Ping runners?

[NaRnAr]

Not sure if that is the right term, but, I was looking at my ping today and it looks like its sending out baby ping runners from the base of the main plant?

(Im still pretty new to pings...Ive had mine for about a month and its now producing new growth and lots of "dew")

 

[Wolfn]

What species of Ping is it? Any pictures?

 

[jimscott]

I think you are referring to P. primuliflora. I don't have a good picture of it but this species produced plantlets at the end of aging leaves. Just let the plantlets be and they will develop roots and becaome independent plants. I tried severing the leaves and that ended up killing the plantlets.

 

[DrWurm]

Yeah, my esseriana is doing that, got two or three baby plants.

 

[NaRnAr]

Yes its a primuliflora (lol Jim you must remember when my ping was "deflated"...poor thing!)

Ill snap a couple pics of the plantlets for you...I think I counted 3 or 4 this morning. brb.

Ok here is the pic of the 5 plantlets, theres one hiding under the leaf there and then one at the end of a leaf and then the obvious ones there:

So i can just leave them there and then when they are bigger and rooted I separate them should i want to?

 

[jimscott]

Now that's a better picture! One of these days.... Anyhoo, if you can muster up a "pot" that has more surface area and depth and plunk the whole thing in it, you would be better off. Then they will naturally colonize the environs.

 

[NaRnAr]

I think so too Jim, much better than what it looked like a month ago!

Right now its in a 4x4 square pot...should I get something bigger. Ive got the moss around it as it seems to be enjoying that more than when it didnt have any moss.

 

[jimscott]

4"x4" is larger than what most people provide... more than I'm currently giving to my own specimen. If you have something bigger, go for it. If not, you're doing very well! mine is also sitting on top of moss (LFS). The best plant I ever had was a typical 2" pot in Gladware, at a SW window sill, in the lab's kitchen. I watered from above, once or twice a week, depending how fast the evaporation. Has the plant flowered yet?

This was from 4 years ago:

 

[NaRnAr]

Thats good to hear that the pot is adequate for it I figure its room to grow lol!

It was flowering when I got it and when it "wilted" after I brought it home the flower stalks wilted and the flowers died so, yea, it WAS flowering. lol I think I have a picture of it with its flower somewhere ...

 

[jimscott]

My very first specimen, with all the beginner's luck going for me, sent up 8 consecutive flowers, from fall through winter. It also had some plantlets. It also looked a bit haggard. This was on a SE window, double-paned, in the lab itself, before being banished to the kitchen. I did nothing special. Now i just let the plant flower once and then cut the scapes before they develop.

 

[NaRnAr]

Ill have to look when I get home to see if its growing any scapes? (I assume thats the flower stalk?)

It growing lots of new leaves that have pools of dew in them, so they are catching lots of gnats and fruit flies (which is nice). The older part of the plant looks kind of sad, but the new stuff looks really good.

The newer leaves arent really flat and round at the ends like youres Jim, is that something the leaves do as they mature? You can see some of the leaves there on mine that are long and slender but kind of curl under at the edges.

 

[jimscott]

Yup, scape = stalk. I never really paid attention to leaf shape, but I think you're right. The older leaves are more rounded.

You and I both were relatively more fortunate that others with this species. There are people on this forum who can't keep them alive if their lives depended upon it. One teen even described P. primuliflora as "evil". It may not be the easiest of pings but it's the easiest of the N.A. temperates, much easier that P. planifolia and P. caerulea.

 

[NaRnAr]

I just keep watering it! Thats about all I do. lol! Now my D. adelae, thats my issue "child" at the moment although its flowering, it just has NO dew...and I had some Capesis seedlings growing and they all died....they might be my brown thumb area *sigh. Ill just have to keep trying different things!! Good to hear that I am lucky with my primuliflora though...its so pretty!


This morning some of the older leaves have turned brown but the babies and new leaves still look good...Im going to assume its the change in sun and then the temperatures are finally changing, albeit rapidly, but they are.

 

[jimscott]

Hard to say what caused the reaction. A sudden change can definitely cause a reaction but a gradual change shouldn't. The normal day/night temperature differential isn't a problem but if you take an indoor plant and put it outside, or vice-versa, that could cause a reaction.

 

[NaRnAr]

Yea its always been in my window, well at least for the last couple bits

I checked it out this morning and its just the older leaves that have died back, the babies are still green and happy and the new growth is still dewy so perhaps it was just time for the leaves to die back.

 

[jimscott]

As a rule of thumb I try to look at how the new growth is doing, while taking less seriously the older leaves, which could be a reflection of either the age of the older leaves or a stressful period, like shipping shock. As long as you are getting new growth, things are going well enough.