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gill_za

Never Knows Best
Soil mixture for Mexican pinguicula

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Although the initial purpose for this thread was to figure out a soil mixture for upcomming additions to my pinguicula collection using components that were readily available to me, now it became a discussion of appropriate soil mix for the plants with ranging soil components
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Hi there,

I am soon getting the following Mexican pings:

P. agnata
P. gracilis x moctezumae
P. 'Weser' which is supposed to be a hybrid of P. ehlersiae and P. moranensis

currently I'm a bit short on funds and thus trying to figure out what soil I can concoct without spending too much and preferably out of the components I already have.
I have:

washed and premixed 1:1 Peat/silica sand
washed LFS (dunno if I can use it here)
Perlite
Vermiculite
Petco Scoopable cat litter - is this safe?

My soil mix choices so far:

As suggested at http://www.carnivorousplants.org/seedbank/species/Pings_Mexican.htm
1:1:1 peat/perlite/silica sand plus add 1TBS of dolomitic lime to 1 or 2 cups of soil mix
I can get Espoma 5 lb. Garden Lime from homedepot cheap.
Or
1:1:1 peat/perlite/vermiculite

1:1:1:1 peat/perlite/silica/vermiculite

Which I have found searching around here.
Yesterday I bugged a few people in chat about it and some of the advices were to use Schultz APS, but it can't be found anywhere around where I live.

Any suggestions and criticism is much appreciated!
 
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I use a few different types of mixes depending on what I have available. But 'Weser will grow in anything, same with agnata. I have 'Weser growing in 50/50 peat/perlite, pure perlite, 80/20 perlite/peat, 50/50 perlite/APS and pure APS. My agnatas are growing in 80/20 perlite/peat, 50/50 APS/perlite and pure APS. All mixes are working well, but I find pure perlite and 50/50 perlite/APS to be the best as far as root systems and growth. In this mix I get ~2" long roots on most pinguicula and with a peat mixture I get very small roots, less than 1". I also sometimes add some silica sand to the top 1" or so if I have it out already.

I dont have the gracilis x moctezumae but I am growing gracilis, and its growing in 80/20 perlite/peat for the bottom half, and pure perlite for the top half. Ive only grown this plant since about March, but is showing good growth and roots.

I dont like vermiculite it breaks down fast in wet conditions and compacts easily.

Is your peat/silica already mixed? or are the separate? If separate I would use a mix of 80/20 perlite/peat and then the top inch add a little silica sand and mix it around at the top. If its already mixed I would take your 50/50 peat/silica and take 80/20 perlite to your peat/silica mix. But really anything around that should work. They aren't too picky.

Also you should be able to find APS at Home Depot or Lowes, Garden Centres or even Aquariums stores. I bought mine at Home Depot.

Andrew
 
I use a few different types of mixes depending on what I have available. But 'Weser will grow in anything, same with agnata. I have 'Weser growing in 50/50 peat/perlite, pure perlite, 80/20 perlite/peat, 50/50 perlite/APS and pure APS. My agnatas are growing in 80/20 perlite/peat, 50/50 APS/perlite and pure APS. All mixes are working well, but I find pure perlite and 50/50 perlite/APS to be the best as far as root systems and growth. In this mix I get ~2" long roots on most pinguicula and with a peat mixture I get very small roots, less than 1". I also sometimes add some silica sand to the top 1" or so if I have it out already.

I dont have the gracilis x moctezumae but I am growing gracilis, and its growing in 80/20 perlite/peat for the bottom half, and pure perlite for the top half. Ive only grown this plant since about March, but is showing good growth and roots.

I dont like vermiculite it breaks down fast in wet conditions and compacts easily.

Is your peat/silica already mixed? or are the separate? If separate I would use a mix of 80/20 perlite/peat and then the top inch add a little silica sand and mix it around at the top. If its already mixed I would take your 50/50 peat/silica and take 80/20 perlite to your peat/silica mix. But really anything around that should work. They aren't too picky.

Also you should be able to find APS at Home Depot or Lowes, Garden Centres or even Aquariums stores. I bought mine at Home Depot.

Andrew


Unfortunately I recently prepared a batch of washed and peroxide treated sand and peat 1:1 for dews, VFT's and other plants. So yes they are unfortunately combined. I'll try 80/20 perlite/(peat/silica) as you suggested. Going to wash perlite today and nuke it later.

Lowes, Homedepot and petstores (petsplus, pets mart, petco) don't carry Schultz APS in around Philli. I know where I can get a similar medium (by pondcare I believe) but it comes loaded with Zeolites... I'll try looking for aquarium stores in the vicinity later.
 
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner on this. They are being grown in a 100% mineral mix made up from a bonsai media. Not sure how they'll react to a more damp mix of a peat heavy media.. so be careful with how wet you keep them.
 
What is your mix mass?

Since mass has been growing them in an all mineral media, maybe try pure perlite, or the bottom half of the pot the 80/20 mix then the top half pure perlite.

I should mention I never keep the water level higher than 2cm, usually about 1.5cm (~6/8") and are kept humid, 70-80%.
 
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner on this. They are being grown in a 100% mineral mix made up from a bonsai media. Not sure how they'll react to a more damp mix of a peat heavy media.. so be careful with how wet you keep them.

Mass, no problem I saw you PM about the soil.
I looked up Bonsai mixes and what you have in your pics resembled Turface the most, which is another name for APS :( ehh.


What is your mix mass?

Since mass has been growing them in an all mineral media, maybe try pure perlite, or the bottom half of the pot the 80/20 mix then the top half pure perlite.

I should mention I never keep the water level higher than 2cm, usually about 1.5cm (~6/8") and are kept humid, 70-80%.

Humidity will be a problem, I unfortunately have no means of regulating it yet...
 
Lowes, Homedepot and petstores (petsplus, pets mart, petco) don't carry Schultz APS in around Philli.

I'm in the same boat here in Indiana. I tried another brand of APS made of 100% diatomaceous earth, and while the ping is alive, it's not the happiest. I grow most of mine in 1:1 peat/sand and they flower for me and produce... butter.

I lightly top water mine once a week, and keep about a quarter inch of water in their tray. I only bring this up because I don't regulate the humidity either, so perhaps the lower humidity in my living room, as opposed to that of a greenhouse or tank, keeps the peat/sand mixture from staying too soggy. Food for thought anyway.
 
Ive found mixtures with peat work well when humidity is low. I grow a few pinguicula as windowsill plants and all are planted in ~ 60/40 perlite/peat and grow great. Only problem is all the cat hair that sticks on them ;) I grow these in tea pots or other undrained pots and top water about once a week depending on how hot its been, making sure the media is always moist.

Really though 'Weser' and agnata will grow in anything as long as you have strong light.
 
Is it worth adding dolomitic lime to the mix since most pings prefer higher pH?
 
  • #11
Is it worth adding dolomitic lime to the mix since most pings prefer higher pH?

I've never bothered because so far I've had zero troubles growing all mexican pings I've tried growing (about 15 species). If I had some laying around I would try it on a few but do not feel its necessary.
 
  • #12
I only have a few species of pings, none of which you are getting minus a moctezumae...however I've never had any problems with a mix a little on the sandy side of a 50/50 sand and peat mix.
 
  • #13
APS, crushed coral, egg shells....
 
  • #14
APS, crushed coral, egg shells....

Thanks for suggestion, but unfortunately APS and crushed coral is what I don't have :)


Thank you all for replies! I will make a mix per 31drew31 suggestion.
 
  • #15
You can get really scientific with the soil mix, but I prefer to use whatever is around. Literally... I have grown mexican pings in virtually every combination of soils... and a lot is also based on your conditions. Though others swear by it, I have found that APS (Aquatic Plant Soil) is horrible for me... and have loss countless pings when using it. However, they have grown quite well in 100% vermiculite, vermiculite and peat, peat, vermiculite, sand, etc.

It mainly comes down to preference and experimentation. Heck, there are some growers on here that have 100% peat and their pings do just fine.
 
  • #16
suite

I use for all my mexican and a lot of temperate this substrat ( alcalin-mineral):

50% cat litier [ now I add 'akadama' (bonzaï clay) 20%]
12.5% vermiculite
12.5 % pouzzolane
12.5 % river sand
12.5 % calcareous sand

attention to the peat it keeps too much moisture and may rot the plant .

by against some temperate subservient to the acid substrat

some horticole hybrids are also very tolerant to the acid substrat .

jeff
 
  • #17
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I don't have pouzzolane, river sand or calcareous sand. Even though there are various recipes for soil mixes available in this thread I was trying to find out if I can make a suitable soil mix using the components I already have.
 
  • #18
suite

Bonjour
then just cat litter and river sand ( silicate sand for aquarium) 50/50 is OK , you can add vermiculite ( perlite for me is not interesting with time and water it dissolves )

before planting, always moistened the substrate.

the sand is very very important for the capillarity.

jeff
 
  • #19
Update:

I ended up following the advice given by 31drew31 previously. My pots were filled with 1/1 mix top portion of which was pure perlite and bottom portion 4/1 (perlite/(peat/sand)). Pings did well in it, however, recently I noticed that little worms and other critters were flourishing in the trays with pings. All that life developed in peat and feeds on the organics leeching with time from it. I am pro life but that floating/crawling biomass, albeit small, pisses me off so I have started slowly switching all my pings to inorganic mixes:

1/1/1 APS/perlite/sand with a teaspoon of iron oxide per approximately 1L of mix
in addition I have set up several pots with simple
3/2 perlite/vermiculite
and another mix consisting of
2/2/1/2 perlite/vermiculite/silica_sand/volcanic_lava_rock
 
  • #20
I think you will find the top one to be the best gill_za, it's similar to what I use.
 
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