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One is just never enough

Joseph Clemens

Joseph Clemens

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One Ping is never enough. I begin propagating usually as soon as I receive a new variety. I propagate again whenever I repot (taking a few leaves makes repotting just a little bit easier). Now that I have lots of cute little baby plants I am less worried if I should lose one of my "Mother" plants. I've never been concerned if the leaves were Summer or Winter form, in my experience they work the same (one consideration is that larger leaves contain more moisture), as long as you don't let the excess moisture of the larger Summer leaves cause rot.

Aren't these little ones cute?
i-LZ9wrHR-XL.jpg

A week or two later:

i-zKn4v8B-L.jpg

​
 
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I just read Bugweed's profile, and I won't argue with him, as he does martial arts and hunts.......
Joe, do you put leaves in your normal compost to propagate?

Cheers,

Joe
 
Hello Joe and everyone, following is my Mexican Pinguicula propagating technique. This is my basic technique, which I tweak and modify when ideas occur to me.

First; I pull ½ or more of the leaves from plants I am transplanting, I do this beginning with the oldest leaves first.
Second; using Ziploc® snack size bags (6 ½ “L x 3 ¼” W) I place a small quantity of slightly moist LFS inside, covering the bottom of the bag. Using a plastic vial with a couple of small holes drilled into its lid (1/32” diameter) as a shaker (like a salt or pepper shaker) I sprinkle a light dusting of RootShield® brand of Trichoderma harzianum powder onto the LFS.
Third; I place the detached leaves onto the RootShield® dusted LFS in the Ziploc® bags.
Fourth; using a Sharpie® permanent marker I label the outside of the bag.
Fifth; I place the bags together where they are well lit and warm but not in direct sunlight and then I wait for about 2-3 weeks or until buds or small plantlets are clearly evident on the leaves, then I go to step six.
Sixth; having prepared enough 2 ¼ “ square plastic pots ahead of time (see propagule pot preparation), I gently place the budding leaves onto the surface of the pots, put four pots per gallon size Ziploc® bag, seal the bag and place it under fluorescent lights next to the adult plants.

** Propagule pot preparation:
Fill pot 2/3 full with moist LFS, packed loosely, top with ¼ - ½ “ of peat or peat/sand which has first been sterilized by cooking in a microwave <span style='color:eek:range'>[This must be done carefully, if the peat gets too hot, it will burn or partially burn and spoil the mix.]</span>, cooled down and then thoroughly inoculated with RootShield® brand of Trichoderma harzianum powder by dusting, mixing and then dusting and mixing again. After topping the pots I spritz them with enough water to wet the surface of the media then sprinkle an additional dusting of RootShield® brand of Trichoderma harzianum powder. The powder is very fine like dust and a little goes a very long way. In just a week or two they look like the photo in my post and the media surface is covered with beneficial fungal hyphae like a fine white spider web.
 
Hey Pingman,

I noticed your plants are covered with some kind gnat or something. What are they, and where do you get them?

Thanks,

Jason
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Jason_In_CO @ Mar. 17 2005,10:48)]I noticed your plants are covered with some kind gnat or something. What are they, and where do you get them?
Click to expand...
I think those are Joseph's granulated bloodworms that he sprinkles on his Pings. They can be obtained at tropical fish stores either frozen or freeze-dried.
 
Bob is absolutely correct. I use the fresh-frozen when defrosted for VFT and pitcher plants and the freeze-dried ones ground to a powder to sprinkle on sticky CP leaves.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Using a plastic vial with a couple of small holes drilled into its lid (1/32” diameter) as a shaker (like a salt or pepper shaker) I sprinkle a light dusting of RootShield® brand of Trichoderma harzianum powder onto the LFS.
Click to expand...

Forgive me for ignorance... I am unfamiliar with Trichoderma harzianum... and the Rootshield brand (I guess local garden centers don't carry it here). Is this a rooting hormone, or something else? I do have rooting hormone I use to grow cuttings of other plants, but don't want to jump in trying it on my cps without checking first... I'm afraid it would end up killing any leaves I tried it on.
 
I'm pretty sure it's a beneficial fungus, Anoxos. It's grown in potting mediums to outcompete diseases and pests without harming plants, but I don't know that much more about it. I'm sure PinguiculaMan will see this and have a more detailed answer for you.
~Joe
 
According to my research it is supposed to be a beneficial fungi that gets its nourishment from the exudates from roots of various plants. It colonizes the surface of these roots and then grows its hyphae out into the surrounding soil/media to collect water and desirable plant nutrients which it then passes to the plant. While it is doing this it inhibits or surpresses the growth of pathogenic organisms.

A google search will reveal many sites that will explain it further.
 
I went around looking for RootShield® but none of the nursery seems to carry it in Singapore. Can we use normal fungicide for the same procedure as suggested for propagating Pings?. i.e. Cheshire Chestnut (sp?) used to prevent seed damping
 
jonpoh,
Possibly so, but I've never used any fungicides, they don't really seem necessary when sufficient light is applied containing a suitable UV spectral component. I've only occasionally tried RootShield® to see if it would enhance growth. The same techniques as described earlier in this thread will work just fine even without the RootShield®. It is a beneficial living organism (a fungus species) and can occur naturally.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]In just a week or two they look like the photo in my post and the media surface is covered with beneficial fungal hyphae like a fine white spider web.
Click to expand...
This is good for other CPs as well?
My Utricularia rienformis currently has a fine white 'web' across the surface of the soil. It seems to dicinigrate if you touch it. We are studing fungi in school right now, and I tried to bring some in to check out under the microscope, but after the car ride in a bag, it broke up to small to get a good idea of what it looked like.
 
The breaking up of the fungal hyphae doesn't usually kill the fungus, it should grow new hyphae once conditions are suitable again.
 
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