Below you will see an image taken this morning (Friday, 7Feb03) of three different Pinguicula. The front row in the little red pots are what I call my "Mother Plants". Behind them are slightly larger (3 inch), green pots containing propagations produced from the "Mother Plants". After the image I will explain the story.
These three plants were offered to me and I gladly accepted them. What I like to do whenever I get a new plant is to immediately use it to propagate others. This is my, "Prevention". For me, without this "Prevention" there can be bitter medicine (the loss of the original plant) and now I have no replacements
and I have dishonored the person who sent me the plant.
How I do, what I do:
1. Upon receiving the plant(s) I carefully unpackage them.
2. If they were sent in a sealable plastic bag, I simply place some just slightly damp Sphagnum moss, long-fiber dead, into the bag. If they did not come with a sealable plastic bag I use a new zip-loc sealable plastic bag.
3. I prepare a fresh pot of 100% thoroughly leached peat moss for the "Mother Plant".
4. I then carefully and gently remove nearly all of the leaves on the "Mother Plant" leaving one or two leaves that are nearly mature and the leaf that is usually just emerging from the crown/center of the plant.
5. I then plant the "Mother Plant" deep in her own pot but just place her gently into a depression in the peat moss and I do not pack the moss around her base, but simply use a spray bottle of pure water to wash her into her media/substrate. I keep all of my plants in shallow trays of pure water --- 24/7/365. Even the Pinguicula which form underground "bulbs". I rarely ever have any loss whatsoever.
6. I sprinkle the detached leaves over the surface of the Sphagnum in the sealable plastic bag and then seal it and place it between pots on the shelves. It does get good light here but not as directly as the plants in pots.
7. I check the leaf cuttings several times per week, and as soon as they have gotten to the stage where small plantlets have formed, I move them onto the surface of a pot with their own peat moss media. I then keep the newly begun plantlets in their community pots in larger zip-loc bags that are sealed, but directly situated to receive good light. After they have rooted well I remove them from the zip-loc/plastic bags and keep them side-by-side with the other Pinguicula.
These three plants were offered to me and I gladly accepted them. What I like to do whenever I get a new plant is to immediately use it to propagate others. This is my, "Prevention". For me, without this "Prevention" there can be bitter medicine (the loss of the original plant) and now I have no replacements
How I do, what I do:
1. Upon receiving the plant(s) I carefully unpackage them.
2. If they were sent in a sealable plastic bag, I simply place some just slightly damp Sphagnum moss, long-fiber dead, into the bag. If they did not come with a sealable plastic bag I use a new zip-loc sealable plastic bag.
3. I prepare a fresh pot of 100% thoroughly leached peat moss for the "Mother Plant".
4. I then carefully and gently remove nearly all of the leaves on the "Mother Plant" leaving one or two leaves that are nearly mature and the leaf that is usually just emerging from the crown/center of the plant.
5. I then plant the "Mother Plant" deep in her own pot but just place her gently into a depression in the peat moss and I do not pack the moss around her base, but simply use a spray bottle of pure water to wash her into her media/substrate. I keep all of my plants in shallow trays of pure water --- 24/7/365. Even the Pinguicula which form underground "bulbs". I rarely ever have any loss whatsoever.
6. I sprinkle the detached leaves over the surface of the Sphagnum in the sealable plastic bag and then seal it and place it between pots on the shelves. It does get good light here but not as directly as the plants in pots.
7. I check the leaf cuttings several times per week, and as soon as they have gotten to the stage where small plantlets have formed, I move them onto the surface of a pot with their own peat moss media. I then keep the newly begun plantlets in their community pots in larger zip-loc bags that are sealed, but directly situated to receive good light. After they have rooted well I remove them from the zip-loc/plastic bags and keep them side-by-side with the other Pinguicula.