Wakey wakey, eggs & bakey!

[jimscott]

Late last fall Joseph Clemens sent me a P. gypsicola and it had the classic summer leaves look. I promptly put the plant on the window sill and that look changed radically in a few months:

In the spring I put the plant in the closet, under artificial lighting, with an ~15 hour photoperiod. It began to wake up in May:

What I didn't realize was that after ~15 new summer leaves it was about to send up a flower scape:

And here are leaf cuttings that are now thriving plantlets:

 

[Zero]

jimscott, nice pics!
you are getting MUCH better at taking photos.
I can't wait until my gypsicola grows up.
can you recommend a place to get the calcium or whatever it is you use with the gypsicola soil?
peace,
Zero

 

[b.t.]

Well done jim! I've been tempted to get a gypsicola for some time now but I 've read they're more picky than typical mexicans. Perhaps I should. I've also read that they're very difficult with the leaf cuttings so congrads on that too!

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Excellant job Jim! On both your pics and your ping! I just recently got a P. gypsicola and now have it in my south window. I've only had it a few days and it still looks like yours in your first pic.

 

[jrod]

Great photo series!

 

[Mark Wilson]

Good growing Jim !!!!!!!!! I bought a gypsicola from Wolfstriker earlier this year when it was just coming out of dormancy and it is on it's 3rd flower.My Wife is much better at taking pics so hopefully I will be able to show it off soon.

I pulled several of the winter leaves off of it.I tried a bunch of ways to propagate them to no avail until I bought some vermiculite. I wet it down and squeezed all the water I could from it and put about a 1/4" of it into a clear plastic food container and now I have about 13 new plantlets.MAN, I love this plant !!!!!

 

[jimscott]

jimscott, nice pics!
you are getting MUCH better at taking photos.
I can't wait until my gypsicola grows up.
can you recommend a place to get the calcium or whatever it is you use with the gypsicola soil?
peace,
Zero

Thank you all for the compliments!

Cameras: My very first digital camera was a "complimentary" one from Earthlink. No amount of skills could produce a decent picture. The instructions say to stand 2-7' away from the subject. Great if it's a person or a building! This was as good as it got:

When I was at the lab I borrowed from different co-workers and let them take the pictures. This was one of the better ones:

And then my supervisor had this real deluxe camera, one that came with a manual that was 2" thick. It automatically adjusted for lighting and distance and basically exaggerated the vividness. That produced pictures like this:

Now I'm back to the caliber of camera akin to the P. 'Sethos' picture, but now I've learned how to play with the light and distance and angle and especially the shutter. Once I see dew dancing with the shutter depressed, I snap the picture and get pics like this:

P. gypsicola substrate: I used crushed coral, as suggested by Pinguiculaman. I have extra if you'd like.