P. primuliflora dying

[NaRnAr]

So it was happy until the weather outside changed and apparently the windowsill became too cold (im guessing) and now the main plant has turned brown and the new top growth is shriveling and turning brown. :-(

The babies that it send out are still alive, there are 6 of them now.

Not sure what happened.

Should I take it and put it under a florescent for the winter? It wouldnt be in the cold windowsill but in a warmer area of the apartment. (my D. adelae is doing fine in the same windowsill...)

Should I leave the babies and just wait and see what happens? One has doubled in size since my post about them a couple weeks ago...

..so, yea. not sure what happened there.

 

[jimscott]

I'm so sorry to hear that. This is not unusual, though. Hard to say what happened. Could be a variety of reasons - too much water / too little water / too much a change in temp or water chemistry / poisoned water / a lot of flowering / old age ... And none of which is probably likely in your case!

I'm one who characteristically does a lot of tinkering and have learned that too much tinkering can kill these plants within a day. Unless the plantlets show signs of distress, I wouldn't change anything up.

P. primuliflora comes from like northern Florida, so they are considered temperate, but not like temperate northern tier of the US. So I would go with what ranges between 50-90 F. Personally, room temp by a southern window sill has worked for me. Temps were on the 60's and 70's and the photoperiod ebbed and flowed accordingly.

 

[NaRnAr]

The plantlets look good this morning, I see three of them that are doing well. The one that just started appearing looks a little brown. THere is one with 4 leaves on it.

I had gotten down to around 30 outside for around 3 days, im sure it got chilly in the windowsill but my other cps in the window are still doing just fine. Just a finicky primulifora I suppose!

But like you said it went downhill rather quickly...green and happy one day and brown and dead the next. bah.

I think these little plants are so neat, so the death of one doesnt mean the end!!

 

[jimscott]

I know one thing... severing plantlets from the mother plant (which is not the case here) results in death for the plantlets. But if the are independent plants, I wouldn't hesitate to try taking a few of them into a pot with fresh media.

 

[S_Oregon_CP]

If the plant suddenly turned to the worst due to cold you could simply cover the plant with a plastic bubble to keep it more humid and warm with a light on top of it for the cloudy days. Just be aware that you could be stressing the plant out with the cold weather. The plant may try to go dormant or just die if the weather turns cold for to long. I am not sure if yours has a dormant stage but most pings do.

 

[NaRnAr]

Sadly its all gone now. It did end up dying, now sure why, it was a fast death. I dont think Ihave ever seen a plant die so fast! It left two plantletts however, the plantlets didnt like the move to a new home and they died as well...ah well...Ill give it another go here in a bit! I was looking at a few pics of other peoples and Im thinking the soil was too peaty.

Thanks for the advice though, I will keep that in mind for next time (and for my other plants that get chills easily) !!

 

[joossa]

Sorry for your loss... If it makes you feel any better, I have lost quite a few P. primuliflora myself. Those things hate me, and I don't think I can ever purchase one again! I think I can have better luck with a N. Hamata seedling right after a repot....

 

[NaRnAr]

Thanks I was sad to see it go, it was such a neat plant!...and then I got all geeked out about the babies. They were getting A LOT of light before we moved and now not so much as all our apartment windows face west or north with a lot of shading on the west windows (even when the trees are bare).

Now that I have a spare 10gallon tank with a fluorescent lamp I might get another one and see how it does there. cant be any worse than it did before right?!

 

[spdskr]

As a fellow Coloradoan, I thought you might like to hear of my short 4 month history with this plant:

In late July I planted one newly shipped specimen in an existing outdoor mini-bog. Substrate was 50/50 peat/perilite with a top dressing of LFS. The plant received morning and mid-day unfiltered sun with afternoon shade. The planter was watered daily with distilled water unless it was raining.

Within a week all the bottom leaves died, and the upper leaves turned a bronze color and curled upwards around the edges. New plantlets formed on the dead leaves. As the mother plant produced new leaves, they were long, narrow, curled, and bronzed. In late September the mother plant sent up three blooms. During this entire period, the plantlets neither grew nor died. The planter was moved into my unheated garage at the beginning of November and placed under a west facing window. As my other temperate CPs were going dormant: Sarrs, VFTs, and Dews, the Ping began to grow larger leaves that were green and not curled around the edges (more like pics I have seen of this plant). The plantlets are unchanged since late summer.

I am interested to see if it survives the winter in the garage, since I am not sure this plant goes dormant to the degree of the other CPs in its mini-bog.

These observations have led my to believe that the unfiltered Colorado sun is perhaps too intense for this Ping. If it survives the winter, perhaps I will turn the min-bog next spring so that the Sarrs will shade the Ping.

I would be interested to know if any other folks in the mountain states have tried growing this species outdoors.

 

[Capensis]

Sorry to hear that. But don't worry, mine died, too! It didn't like me very much :/. First, a new leaf had a black mark and then it all went down from there. IT really was a neat plant, though. Oh well. It wasn't fun watching it die, not knowing what happened, not being able to do anything. D:

 

[jimscott]

Speedsker: I'm not sure they can take the cold. I think they come from the Florida Panhandle.

 

[spdskr]

Jim,
Yes, that,s my concern. However, my garage generally stays in the upper 20's and 30's during winter nights. Last night it got down to +2F outside but the Ping seems to have survived in the mini-bog. The LFS on top felt cold to the touch, but no ice. Still got a lot of winter ahead of us, so we will see.
Duane

 

[NaRnAr]

spdskr, I kept mine on a east windowsill that got about half a day of sun, nothing too intense. I didnt have a chance to try it outside. It did well in the window though....well to a point lol I hope yours does well this winter (now that its finally becoming winter around here!).



I might run to HomeDepot next week and snatch one up and put it in the seed tank for the winter.



What kind of soil is ideal for a primuliflora?
I had mine in a 50:50 peat perlite (probably not the right kind but that is what it came in).

 

[spdskr]

What kind of soil is ideal for a primuliflora?
I had mine in a 50:50 peat perlite (probably not the right kind but that is what it came in).

The pot mine was shipped in contained vermiculite along with peat and perilite. I left some of this soil around the base of the plant when I transplanted it into the mini-bog.

 

[jimscott]

That's too cold, I think. That's more like North Carolina temps and great for getting VFT's & most Sarracenias through the winter. A window sill that draws some of the cold from outside is probably about right for winter.

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

I've lost many of the American Pinguicula in my day, they are sensitive when grown outside their native environs so don't take it too hard. I suggest you try P. caerulea...you don't get the pups like P. primuliflora but the plant seems more durable and has survived in my terrarium for years without attention other than watering and eventually offsets.

Jim, you're right about tinkering. Often the best course is to just get them going and leave them be, but at the same time experimentation is what leads to advancement. I appreciate your tinkering!

 

[jimscott]

I appreciate your tinkering!

Thanx!

Coincidently, I just tossed the lone adult plant, an hour ago. However... a leaf that accidently got severed, has produced a plantlet, a la Mexican pings. Also, there were other natural plantlets.

 

[spdskr]

Due to our recent subzero hard freeze, I just moved mine to the basement yesterday (under a south facing window). Good thing because my garage was +23F this morning after 24 hrs of outdoor temps below 0F. The plant still looks fine. This winter is going to be a challenge.

 

[jm82792]

Ha !
Mine is growing in 65F-75F nights and 75F-85F Days :jeser
They seem to do well,although they do die fpr the reasons jimscott listed.
My mexican pings that I got from jimscott say a year ago are doing awesome
in the weather,in their icecube tray pots

 

[NaRnAr]

i found another primuliflora today Its still in its cube, but looks good. Its in the seed terrarium for now, still with its lid on. I think Ill let it adjust a bit before I create a disaster like last time!

Round Two! *dingding!* lol

spdskr, yea, it got a bit nippy with our subzero temps, Im glad you got your plant moved somewhere safe in time...and that its still doing well.