My pinguicula is finally doing something neat

11 years ago

I thought I'd share a couple pics.
I was away for business for about a month and returned to this sight. The pictures span a period of about 30 days.

This post was edited by rennet on Sat, Mar 23, 13 at 17:01

Featured Answer

binlin
Original Author

11 years ago

Thanks Barb. I'm doing graduate work at the moment, so I'm stuck in a fairly small apartment with no direct sunlight. I use T5HO lights for my high light plants because of my current housing situation. Here's a figure of how I have my plants arranged in a 4x3 foot growing area:

I use 4x 48" T5HO for Sansevierias and Adeniums because they require bright light. Hoyas are kept around the edges of my grow area, where the light is weaker, because I found the T5 to be stunting their growth with too much light. There's a 2x 48" T8 fixture beside the T5 fixture supplying supplementary overhead light to taller plants that wouldn't otherwise fit under the T5. All of my plants are kept within 1 foot of their respective lights.

The reflective surface you see in my previous photos are thin mylar emergency blankets. I taped them up around my shelving to create a makeshift grow tent, and they work well to eliminate dark spots that would receive little light from an overhead source.

The ambient temperature under my lights is about 25-30C in the winter, and 35-40C in the summer. I keep a fan running in my apartment for circulation, and that helps keep the leaf tips from burning in the summer.

My potting mix is about 50% turface MVP with 25% pine bark chunks and 25% broken pots and gravel supplemented with slow release fertilizer pellets. Originally I used osmocote, but I've switched to using Miracle-Gro Shake n' Feed Plus Calcium, since it's the only slow release fertilizer I can find which supplies micronutrients in addition to N-P-K.

My plants are watered once every 1-2 weeks. I take the plants and soak them in a basin of water + 5% fertilizer solution for about 20 minutes each, then let them drain before putting them back under my lights.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (10)

barbmock
11 years ago
Wow! What a wonderful bloom. How long have you been growing your ping?
Michaela
11 years ago
Oh my! Its a real treat to see this plant in bloom; I've never seen it in in flower before. Nice pictures, too! Are the flowers really as yellow as they look? Sweet fragrance?
Related Discussions
Want to see something neat?
Q
Comments (18)
That is the classic image of what Serratipetala SHOULD look like. That's a gorgeous shot! I hope you post it to Help Me Find, please? If I could have experienced that flower here, it would have hung around. Another seedling opened I want to use with the ruffles. It resulted from Art Nouveau X Blue for You, though you wouldn't think that to see it. Really not bad for opening on a nearly hundred degree day. Kim
...See More
Finally, that neat plant in a photo is here.
Q
Comments (14)
I think, amongst all cultivated bromeliads, Heachtia is the least known genus. There are at least 10-20 kind of them, but quite hard to ID correctly ! as most of them look alike. So, HDD, I'm not sure which species I have, except H. rocea, H.glauca, H. manier-lapostollei, H.glomerata which have distinguishable characteristic, but could say that there are about 15-20 different kind : 12 specimen plants including 8 seedlings with different No. of localities data that I've kept in my collection. I understand, Philofan, as I sometimes do collect plant : caudiciforms, succulents in their habitat by myself like Guy, so if I was a business man I would sell that high :) Yep...Bob, I thing 2nd Tropiflora's H. argentea might be another kind, may be miss-tag, as Charlot told me that he also got his H. argentea from Tropiflora years ago too!
...See More
I found something neat
Q
Comments (6)
My DH got some at a GW a couple of years ago for me. My dear grandson whom I was babysitting everyday was 2 years old at the time and feeding the birds was an everyday thing. He absolutely LOVED the blackcapped chickadees. In one of those books there were pictures and detailed instructions on crossstiching a set of 4 birds. A cardinal, blackcapped chickadee, bluebird, and goldfinch. I had never crossstiched in my life, but my DSIL showed me how to get started and I crossstiched him the chickadee. I started on the cardinal and got bored . Maybe I will take it to the hospital when DH goes back for the operation and try to finish it. This past year we hit the mother lode and came home from the GW with 2 huge stacks of those types of books (most of mine are Christmas related I think). Probably about 20 or so of them. I enjoy all of the recipes in them also. You can sit down and spend a couple of hours easily just looking through them. The price was sure right! Betty
...See More
I finally got to do something I've wanted to do most of my life!
Q
Comments (18)
Glad your whale watch actually found some whales! Our winter breaks on Maui coincide with Whale Season in Hawaii -- best viewed from Maui and Big Island of Hawaii. Whales migrate from Alaska to warmer waters to calve -- and to mate. There are astounding breaches by bulls competing to impress the cows. Using binoculars, I can see a lot of 'showboating' from our condo's lanai. Last Christmas we took our son and his family on a morning whale watch out of Maalaea harbor. We were fortunate to have a calm day, with a sea like glass. The bay is a favorite 'nursery' for whales, and we were only out five minutes before seeing a cow, her newborn calf, and an accompanying 'auntie'. (Auntie cows aid with the babies and help keep too-eager bulls at bay.) Later, we were still in the water watching a pod of dolphins when a young bull came alongside the boat and then went under us to the other side. We could almost scratch his back! I don't expect to experience that again. (By law, boats must keep a good distance from whales, but a pilot can only cut engines and wait when a whale decides to approach.)
...See More
binlin
Original Author
11 years ago
@bmock
Thanks, this plant is about 3 years old. I received it as a bare root pup from Thailand.

@michaela
The flowers are greenish yellow but the base of the sepals and the filaments are brighter yellow, so the flowers appear to turn brighter as they open. The flowers start to open every day around 8pm and are fully open by 12am, right before my lights shut off. The flowers only last one night, and I haven't actually smelled them yet, but I'll let you know later tonight when new ones open.
barbmock
11 years ago
What size is your pot? I'm trying to get an idea of the size of your plant. I don't remember seeing a sans with a yellow bloom. Congratulations! Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos. Barb
barbmock
11 years ago
What size is your pot? I'm trying to get an idea of the size of your plant. I don't remember seeing a sans with a yellow bloom. Congratulations! Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos. Barb
binlin
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks Barb,
The inner diameter of the pot is 8 inches, the longest leaf is about 10 inches, and the panicle is about 7 inches long.
binlin
Original Author
11 years ago
@michaela
It's almost 10pm now, and tonight's flowers are just about fully open. I moved the plant out from under my lights so I could smell the flowers. The scent doesn't seem to carry very far, and I had to stick my face right down between the spikes to smell anything. I'm not sure if I'd describe the flowers as sweet, but there's definitely a complex perfume-like smell.

Here's the plant with a ruler for scale:

Here's a side view of a flowers that's almost fully open:
barbmock
11 years ago
You not only have that bloom, but the plant itself is impressive too. I was surprised at the size. Can you share any growing tips with us, please? I can see that you have your lighting and reflective surface. Whatever you are doing, it's working well. Barb
barbmock
11 years ago
Thank you for sharing all this info with us, Rennet. Those of us with a lack of sunny windows in the winter could surely benefit from a setup similar to yours.

My pinguicula is finally doing something neat

binlin
Original Author

Comments (10)

barbmock

Michaela

Related Discussions

binlin
Original Author

barbmock

barbmock

binlin
Original Author

binlin
Original Author

barbmock

barbmock

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

My pinguicula is finally doing something neat

binlinOriginal Author

Comments (10)

barbmock

Michaela

Related Discussions

binlinOriginal Author

barbmock

barbmock

binlinOriginal Author

binlinOriginal Author

barbmock

barbmock

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

binlin
Original Author

binlin
Original Author

binlin
Original Author

binlin
Original Author