How to make P. gigantea grow faster?

[SDCPs]

I torture my P. gigantea outside in low humidity 40-60% in San Diego. Some are in full sun and hang on as long as they are kept wet, others are in shade. But they all grow very slowly.

Is this typical of the species?

(The sundew is a volunteer seedling...very cool! There's cat litter in there...not acidic in the least) I have capensis and even dichotoma growing in those now. I'm loving that.

My p. esseriana grew much faster when I kept those:

I have not tried a peat based medium for the gigantea yet though.

 

[Tanukimo]

For carnivorous plants in general if you want larger plants you will need to make sure they are beint fed or fertilized in some way. Mexican Pinguicula in general don't need much humidity or light so if there aren't any other problems with the plants I would just feed them more.

 

[theplantman]

For carnivorous plants in general if you want larger plants you will need to make sure they are beint fed or fertilized in some way. Mexican Pinguicula in general don't need much humidity or light so if there aren't any other problems with the plants I would just feed them more.

Yep. They look very yellow. Another rule I have is: the more foliage/leafiness a plant has, the higher the feeding requirements. Compared to other pings, P. gigantea has a lot of tissue to support. If the yellow doesn't go away when you feed them, then assume they need a bit less sun and try some shading.

I always recommend a dilute spray-feed of Mexican Pings. At least once a week, 1/4-1/2 tsp per gallon of nearly any liquid feed. I have tested saturating the soil up to 2 tsp per gallon with 3 different kinds of chemical fertilizers--never any burn, but it's also not noticeably effective above 1 tsp per gallon. Because of where they grow, they have one of the highest chemical fertilizer tolerances I've seen in CPs. Bugs and stuff work, but I never have time to do this and I can never be sure that they're getting all the micronutrients they need. Bugs are mostly for nitrogen and phosphorus.

 

[SDCPs]

Excellent advice gentlemen, thanks.

D. regia and sarracenia are other species that benefit/require fertilization...why not mexi pings also I guess!

Yep. They look very yellow. Another rule I have is: the more foliage/leafiness a plant has, the higher the feeding requirements. Compared to other pings, P. gigantea has a lot of tissue to support. If the yellow doesn't go away when you feed them, then assume they need a bit less sun and try some shading.

I always recommend a dilute spray-feed of Mexican Pings. At least once a week, 1/4-1/2 tsp per gallon of nearly any liquid feed. I have tested saturating the soil up to 2 tsp per gallon with 3 different kinds of chemical fertilizers--never any burn, but it's also not noticeably effective above 1 tsp per gallon. Because of where they grow, they have one of the highest chemical fertilizer tolerances I've seen in CPs. Bugs and stuff work, but I never have time to do this and I can never be sure that they're getting all the micronutrients they need. Bugs are mostly for nitrogen and phosphorus.