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Foliar feeding

My pot of Pinguicula moranensis is obviously a good deal away from being healthy enough to consider fertilizing them (I want them to reestablish their roots and commence healthy growth in their new homes), but what do all of you use to fertilize your pings?  Or do you even bother to fertilize them at all?

Have any of you experimented with seaweed extract? I have a bottle at home (Saltwater Farms' SeaStart) with a NPK value of 0-4-4 and it is supposed to contain a great variety of micronutrients and trace elements.  It is also fortified with vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, vitamin C, folic acid, biotin and pantothenic acid.  Believe me, I have no idea what role all of these additives play in healthy plant growth, but I have used this product (which is designed to applied as a foliar spray) on my non-CPs for several years as an occasional boost and they all seem to love it.  Do you think this product would also work for Mexican Pinguicula if applied as a very dilute foliar spray?

Also, have any of you ever applied just straight trace elements, such as iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc, etc., or any combination thereof?  

Please share all of your experiences!  I am curious to know what you all think.

Thanks,
Corey
 
Corey, hold off experimenting with anything until somebody gets back to you.

My little voice is screaming at me and it is saying don't fertilize any of your CPs. Lemme explain. Bogs are nutrient deficient and the plants we now grow came from these bogs. Our little pretties co evolved over centuries and have adaptive traits that we have all come to love that compensate for an environment all but devoid of nutrients. Minute amounts of dissolved minerals picked up from the air are how natural bogs are formed and would therefore be their only source of nutrients. Think of their traps that EAT insects. Think of their very shallow root systems that basically do nothing but keep them grounded.  Our plants adapted to this harsh type of environment. I'm thinking that virtually any form of a fertilizer would be right up there with tap water and would kill off your CPs in no time flat.

My plants get zip nadda nothing in the form of a fertilizer. I'm actually glad you asked this question as I'm most curious to know how off base I am.
 
Good call Laura.

Don't do it Corey. It's not a good idea for these plants. If you are a novice Ping. grower you are certainly steering your valued plants toward cp heaven. Carnivorous plants are carnivorous for a reason. If you feel it necessary to experiment, try using very, VERY, small drops of skim milk on the leaves. Otherwise...do nothing to them at all. Your question was very intelligent and well thought out. As Laura says....wait until you hear more from us about our experiences.

Good growing.

Phil
 
I have had good results by lightly dusting my Mexican Pinguicula leaves with freeze-dried bloodworms ground into a powder.
 
Don't worry, I don't yet have any designs to force fertilizer on my pings! LOL!  But I brought up this question because of what Peter D'Amato states in his book The Savage Garden on page 215 of the 1998 paperback edition: "The Mexican species greatly benefit from foliar feeding once or twice monthly during their carnivorous growth using an epiphytic or orchid fertilizer diluted to about a quarter of its normal strength."  

Adrian Slack, in his book Carnivorous Plants, also mentions that Pinguicula species are not always found growing wild under mineral-deficient conditions (page 104 of the 2000 paperback edition).  

What do you all make of this?  

Thanks,
Corey
 
Nearly all commercial available cps got fertilizer in their childhood. Ask any of the big sellers. I agree that beginners should'nt use fertilizer. At first propagate the plants, then do experiments with some of the offspring.

As I grow my plants indoors and do not want to catch or buy prey, I fertilize all my plants and the love it. Thats the only alternative if you don't want to waste the substrate and change it every year or two. My substrate has nearly no nutrients any more (yes peat has nutrients...) and now I use foliar feeding and applications directly in the substrate.

Cheers,
Jan
 
Hi Corey,

As Pingman pointed out, he uses dried, ground blood worms; an organic food source. As for peter D's book comment... He has written an excellent reference book on culture, etc, and it contains valuable information. But what people need to consider, and often fail to realize, is that much of Peter's sound advice is based on his own personal growing experience. I can remember standing in his greenhouse (not his current facility) by the Pingucula benches and having to wear sun glasses and constantly wiping the sweat running off my face because it was so unbearbly sunny and hot. Not what you would consider typical Pinguicula growing conditions. Under these conditions it was possible for his plants to utilize artificial or chemical fertilizers, without the fear of hurting the plants because they were grown so 'hard'. And boy did his plants look great! Many horticulture authors, especially orchidists, write based on what works for them, under their growing conditions.

I like Pingman's idea. If you want to fertilize your plants you can probably get by with the freeze dried blood worms lightly dusted over the leaves. In fact, I think I may do this myself and I have hundreds of Pings.

You could take photos of your plants now, and then start a feeding program, and then take more pictures like every month or so. You could document your findings and post them here or just keep them for yourself. This is what I consider 'playing' with cps. It's very rewarding.

Good growing.

Phil
 
Hi Phil:

I did put down a few leaves of P. moranensis, so if they bud I will have some extra plants to experiment with.  I do have a digital camera, too, so it will be easy to document any possible progress and/or decline for all of you.  But any experiment of this kind will still be weeks, if not months, away.  It all depends on if my first leaf cuttings make it or not, since I don't want to submit my mother plants to any more unnecessary stress at this point.  
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And thank you for your input, Jan!
 
Oh, I never thought of freeze dried blood worms that were pulverized and sprinkled over the leaves being a fertilizer in the traditional sense of the word. I do that. I bought our bloodworms at PetSmart.
 
  • #10
In my opinion Pinguicula are the genus of carnivorous plants that is most open to being foliar fed. Think about it - their leaves are designed to eat whatever falls on them. I don't think the plants know or care wether the nutrients come in the form of a bug or not. I've foliar fed most of my plants with miracid before, and have always noticed good results. I used to put little crystals of miracid on the leaves of some pings, in fact, and while it burned holes in the leaves, the plants loved it.

I'm also thinking that many pings like nutrients in their soil too. I've heard of other people using pottings soil for their mexican pings and I'm now trying it myself. After about a week, the pings I stuck in potting soil are at least as happy as the ones in peat/perlite/sand.

I know that bog plants don't like a lot of nutrients, but we don't know that all carnivorous plants are allergic to nutrients. The problem might even lie in the salts in chemical fertilizers. Lets experiment, instead of assuming all carnivorous plants are alike.

Peter
 
  • #11
I am starting to think anything goes in the world of Pinguicula cultivation!  LOL!  One person does not fertilize and their plants are happy and healthy, whereas another person foliar feeds with chemical fertilizers and their plants are also healthy and happy.  

The thing that strikes me about Mexican Pinguicula species is that they are not bog plants.  They appear to be lithophytes or semi-epiphytes in nature (some Caribbean species appear to be wholly epiphytic), much like many of the Saintpaulia (aka the ubiquitous African violet) species in Tanzania and Kenya.  Curiously enough--and I don't want it to seem like I am forcing a comparison between apples and oranges--most growers recommend that African violets be grown in smallish, shallow pots with a medium of peat, perlite and vermiculite in a 1:1:1 ratio, which is a formula that could also be applied to Mexican Pinguicula in some growing conditions (but obviously not all).  

I think in the future I am going to have a great time experimenting with ping culture.  That is, as soon as I get the hang of leaf propagation!  
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Corey
 
  • #12
I was just perusing the latest issue (March 2005) of the Carnivorous Plant Newsletter and noticed there was an article entitled "Disease Symptoms in Pinguicula : Some Causes and Remedies" by L. Legendre and H. Kibellis of the University of Western Sydney.  

It is interesting that two of the disease symptoms mentioned--leaf lamina holes and leaf whitening--appear to be caused by nutrient deficiencies.  Both symptoms were treated successfully by growing in a more nutrient-rich mix containing trace elements.  The only problem is that with one of the experimental mixes listed in the article (Mix B, which contained a greater quantity of nitrogen) the leaf lamina holes reappeared due to the excess nitrogen encouraging microbial growth in the soil and increased sensitivity to attack on the part of the plants themselves (which is a symptom of an overdose of nitrogen among all plants, not just Pinguicula).

This aspect of the article concludes by stating (on page 22 of the CPN) that "mineral deficiencies are particularly common in hobbyists' collections because of the widespread use of perlite/vermiculite mixes and no fertilization.  These are hard to spot just after repotting and may take several months to fully develop.  A transient improvement in plant health may even appear at first because of the washing of excess salts from a previous mix or sudden improved aeration.  However, the nutritional needs of Pinguicula and their relationship with temperature, soil pH and texture are unknown.  Our study also suggests that one mix may not fit the needs of all species (...) and preliminay results showed that young plants tend to prefer a poorer mix than their adult forms.  More work is required in this area."
 
  • #13
Verrrrrrry interesting Ispahan. Thanks for sharing that. It does make you want to rip off a bunch of ping leaves and do lots of experiments. lol
 
  • #14
Oh I love what you wrote Ispahan! Gives me a lot to think about.
 
  • #15
be careful with blood worms. my throat closed up once from exposure. i had to use my epipen.
 
  • #16
Ispahan as soon as your weather up there gets warm enough, put a few of your Pings outside. You will be surprised at the number of insects they will catch on there own.
Mine are outside year round and the leaves are literally covered in little dead bodies. They do not depend on things falling onto their leaves. They actually have a bug attractant. Most of what they capture are some kind of little gnats but one of my P. 'Sethos' actually caught a full grown house fly.

One of my P. 'Sethos'. Notice the little D. burmannii in the lower right. D. burmannii in flower + a light breeze = pot hopping.
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  • #17
Lauderdale, now that is a beautiful photo!  Not only do I like the colors and form on this cultivar, but I like seeing gnats being massacred.  That sounds a bit strange, I know, but I have struggling with a fungus gnat problem lately which was what first led me to the world of Mexican Pinguicula.  

Unfortunately, because I live on the second floor of a Chicago three-flat building, I have no outdoor growing space to experiment with.  Otherwise, I would follow your advice in a jif!
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  • #18
I don't know if any of you have ever played with ball bearings, but Drosera burmannii seed behave just like miniature ball bearings, they bounce fast and far.

Excellent photo of a well grown and well fed Pinguicula 'Sethos'.
 
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