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Pinguicula gigantea

Hi,
ive recently purchased a P. gigantea
the leaves dont appear to be producing any dew i was wondering what i can do to improve the production, i read somewhere on the forum that i should spray misty water onto the leaves?
but i read elsewhere that i should never water the leaves cause they will rot

and i was also wondering how long it takes for caught insects to dissolve? ive put a few ants into the leaves and they got caught in the little dew it had on its surface but nothing has happened for three days is that normal?
 
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Insects do not "dissolve". Only the non-chitinous, or soft parts of the insects bodies, generally their insides, dissolve in the plants secretions of acid and digestive enzymes, then they are absorbed into the leaves.
 
is there any way to tell if this is taking place?
 
Not necessarily. It's easiest to tell once it's already happened (as you'll be left with a crispy, dried-out-looking bug skeleton.) Don't worry about it - if they're stuck, they're stuck. If your plant is really super happy, you may see the digestive enzymes pooling up on the leaf surface, but that really only happens when a plant is at peak health, and may be specific to certain species. I've been keeping Pings for four years and can only recall one instance of seeing excess secretions on a leaf.
Pings aren't supposed to have a ton of dew on them. If you want a plant with showy traps, you should look to Drosera or the pitcher plants or something. Misting won't make the leaves any dewier - if anything, it will probably wash off the dew and make your plant's life harder. The bottom line is, even without bugs, these plants do just fine, so you should to stop worrying about whether or not yours is eating. The best thing you can do for it is give it plenty of light and clean water and wait for it to do its own thing. The fact that the ants got stuck indicates that you're doing well enough that the plant feels comfortable spending energy on hunting. The only better news that you're going to get from it is a flower.
Good luck, and welcome to the forums.
~Joe
 
thanks that was very helpful
 
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