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Pinguicula lusitanica

I just got some seed from the ICPS and I sowed it all on the "standard" CP mix (half peat, half perlite). I'm really excited about growing this ping because this is my first time with this plant. Does anyone here grow it? I would love to hear anything about it. All I know is that it can become a weed in collections, which is awesome to me (for some reason I've always been intrigued by the "weed" CPs!).

-How long does it take to germinate?
-How long does it take to mature?
-How big do these plants get?
-What's their lifespan?
-Will they eat french fries?
-Do carnivorous plants eat people?
-Are you my mother?
 
You'll find this an easy and rewarding ping. It's a tiny one - my mature plants are only about an inch wide, and they're growing everywhere seed has fallen, from utric pots, to older pots covered in carpet moss, to pots with nepenthes mix. Not sure how long it takes to mature as they're in a constant cycle of flowering, germinating, and spreading. It's pretty fast, though. I have had them for about a year and a half, and none have died yet. Enjoy these guys! Just remember, they self-polinate, so if it flowers, it WILL have seed.

Capslock
 
P. lusitanica is great. I've had them for about nine months and had two or three coordinated flowerings so far. They're very easy. They should be germinating in one to three weeks, if my memory serves. The only thing about P. lusitanica is that it doesn't like to be as wet as most other CPs. I have several pots of it, and among them, the peat/perlite undrained pot does the best. The only thing that I can attribute this to is that it gets to dry out a tiny bit between waterings. I have other pots with peat/perlite or peat/sand with P. lusitanica, all drained and on the tray system, and they're no where near as productive. In less time than it took to grow my other seedlings to a 1/4" diameter, many of my Pings in the undrained container have reached maturity and flowered once or twice. So, they could take a few months to mature, or they could spend an indefinite amount of time as little tiny seedlings if you give them suboptimal conditions. Either way, I've still only killed a handful out of dozens or maybe even hundreds of seedlings, so things should work out fine for you. They are annuals, meaning they live for a season or a year or so, but indoors they can make it much longer - I still have two of the three P. lusitanica that I started with back last February, and they were mature adults when I got them.
They prefer mayonnaise with their french fries and will eat you if you chop yourself up into little tiny bits. And yes, I am your mother.
~Joe
 
Hahahaha, thanks for the info guys!

I'll definitely start looking for signs of germination next week. Also, Seedjar, I'll keep those slightly dry conditions in mind. Perhaps these guys will do better in my classic terrarium...
 
I thought I'd give everyone an update on my seeds. I'm such a nice guy, don't you think?
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It took them one week to germinate! Pretty dang quick if you ask me. I was expecting to wait at least two, but it seems that the little guys are more than ready to start growing and catching bugs
smile.gif


I can already make out very small leaves that are reminiscent of P. lusitanica, which is really cool. I'm still waiting on my other two pots of seeds ( D. burmannii and D. peltata ) to germinate. They're definitely not as quick as the butterwort. This is odd to me, because I expect that D. burmannii would be germinating as well since it's an annual like P. lusitanica.

I'm looking forward to growing my new butterworts. In fact, once they mature, I might be giving some away on the trading forums. We'll see...
 
Wow, good growing! My own lusitanica, which sprouted so readily, have all but totally died off. I think the conditions have been too wet, perhaps. They are on tray. I'll try letting them dry a bit to see if it helps the few straggling survivors. *shrug* I seem to not be such a good mom to pings.
 
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