What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

When to divide?

I have this unknown Ping that I got from a death cube over the summer. It was actually my first carnivorous plant. There were several of them in the pot, but I killed all but one from over watering. Now I have this lone survivor that has morphed into 3 unknown Pings. :banana2:

When should I separate them or will they do it on their own?
Any ideas to what it is or will I have to wait until it flowers?

Thanks for looking.
 
It's probably a P. primuliflora and I wouldn't separate anything. I've done that and killed plantlets. They should seperate on their own.
 
Thanks Jim. I will let it go then and see what happens. :D

I was just looking at some pictures of P. primuliflora, my leaves are more spade like than elongated than that. Is that just because it is a young plant?
 
That plant isn't P. primuliflora; not even close.

It's a Mexican Pinguicula, and it looks close to P. 'Sethos'. Don't know much 'bout dividing though.

-Ben
 
drosera36 beat me to it

it also looks like a p. sethos to me, which is a mexican butterwort or tropical butterwort, i don't have that type but i separate my mex pings when they go dormant or when i repot them
 
That plant isn't P. primuliflora; not even close.

It's a Mexican Pinguicula, and it looks close to P. 'Sethos'. Don't know much 'bout dividing though.

-Ben


I agree. And I'm quite suprised. I've never seen a Mexican ping for sale at Lowes. It's always Ping. Primuiflora.
 
I think Jim is right about not separating them. If you want more plants, you can pull some leaves from the edges of the plant. Try to take the older leaves, but not the oldest layer. (I've learned from experience that you can mess up a Mexi Ping's root structure if you callously pull the outermost leaves.) The ones that have only one or two other leaves beneath them are best. Place them in a little depression in the same media the parent plant was growing in, cover the edges, and in a few weeks you should get plantlets. You can also sprout them in a crumpled paper towel, as I understand, but I haven't tried that method much. From what I have heard, the idea is to make the towel into kind of a dish shape (I guess that's to cut back on air circulation) and lightly wet it with a spray bottle every week or so. Mexican Pings are surprisingly eager to sprout from cuttings.
If you try this and fail to fully detach the leaves you pull, there's still a good chance that a new plant will develop from the stem where the leaves started to tear off. It's pretty much win-win, in my experience.
~Joe
 
I would separate them. Those are mexican pings and most likely 'Sethos' or garden center fake 'Weser'.
I tease them apart with tweezers and a toothpick. just be gentle and they should come apart easy. If you mess up you will have some pullings to plant:)
For me clumps like yours grow slower than if you separate them into individual plants.
 
Hmm, that's a good point...
~Joe
 
  • #10
Strange, I didn't see a picture of the plant when I posted! But yeah, that's a Mexican butterwort for sure. I didn't know that Lowes (Botanical Wonders) sold anything other than the TC primuliflora. My bad.

Separating Mexican butterworts isn't a problem. And taking leaf cuttings (basal) are the way to go with propogaing them.
 
  • #11
Lowe's here is supplied a large orchid distributer. That may be the reason they have these. I haven't decided if I am going to separate yet, but I will let you know when I know. :D
 
  • #12
Ok, so I divided the plants. It was a lot easier than I thought. The roots were not that tangled and each piece had at least 2 long roots. It is a little to dark now to take a picture, so I will try to get one sometime this week and post an update.

Thanks for all of the advice.
 
  • #13
i found a mexi ping at lowes once.....its growing in the front window here at the office in a mini bog....3 years ago it was one plant....think there are 2 dozen now.......i just rip them apart with my bare hands......course thats cause ive got so many and i dont care if one doesnt survive the division......but prolly since i dont care about them every single one has lived through being ripped apart.....if it was something i was scared to lose they would prolly keel over.......
 
  • #14
It's good you did the division, the offsets will grow more rapidly now I think. I always divided any of my plants when they were robustly growing, or immediately after dormancy (if there is one). Usually this meant summertime but, really, divide anytime with care and there should be little problem. Very pretty plant and it fits what I know of P. x 'Sethos'.
 
  • #15
Amen brother! Dustin Hoffman was told 'plastics'. I say, 'backups'.

IMG_0147.jpg
 
Back
Top