Pinguicula

[ronm]

I have for many years (on and off ) grown and enjoyed the Genus Pinguicula.  For such a varied and interesting alpine plant group it seems to get little coverage in the usual 'alpine / rock garden  groups'. At the moment they are probably all asleep, but I hope that those of us who manage this genus can post some comments, pictures, cultural advise, nomenclature updates, etc in 2012. Intriguing and not just the domain of the "schoolkid" or "weird plant freak"!

[Darren]

Forumist Graham Catlow has shown beautifully grown and presented colonies of P. grandiflora and will hopefully respond 

[ronm]

That would be good. Thanks Darren.

[Lesley Cox]

I used to have a gorgeous potful of P. grandiflora, flowering well each year until I let it get too dry. Now I have a mass of very tiny seedlings from Wim Boen in Belgium. Too small for pictures yet, they just have their first glandular leaves and maybe will disappear altogether for winter, in a few months. P. vulgaris hasn't germinated at all yet.

It is interesting that the seedlings sown over grit are doing quite as well or even better than the ones sown on spaghnum. All the pots (5) are standing in a cm of water all the time.

When I had my potful of flowering-size plants, I found the flowering was especially good if, during the autumn, I sprinkled the plants with those tiny black insects which are found on field mushrooms. Don't know what they are called but Pinguiculas just love them.

[ronm]

Could they be Sciarid flies, Lesley? Pings are particularly good at cleaning them up.
I find the best compost for the 'Europeans' is 60/20/20, sand /JI/perlite, sowing the seed on the surface, then standing in water until the surface is wet. I then keep in a unheated shaded propagator until germination. No sphagnum as this tends to overwhelm the seedlings. The young plants grow up with the moss that invariably grows from nowhere on the compost surface, and keep apace with it. When the plants die down to the hibernaculum, the atmosphere needs to be humid and cool. Shaded propagator again. Lid on esp at night. Its very tempting to pull them up at this point to repot in nice new clean looking compost, but I find they resent this although there seems to be no active root gowth. However they may survive this treatment if one has to. This is good for grandiflora , and its ssp. and for vulgaris, macroceras etc. The S.E. USA species are slightly more demanding, and the mexicans are radically different.
Usually seed germinates readily if fresh ( or from a good seed source ).

[Graham Catlow]

I do manage a group of P. grandiflora but have no real experience with seed techniques or nomenclature or anything else.

It started in 2007/8 with a small group in a sink of carnivorous plants that really didn't do well. I don't think we had the summers to get the plants to flower.
The only things that seem to do ok were the Pinguiculas.
So I disbanded the sink and planted up a pan with the Pinguicula. It is a pan with no holes in the base so holds water to ensure the rotting root stump remains damp. I place the pan in the sun during the flowering period and retun it to a semi shaded position for the rest of the year. I never let it dry out and water it quite frequently. It stays outside through the winter. I have scattered the seed onto the surface and last summer noticed quite a lot of seedlings.

The result is in the second photo from 2010.
The first photo is from the sink in 2008.

I have considered trying P. vulgaris but haven't got round to it yet.

[ronm]

Whatever works Graham! And this obviously does. Wonderfully grown plants. Do you have to do any weeding in the pot, as i would think that the moss and other invaders would soon become overgrown given such a perfect environment. Super grandiflora. You should be able to grow vulgaris, macroceras and their ssp. with the same regime.
Thanks for the advice.

[ranunculus]

The best pinguicula we have seen in the Picos de Europa.

[brianw]

I like the log approach. Very appealling. Must try something similar.

I have grown P. grandiflora for many years, usually frost free so I can grow it with less hardy insectiverous plants. If you sow the seed of P. g. immediately it is ripe on sterile peat/sand mix you will have dozens (100's?) from each pod. They are very easy. Just keep it wet, with rain or naturally soft water. They overwinter as pinpricks at that age but once they start in the spring you can prick out, very carefully. Mine usually start flowering the 3rd or 4th growing season. In a flat topped pot I use small pieces of slate to keep the moss down, like crazy paving, planting in between. You often gets lots of small offsets at the base of adult plants at the end of the season and can use them as seedlings. This saves you a year on growing from seed.
I have had seed from exchanges several times, grandiflora and alpina. the only result has been 1 grandiflora plant supposedly from the Burren (originally). Never had alpina germinate. Guess they need to be fresh.

Brian

[Lesley Cox]

That's a wonderful photo Cliff. My pot was like that at one stage.

The AGS trip to Greece in 1993 saw P. ?balcana or a name like that in flower. Quite similar I think to grandiflora. I also saw Pings in Northumberland near those awful white things and on Snowdon. I guess they would have been vulgaris? I have no wish to try the tropical ones, just these delightful "alpine" species.

[Lesley Cox]

No Ron, they aren't scarid flies. I have them too and they are much larger. The ones I sprinkle when available, are only .5 of a mm in length and much less in width, quite black. They don't seem to fly, only move slowly. We get them on ripe peaches too but they're blown off easily. Too small for me to photograph.

[Martin Tversted]

I grow a lot of cold hardy Pings from various locations in Europe and the US and maybe still Japan. Right now they are under snow and just experienced a blast of minus 24C but Im confident they are all intact.
I can show pictures when spring comes.
I also grow all cold hardy species of Droseras in many locations and some forms of Sarracenias. Only those that can live outside with no exstra heating.

Martin

[Hoy]

P vulgaris is very hardy, Lesley, and common at least. Probably what you saw.
The flowers aren't bad either although not as huge as grandiflora.

[ranunculus]

Pinguicula leptoceras.

[ronm]

Another beauty Cliff, and just as easy to grow as P.grandiflora and P.vulgaris. Again a European species.
I can't think what those flies may be Lesley, possibly what we call 'Thunder flies' here, but not sure ( and certainly don't know their scientific name). Sounds like a perfect nitrogen source however! The plant you saw in Greece would be P.balcanica. It is very similar to these others. It is also variable through its range with some plants not developing any reddish colour to their leaves despite being in full sun.
Agreed Hoy, would be P.vulgaris in Northumberland.
Hi Martin. Maybe only P.ramosa would suffer in those temperatures. But under snow maybe not. looking forward to seeing your pictures. Do you grow the alpine sundews from South America? I think they are some of the most spectacular.