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sick P. moctezumea

I have a couple of P. moctezumea that hate me. I am growing them in one of my pinguicula tanks, the temp is 85 degrees during the day and 70 degrees at night and the humidity stays at about 90-95 percent. I did maintane the humidity at 75-80 percent, but i raised it to see if it was the problem. All of the other pinguicula in the tank do great and flower all of the time.
The P. moctezumea have very few leaves and the leaves all have brown tips, they never flower and seem to be turning yellow in color. Any body have any suggestions on what i am doing wrong?
 
What is your media??
 
FWIW, I have some P. moctezumae x kohres that I have kept at a window sill, sand & peat. Temps have fluctuated according to the season. They are exposed to the air, so they are more dry than yours are.

IMG_0116.jpg


It has flowered and I think this is the right picture for it:

IMG_0078.jpg


I also managed to kill the straight up moctezumae Travis sent!
 
Try starting leaf pullings in fresh media.
 
Pinguicula moctezumae is one of the few Mexican species that never did well for me. I tried many different media, different photoperiods, different temperatures, different amounts of water, different amounts of feeding and it always just sat there.

On the other hand, the many hybrids made with P. moctezumae are hardy, vigorous, free-blooming and beautiful. My two favorites are P. 'Aphrodite' and P. gracilis x moctezumae.
 
The media i use is equal parts sand, vermiculite, peat, and perlite. I have used this media with all other pings i have grown and never had a problem. I use the 2" tall pots with 1/2" of water in the bottom and dont water till it is dry. All of my other pings love the conditions and thrive, but the moctezumea look worse by the day. I tried growing moctezumea several times in the past in my green house and they always lasted about a year and died. I have a few hybrids of moctezumea and they grow like weeds.
 
S,

I am just shooting from the hip here based on my past experience so I may be off base but it is worth a try. I always found that moctezumae and emarginata never seemed to do well in mixes that where high in inorganic components. To that end I grew both of them in a mix of LFS/PBM/sand with a bit of peat added. You may want to try something similar.
 
This is one of the easiest species for me. I have to concur with Pyro here. Inorganics seem to slowly poison this species. I grow mine in straight up pure peat moss and I keep the water level up almost to the base of the plant. When I grew them drier they all shriveled up. Once I started growing them really wet...under my greenhouse conditions with very bright light..they exploded into huge growth. I also received tons of tc plants from Pyro and every single plant survived and many of them have flowered already. The largest plants had a leaf span of nearly 8 inches.
 
Interesting...that is actually the one variable I never thought of experimenting with. I always grew them in many combinations of inorganic media and they either 1) did nothing or 2) faded away and died.

Now I am inspired to try this species again! :)
 
  • #10
I still have two plants and am getting another one this week, so i am going to experiment with them on different medias and see what happens.
Pyro, your comment about emarginata was of help too, my emarginata is not looking good either. I will try repotting it too. Some day i will be an expert grower....
 
  • #11
S,

I am no expert :) I just have a little more experience with these guys than you and I draw off that. There are plenty of others who are more experienced than me (Phil for example) and I have learned and am still learning from them. Perpetual cycle, no matter how much you learn about CPs there is always something you can learn from someone else. That is why it is fun.
 
  • #12
My P. moctezumae did the same leaf tip and flower rot thing. Eventually the plant died. This leaf tip/flower rot seems to be a problem fairly common in P. moctezumae, a plant which is otherwise a very easy, fast grower. It can spread to other pings in the same water tray or planter, so you should probably quarantine your plant before some of your other plants get "moctezumae's revenge".
 
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  • #13
Below is a photo of one of my trays of this species: I find that perlite dusted with iron oxide, topped with APS (Aquatic Plant Soil from Schultz), and generously dusted with dried, ground, insect powder seems to be a satisfactory substrate. I still maintain that the most important factor is light, strong fluorescent lighting of 11 or more hours per day duration. It is curious, there are several seed pods forming on these plants, this is the first time I've ever seen spontaneous seed formation on any of my Pinguicula plants other than P. lusitanica and P. pumila. I can only guess that small moths that often infiltrate my growing room have been busy. I will need to save some seed and grow them out to determine if they are hybrid or not.

P_moctezumae_tray_12Apr08.jpg
 
  • #14
WOW those are the best looking moctezumae i have seen. Your soil mix sounds good except for the dried bugs, doesnt that cause alot of mold?? What lights do you use, i use T5s with full spectrum tubes. Unfortunately i killed my moctezumae when i tried transplanting them, i will have to try again some day.
 
  • #15
Thank you. I enjoy them very much. With the insect powder as I grind it, I sprinkle in a little Trichoderma harzianum innoculum (RootShield[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]®[/FONT] brand). A fungus with a purpose. So, yes, it does inspire mold, and I want it to. I use the cheapest cool white fluorescent lights I can find. I am sorry to hear of your loss, they are a very attractive species.
 
  • #16
How much iron oxide does one apply and do you apply it as a powder or in solution?
 
  • #17
How much iron oxide does one apply and do you apply it as a powder or in solution?

I use the powder that is sold for use in ceramic glazes. I pre-moisten the perlite so it is just damp, then 1/4 teaspoon is enough to coat a gallon of moist perlite, turning it a nice shade of pink.
 
  • #18
Thanks! I was given a baggie of FeO2 and don't wanna do overkill.
 
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