Cute little ping pullings

I think Pinguicula are the most fun carnivorous plants to propagate. You don't need to prepare any pots or get all messy, and if the propagation attempt fails it's really not that big of a deal (unlike, say, dividing Sarracenia rhizomes). Also, the plantlets are so cute! Consider this Pinguicula esseriana:

I can't believe how tiny these are.

All of those little tiny leaves fell off when I was mailing off a plant for the NASC auction. Look at all the babies!

Another ping that has done really well at making babies is the Pinguicula rotundiflora that I won at said auction.

One of my favorite pings. Great leaf margins.

These guys have really taken off! That's like 5 or 6 for the price of one.

Let's see how my other recent leaf pulls are doing.

Pinguicula 'Pirouette'. I think the mother plant is thinking about dividing as well.

Pinguicula gigantea. This is one of the most popular plants in my collection. It's a charmer!

Pinguicula agnata looking pretty fine.

Pinguicula laueana, another contender for the "leaf pulling champ" title.

That's quite a successful batch of pullings!

One plant that I've never yet successfully propagated is Pinguicula "Yucca Doo 1717".

I'll have to keep trying with this guy.

The leaves seem to wither very quickly. Maybe I'll just have to wait for the plant to divide itself naturally.

Finally, as I was taking pictures for this post, I decided to yank a leaf from Pinguicula sp. Tehuacán.

Carnivorous leaves ahoy! This is gonna be a cute one.

If you do leaf pullings every few weeks you'll always have backup pings to grow and share. And they're so adorable!

Some stuff blooming inside

I noticed that my Drosera spiralis is starting another flower stalk.

Check out that wonky leaf too. I don't know why it grew like that.

This is a great plant! I really need to do some root cuttings.

Let's see what else is blooming around the growspaces.

Pinguicula laueana × emarginata flower. Very elegant.

Pinguicula emarginata. It's fun to compare with the hybrid flower above.

Emerging Drosera binata flower stalk. I think I'll turn this one into cuttings.

Drosera capensis. I received this as a broad leaf form. the leaves aren't that broad, but it's a large, impressive plant.

Of course there are a million Utricularia bisquamata and Utricularia subulata blooms everywhere. It's nice to see everything blooming so nicely.

Pinguicula leaf pull update

Back at the end of April I yanked a couple leaves from various Mexican Pinguicula. I've had some decent success since then.

Pinguicula laueana is really a hero when it comes to propagation – this picture is from May 4th, just 5 days after I took the pullings.

P. laueana leaf pull after 5 days.

And here we are now:

Same leaf pull after 2 weeks.

This guy has been very reliable for me when it comes to leaf pulls. This bodes well for the future.

Next up is Pinguicula 'Pirouette'. If you look very closely at the leaf base (click the picture for higher resolution) you'll notice some little bulges that are definitely strikes.

P. 'Pirouette' leaf pull after 2 weeks.

I donated some plantlets from an earlier leaf pull to the NASC auction. Now I've got to get some started for the next BACPS meeting.

I haven't seen any action on the Pinguicula gigantea or the Pinguicula agnata that I started at the same time, but the Pinguicula rotundiflora that I posted about last night is getting right to it.

So many little plantlets.

I'm well on my way to ultimate cuteness.

In other ping news, the Pinguicula gigantea × moctezumae that Anne gave me a couple weeks ago have already put on some nice new growth.

Almost time for a bigger pot.

And the Pinguicula cyclosecta that received back at the beginning of February are showing excellent color, and the largest one is starting to fill out its rosette very nicely.

That lavender color is so lovely and unique.

Thank you for visiting Pinguicula Etc.

Pinguicula leaf pullings

I just started some new leaf pullings on my Pinguicula. It's always good to be propagating, and pings (especially Mexican pings) are some of the easiest carnivores to propagate. Just take one of the newest leaves, pull gently until it pops out, and set it down somewhere. I usually just set it back down on the media in the pot where the mother plant lives. This apparently works best with succulent leaves, but plenty of people have had success with the carnivorous leaves as well.

Yesterday I started new pulls of Pinguicula 'Pirouette', Pinguicula agnata, and Pinguicula gigantea.

The color on this plant is wonderful.

P. agnata doesn't get enough attention on this blog.

I want to give a P. gigantea to all my friends.

As you can see, I've done successful pullings of P. 'Pirouette' before. My last P. agnata pulling failed to strike, and I've never propagated P. gigantea before (intentionally). I'm looking forward to seeing how these turn out!

Back in March the Pinguicula moranensis I bought from California Carnivores (last July) went through a very brief succulent phase, so I did a pulling. It's coming along!

This plant has come so far in the last 9 months!

The plantlet is down at the bottom, tangling with some invading Drosera capensis red form. I think it's already started to root among the moss and Utricularia biquamata, which shows that it has gumption.

I acquired this Pinguicula laueana back at the BACPS social in February (mentioned in this post). One leaf had fallen off already, and I did another pulling shortly thereafter. The resultant plants are on the right and left of the mother plant, respectively.

The leaves have gotten nicely red under my lights as well.

I also did a new pulling (that big leaf there) just a week or two ago, since it was growing in sort of funny. I hope it strikes too!

In other ping news, my friend Anne (the driving force behind the carnivore section at the Cactus Jungle in Berkeley) recently gave me this sweet little pot of Pinguicula gigantea × moctezumae. Anne and I have a very destructive relationship where we constantly convince each other to buy more carnivorous plants.

The two plants in this cross couldn't be more different. Quite funny!

Apparently she's had the mother plant for more than 10 years. That's pretty rad! I'm looking forward to growing these guys out.

Finally, I've really come to adore Drosera cistiflora. It's popped out a bunch of new growth since its recent feeding, and isn't showing any signs of going dormant for the summer.

Look at all that new growth.

Looking great!

Propagation updates

It's been a little quiet around the blog lately, since I've had a number of non-plant things getting in the way of my plant time. This usually sucks, but it has the benefit of allowing me to be surprised when I have time to spend with my collection again. A number of my propagation efforts are going fairly well!

First up, my Drosera ×"Andromeda" (which is Drosera schizandra × prolifera) water-float leaf cutting had developed enough that it was time to transfer to the media, in this case a pot of living Sphagnum.

Had to transplant the cutting before the mother leaf wilted away.

Blending in well among the moss.

The cutting that I started directly on the Sphagnum hasn't struck, but neither has it wilted. I'm being philosophical about it.

Several of my Pinguicula pullings have also taken, including a few which I had thought had withered.

Pinguicula moranensis leaf pull.

Pinguicula 'Pirouette' leaf pull. I thought this one wasn't going to take at all.

Successful Pinguicula laueana pullings on either side of the mother plant.

More Pings: always better.

I've also had almost too much success with those Drosera indica that I started a few weeks back.

Quite a carpet of D. indica here.

I have no idea whether or not it will be reasonable to separate this pot out later.

The nearby Byblis liniflora are doing well, but are less ridiculous.

Now I want to add more Byblis to my collection.

Can B. liniflora be transplanted? I suppose I'll soon find out.

Finally, the Dionaea 'B-52' leaf pull that I started back in November may finally be ready to lose the humidity tent, since I think I've pulled every last plantlet out of that guy.

Cute little D. 'B-52' plantlets. Little babies!

Now I just need to let them grow out for a season.

I've been threatening it for a while, but I think it's almost time to expand to one more set of lights. I'm hesitant, but there may be nothing else for it. In the meantime, my outdoor growing is going great. I'm going to wait to do a big Sarracenia post until we have a nice overcast day, but check out this goofy-looking Sarracenia flava var. cuprea.

Love that funky pitcher mouth.

What a funny plant.

Drosera roseana already making gemmae (plus some Utricularia Sect. Orchidioides)

As I've covered before, I started a bunch of new pygmy sundew species back on December 10th. My Drosera omissa caught me off guard by flowering after 9 weeks – quick turnaround. But now the Drosera roseana have I think topped that feat.

D. roseana is a very pretty sundew, besides being (apparently) really really vigorous.

Gemmae. That's just over 12 weeks to go from being a gemma to producing a healthy crop. That's nuts. There's another plant in this same pot doing the same thing. Pygmy sundews are so cool. If you're not growing pygmies you're just messing around.

Today I also noticed new growth on the two members of Utricularia Sect. Orchidioides that I have in my collection. Here's the Utricularia cornigera I bought at the last BACPS meeting.

This Utric can get very large. I'm excited.

This is the first new leaf it's put up since being in my collection. I'm glad to see that it seems to like my conditions fine.

My Utricularia humboldtii I received from BACPS Newsletter Editor and Utricularia fanatic Tony Gridley.

I'm going to need to trim off some of the old growth soon.

See those two new leaves in the foreground? I didn't treat this plant very well when I first received it. It sat around in a plastic baggie for around a week after the meeting, and then I just potted it up without any concern for humidity or anything. Luckily it seems to have taken it all in stride. Now I have to be careful that I not let it grow too well, since Tony said, and I quote, "If you win the BACPS show with it I'll never speak to you again."

In more springtime news, my recently-acquired Pinguicula laueana is unfurling its first carnivorous leaf of the season.

P. laueana has nice foliage in addition to the striking flowers.

And also it looks like Drosera 'Marston Dragon' is putting out its first serious new leaf post-dormancy.

The Dragon is stirring.

You know I never really appreciated the spring before I started growing plants. Spring is awesome.

Things are going crazy out back

Spring is already in full swing here at Pinkhouse. My Sarracenia are throwing up blooms left and right. Last year I didn't get any flowers, so this is exciting!

Sarracenia flava var. maxima.

Sarracenia flava var. cuprea.

Sarracenia alata "Heavy Veins" (Stone County, MO).

Sarracenia alata "red throat".

Sarracenia ×moorei.

Sarracenia oreophila.

Little alien heads popping up everywhere. I wonder if I should do any crosses this year? Maybe I will!

This last Sunday was the first BACPS Social Plant Swap. We drank beer and traded plants and it was great. I got a Pinguicula laueana.

Pinguicula laueana with flower.

Look at that big red flower! I should take some pullings.

On a final note, I've started an Instagram. I'll try and it regularly with new pictures. I'm expanding my social media profile (follow me on Facebook too).