I am relatively new to carnivorous plants and several weeks ago purchased a small pot of Pinguicula moranensis to play around with and see if they could help with a fungus gnat problem I have been struggling with lately. However, I fear I may have done something horrible to them!
These particular P. moranensis were growing in straight, sopping wet, 85% broken down, stinky, stagnant LFS that had obviously seen better days. No matter what I did to this mix nor how carefully I watered it would not even begin to dry out. The plants themselves were showing signs of decline--rotting older foliage and loss of vigor--so I took pity on them (or so I thought) and repotted them into a much lighter, airier mix of sphagnum peat moss, sand, vermiculite, perlite and pumice (1:1:1:1:1 ratio) per "The Savage Garden."
Of course with the original growing medium this far gone, I had to remove as much as possible. I was shocked to discover that what roots my precious P. moranensis had were maybe 1/2" long at most and that the healthy inner leaves, after removing the decaying outer foliage, seemed to want to break away with even the lightest touch.
So I repotted them into fresher mix as gently as I could and I took the healthy leaves that broke away and placed them right-side-up on top of barely damp vermiculite in a shallow, covered seed tray in hopes that they may root and send up babies.
All of the leaves produced by these plants up to the point of repotting were large, slippery and carnivorous. They were showing no signs of producing a winter rosette. (Although now I wonder if the loss of vigor I was seeing was the initial steps of rosette formation rather than problems related to the rotting sphagnum...? But so late in the year...?)
Everything I have read *after* repotting them says that they should be repotted only during the winter rosette stage right before the start of the non-succulent summer growth. Oops. And nobody mentions what may happen if they are repotted at any other time.
I now have the pot back in its western windowsill with 50-60% humidity and a fairly steady temperature of 70ºF.
Have I done the right thing? Or should I have just waited and not taken the chance of sending them into shock, or even worse, death? What can I do to help them along at this point?
Please help me. I really, really like these beautiful plants and, all fungus gnat problems beside the point, I hope to have them in my collection for quite a long time.
I apologize for the long post.
Thanks,
Corey
These particular P. moranensis were growing in straight, sopping wet, 85% broken down, stinky, stagnant LFS that had obviously seen better days. No matter what I did to this mix nor how carefully I watered it would not even begin to dry out. The plants themselves were showing signs of decline--rotting older foliage and loss of vigor--so I took pity on them (or so I thought) and repotted them into a much lighter, airier mix of sphagnum peat moss, sand, vermiculite, perlite and pumice (1:1:1:1:1 ratio) per "The Savage Garden."
Of course with the original growing medium this far gone, I had to remove as much as possible. I was shocked to discover that what roots my precious P. moranensis had were maybe 1/2" long at most and that the healthy inner leaves, after removing the decaying outer foliage, seemed to want to break away with even the lightest touch.
So I repotted them into fresher mix as gently as I could and I took the healthy leaves that broke away and placed them right-side-up on top of barely damp vermiculite in a shallow, covered seed tray in hopes that they may root and send up babies.
All of the leaves produced by these plants up to the point of repotting were large, slippery and carnivorous. They were showing no signs of producing a winter rosette. (Although now I wonder if the loss of vigor I was seeing was the initial steps of rosette formation rather than problems related to the rotting sphagnum...? But so late in the year...?)
Everything I have read *after* repotting them says that they should be repotted only during the winter rosette stage right before the start of the non-succulent summer growth. Oops. And nobody mentions what may happen if they are repotted at any other time.
I now have the pot back in its western windowsill with 50-60% humidity and a fairly steady temperature of 70ºF.
Have I done the right thing? Or should I have just waited and not taken the chance of sending them into shock, or even worse, death? What can I do to help them along at this point?
Please help me. I really, really like these beautiful plants and, all fungus gnat problems beside the point, I hope to have them in my collection for quite a long time.
I apologize for the long post.
Thanks,
Corey
