Pings developing long necks

[b.t.]

I bought some pings from a nursery in the czech republic. They took 2 weeks to get to me in the mail. By the time they arrived, the pings were growing in the dark box for 2 weeks and they developed these long necks. I've had them out of the box for another 2 - 3 weeks now and the new leaves are opening up at the top of the necks.

Will this behavior correct itself? Or what happens now? Will it just get longer and longer? Tip over and break?

 

[Zero]

thats called etoliation. it's the elongation and thinning of plant growth due to lack of or insufficiant light. the "stems" shouldn't get any longer and normal growth will continue at the top of the plant. You should get a second opinion but you might be able to cut the stem thing and just plant in the soil. pings are so easy to propagate that this might work. you could let them continue to grow that way but might have weird looking plants.

 

[b.t.]

Thanks for the insight, zero. I've not yet had success propagating pings. They just dissolve into the media when I stick the leaves in. But I'll pluck a few leaves here and there and try. I'm not ready to risk lopping off the growing tip only to watch the whole thing dissolve.

 

[xvart]

I've heard of people having pings with no roots and planting them and they survive. You could always take a bunch of leaf pullings to start some new plants and then try to cut the neck and make it look more normal. Or just let it be.

xvart.

 

[jrod]

I've found that a big key with Ping leaf pullings in coarse media is not to push the leaf bases into the growing medium. Pushing the bases in crushes them, and destroys the cells they'll use to make new growth points. With the coarser media, like perlite, I've found laying them on top of the medium works very well, esp. if you can mist them once or twice a day to keep them hydrated. With enough moisture and bright light, they should be showing new sprouts in about 1 to 2 weeks.

Now, keep in mind that my experience is limited to a batch of small Mexipings I received in trade about two months ago, but I've been doing a bunch of mini-experiments on them since I got them, and they all seem to be growing really well for me so far. Laying the pulled leaves on top of my mix has worked about 75% of the time, while pushing leaves into the mix has resulted in instant meltage 100% of the time.

 

[b.t.]

Hi jrod, thanks for sharing That method is completely counter-intuitive for me. I will give it a try but when ping leaves touch water they dissolve on the plant. I'm very surprised they dont dissolve using your method.

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Hi jrod, thanks for sharing That method is completely counter-intuitive for me. I will give it a try but when ping leaves touch water they dissolve on the plant. I'm very surprised they dont dissolve using your method.

Whenever I've had Pinguicula plants form elongated stems, due to low light levels I like to orient them horizontally and then the plant usually produces offsets (small propagations) along the length of the elongated stem.

The easiest "fix" for the rotting of wet Ping leaves is to use high levels of artificial light.

 

[Tony]

If i was you i'll let nature take over , who know hows going to look , prettyer or uglier , but it will be unic , the neck grew long looking for lite . No mutant plant , it;s healthy and happy.

Sincerely .............//////////