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My Pinguicula is growing all stupid....

Clint

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It's growing fast, but mutated. Could it be like.. a UV OD or something? My lights say to use a glass sheild but I dont. All the other plants look fantastic and everything is growing great but this pooper is growing all weird. I looked, but can find no pests.

DSC01143.jpg
 
Is that Pinguicula 'Titan'?
 
It sure is.
 
Do you have any calcium bearing ingredients in the media? If not, you might try sprinkling a very small amount of gypsum, coral sand (aragonite), or dolomitic limestone around the base of the plant, that may help. I have found that my Pinguicula 'Titan' respond well to the use of a small amount of calcium bearing mineral placed near their roots. I have had some of my Pinguicula 'Titan' grow just like yours, but it has been a few years now since that happened and I cannot remember precisely how I got them out of it. Though I believe it was most likely the same thing I do now whenever a plant does something similar. I gently remove it from its pot, knock any loose media from its roots, pull off almost all its leaves to propagate with, then repot the original plant with one or two small leaves into a pot with new media. Works every time, and then, later, I have a dozen or so new plants to trade with.
 
It could be forming its winter leaves. For me, Titan usually forms a deep centered growth point, almost like a hibernacula.
Wondering if you can see in the center?
If so, the summer leaves will soon die away.
Peter
 
Nope, I can't see the center.

winter leaves? it stays wet and warm. why winter leaves? and why aren't the babies making them?

As long as it's not damaged or anything i'm happy
smile.gif


Joseph. I have some Calcium Chloride. could I foliar feed it that?

I suppose I could mix it with magnesium sulfate and collect the precipitate, then i'd have calcium sulfate. That would disolve slowly over time.
 
I cannot say about calcium chloride, I've never had the experience. If you try it, let us know how it does. Yep, calcium sulfate = gypsum.

BTW, mine form those winter leaves and compact rosettes periodically, despite growing them warm, wet, and well lit, year-round. Same as many of my other Mexican plants. Concerning winter leaf form, some seem to respond to photoperiod, some to moisture level, some to temperature, some to combinations of these factors, and some switch back and forth apparently on their own "internal clock". This one doesn't seem to care about the conditions I give it, it cycles through its winter and summer leaves, in apparent harmony with the seasons (from an "internal clock"), no matter what I provide it, or when. BTW, my Pinguicula macrophylla, said to be one of this cultivars parents, behaves in a very similar manner, going in and out of its winter leaf form, despite cultural conditions.

You could say I'm a fanatic when it comes to propagation. I would look at this as the optimum opportunity to start more plants.
 
Okie dokey. I added 1/4 tsp of calcium chloride and magnesium sulfate into a cup of water and collected the calcium sulfate that formed. That was fun lol. I feel like a chemist lol.

I poured half into the pot with babies and half into the pot with the mother. Hopefully it'll get better.
 
mine is making its winter bud now. heat and wetness dont always mean 'ever grow' pings. if the photoperiod is reduced then it goes into its resting stage. here is mine. the very center leaf is its first winter leaf.
x_titan_1.jpg


Alex
 
  • #10
What i do is sprinkle some calcium supplement on their leaves, yes like the kind that you sprinkle on crickets (it's oringinaly for my tegu)
 
  • #11
Hey Clint,

I had some P. moranensis from cuttings do the same thing in a closed deli cup under lights. The plants make fleshy leaves and seem to have trouble unfurling. The problem stopped when I repotted the plants into clay/sand/perlite and left them outside. They started growing normally and have since gone dormant.

Peter
 
  • #12
could it possibly be because of poor root areation? Mine did something different, but could this be another side effect.
 
  • #13
I just wanted to report that normal leaves are growing once again!
 
  • #15
Made some calcium sulfate and added it to the top of the soil.
 
  • #16
I guess that that was the problem then, not enough calcium
 
  • #17
So far, for me, some Mexican Pinguicula do well with or without additional calcium added to their media. Some seem to do better with it, others seem to do better without it.
 
  • #18
Very interesting discussion thread.

My Pinguicula "Titan" (a Booman Floral product given to me as a gift) is my first ping. As the days grew shorter this year, so did its leaves. I guessed that it was going into the dormancy that Ping. moranensis types do when their weather becomes a lot drier. So, I allow the medium to dry out pretty thoroughly between waterings now. The dormancy doesn't seem to need cold, only dryness, right?

My Titan medium is 1 part each of sphagnum peat, perlite and silica sand. But I'm thinking about transplanting it next season into 100 fine grade PrimeAgra "leca" (lightweight expanded clay aggregate). Like others, I have thought about supplementing it with calcium in some way. Gypsum sprinkled on the soil seems like a possibly good way, because it is pH neutral. (it is a salt formed of one very alkaline mineral (calcium) and one very acid mineral (sulfur) that balance each other.) I could perhaps go to White Sands here in New Mexico and gather as much as I want (the vast and deep white "sand" is pure gypsum). But, since we have a bag of it in the barn...
smile.gif
 
  • #19
[b said:
Quote[/b] (xscd @ Dec. 20 2006,8:32)]Very interesting discussion thread.

My Pinguicula "Titan" (a Booman Floral product given to me as a gift) is my first ping. As the days grew shorter this year, so did its leaves. I guessed that it was going into the dormancy that Ping. moranensis types do when their weather becomes a lot drier. So, I allow the medium to dry out pretty thoroughly between waterings now. The dormancy doesn't seem to need cold, only dryness, right?

My Titan medium is 1 part each of sphagnum peat, perlite and silica sand. But I'm thinking about transplanting it next season into 100 fine grade PrimeAgra "leca" (lightweight expanded clay aggregate). Like others, I have thought about supplementing it with calcium in some way. Gypsum sprinkled on the soil seems like a possibly good way, because it is pH neutral. (it is a salt formed of one very alkaline mineral (calcium) and one very acid mineral (sulfur) that balance each other.) I could perhaps go to White Sands here in New Mexico and gather as much as I want (the vast and deep white "sand" is pure gypsum). But, since we have a bag of it in the barn...
smile.gif
BTW, I spent 6 years in NM, school in Las Cruces and a little time in Albuquerque.
---------
Contrary to popular belief. NOT dormancy, just different leaf forms (heterophyllous).

I keep all of mine in trays of "water" year-round.
 
  • #20
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Joseph Clemens @ Dec. 20 2006,9:50)]
Contrary to popular belief. NOT dormancy, just different leaf forms (heterophyllous).
I keep all of mine in trays of "water" year-round.
Joseph, does this mean that moranensis-parent Ping. hybrids may not need any dormancy at all? Is it not important for them to go through a dry cycle? I admit ignorance; this Ping. was given to me as a gift and is the only ping I have or have ever had any experience with.

If a moranensis-hybrid is kept moist all year, will it still change its leaf form, or will it tend to keep its broad summer leaves all year?

Thank you very much for the information.
smile.gif
 
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