat to simulate a bog with very different physics around the water - i.e. a bog-like saturation with at most occasional dry spells.

The gritty mix is designed to do the opposite - allow gravity to carry water away so no perched water remains and the roots have air and moisture. Most CPs sit in trays to create a the opposite effect - water that wicks up keeping the soil moist at all times.

I only have one ping, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but it seems to me like you have a soil designed to do the opposite of what these plants need.
bernardyjh
Original Author
10 years ago
Hey Ping folks! Thanks for stopping by and leaving your tips and comments. I really appreciate reading them, especially so for a newbie like me.

Here are some update on them a few months on..

The little leave fall from P Esseiana decided to propagate into an new plant! It's really exciting to see that Pings are very "fussy" plants as compared to some of my succulent/cacti.

As the fall/winter weather kicks in, I moved my plants under lights now. Still with the humidity tray. More updates as we go on!
oldmangroot
10 years ago
Those ar really pretty plants... Thanks for sharing!