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Easiest...

What is the D. capensis of the Ping world? I mean the EASIEST... I plan on venturing out to purchase one off the net somewhere... Any suggestions? Also, and care instructions I should know about?
 
It's not as incredibly easy as D. capensis, but P. moranensis is what I recommend. Want the care? There's a lot we could tell you.

Chris
 
Please, if you wouldnt mind, I WOULD appreciate it!!!
 
I DO mind, so I'm not going to tell you. Too bad.

j/k...no problem
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Soil: 1:1:1:1:1: peat/sand/perlite/vermiculite/lava rock or pumice. The lava rock is optional and not practical for a small plant. If available, add pinches of dolomite and/or gypsum. DON'T soak the mix when mixing and don't compact it into the usual brick--it should remain very open--your plant will thank you.

Light: Will this be in a terrarium? Where I live, growing P. moranensis in a terrarium is a space-waster, so most of mine are on windowsills in full sun. However, I'm careful not to let them fry during the summer, so I sometimes use refrigerated water or provide light shading.

Watering: Don't let it sit in water for very long. Instead, frequently water overhead. When it comes watering mine over the growing season, I kind of treat them like Nepenthes. Weird of me, eh? When, instead of the slimy carnivorous leaves, it puts out the succulent winter leaves, water less frequently, keeping the soil slightly moist. When it starts to put out summer leaves again, don't immediately resume the heavy watering of the growing season--wait a week or two because otherwise, the roots may rot.

This guy doesn't need high humidity, especially not in winter.

If in a terrarium, 70F is fine while in growth; during dormancy, a cooler temp. is preferable.

Fertilizer: I do not feed anything solid to P. moranensis--it catches lots of gnats on its own. If I did, I would use rehydrated freeze-dried bloodworms, sold in fish/pet stores. HOWEVER, while in carnivorous growth, I lightly mist monthly with a 25% solution of Epiphyte's Delight. This seems to be a huge benefit to Mexican pings. BTW, I remember reading somewhere that ping flowers are marred with nasty white spots if fertilizer hits them--so be careful.

(WARNING to people lucky enough to grow P. laueana and have decided to take my advice: I do not grow laueana, but fertilizer (at least MirAcid) has been found to fry lauena's foliage. Avoid fertilizer in this case. Contact me for more info, if you want me to dig up the CPN article that says this.)

Repot every two years or so.

Additional questions are welcome!

Chris
 
Hmmm.... Kewl, that sounds good...

Are there any kinds of different forms/cultivars/etc???

Thanks...
 
"Are there any kinds of different forms/cultivars/etc.???"

Do you mean for moranensis? There are quite a few different varieties, cultivars, forms etc. of moranensis.
There is an extremely rare white flowered form known as var.alba. Cultivars include 'Vera Cruz', 'Huahuapan'(not to be confused with sp.Huahuapan) and 'Mitla'. There are probably at least 15+ different looking kinds of moranensis alone.

I feed my mex. pings a diet of rehydrated blood worms. I have found that leaves of laueana can be marred after larger particles of food(bloodworm) is applied.
 
There are two variations that I can get... They both cost 2/5.00, they are the one that sounds like ehersomething or other, and superba... Which is "better" what are the charictaristics of them both?
 
I have a moranensis var. 'superba' and the leaves are large, oval and yellowish under strong lighting. The whole plant can supposedly grow to a very large size. The flowers(around 2in) are pink/whitish throat.

The other mexican ping sounds like an ehersiae(ehlersai). This one is not a moranensis and grows to about 2in. It produces medium sized pink flowers and the leaves can become a very dark pink under good lighting.
 
Chris,

About MirAcid on laueana. I have heard that MirAcid will fry most any Mexi-Ping as they are all better adapted to a more neutral/alkiline environment. I have been using Orchid 30-10-10 at 1/4 strenght on all my CPs, including Mexi-Pings, and have never noticed any adverce efects.
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Pyro
 
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