Substrate questions

[efbiosis]

Howdy folks...

I've been wondering if there is any evidence of a preferred medium for growing mexi-pings? I have heard a lot of anecdotes about 100% mineral vs organic substrates but nothing that suggests a real/factual preference by the plants themselves.

I've never been to the mountains of Mexico, but I imagine that most of these plants are growing in some kind of leaf mould instead of a true soil. If that is the case, would ground, sterilized oak leaves be the best medium of all??

I'd love to hear the experiances of Ping lovers.

Damon

 

[Pyro]

I have never been to Mexico either but all accounts I have heard indicate that the plants tend to grow in limestone scree and the like. So a more mineral media would seem appropriate.


While it is not a true scientific experiment all of my Mexi-Pings are essentially duplicated in a friends collection. His media of choice is crushed limestone with a small fraction of potting soil and a number of his plants are growing significantly faster than mine.

 

[cephalotus88]

In a past BACPS meeting, Alfred Lau gave us a presentation about Pings. in Mexico. Most, if not all, grew on cliff cracks, even upside down in crevices. I have noticed that some of these pings had moss around thier bases', so i guess a mix of organic and mineral will work. The thing is, if you can cultivate the pings with a basic mix of peat/sand or peat/perlite, etc, keep it at that. Save you some $

 

[efbiosis]

I'm intrigued by this business of plants growing in an organic free environment. I just can't imagine Ping roots being strong enought to support it growing upside down...that is amazing! I'm still stuck in that old paradigm that plants need soil..go figure.

So I think I'm going to try a little experiment of my own along the lines that Pyro suggested. I have a very fecund P. esseriana (every time I look up it is shooting off new pups) so I'll harvest six pups and grow half of them in a 90% mineral substrate and the other half in a 60% mineral substrate. All other conditions will be identical.

I'll let you guys know how it turns out...including initial size of the pups and # of blooms if any that occur.

Thanks for the replies
Damon

 

[Colieo]

Soundslike a terrific experiment! Keep us all posted!

Cole