FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I read your ping care page like crazy, trying to figure out what im doing wrong, if anything. I keep hoping my two p. moranensis will pull through, but after a recent squirrel attack, I've pretty much given up on them. They were about nickel sized when I received them and had very little to no roots. I planted them in 50/50 sphagnum peat and perlite, water them about once a week with the "pot in bowl of water" method until the top of the medium is wet, and give them plenty of light.

Their outter leaves on the rosette fell off, and they are very tiny, and just look like crap in general. Is there hope?
(I will post pics.) Thanks so much for any help.

I'm sorry about your recent troubles with your pinguicula. I'll check back to this topic later for the photos you're going to upload but for now I can offer you the following advice:

Pinguicula are prone to root rot; warm temperate species are more tolerant to it due to their natural habitat however P. Moranensis is a mexican species and should be kept moist (but not wet). When I first kept my pinguicula I had them in 50/50 dead sphagnum/perlite and found that some leaves would die back if the media was too wet (which was commonplace with using sphagnum moss and not sphagnum peat).

It is normal for some pinguicula leaves to fall off when being repotted (or attacked by evil squirrels of doom), these leaves can be placed on the surface of your growing media and may take root and grow into small plantlets. This has happened to me several times especially during winter dormancy and I've found the plant the leaves came off to be perfectly fine and recover rapidly.

Although these plants are surprisingly hardy to all manner of accidents small plants are more delicate, that said I have noticed that my smaller plants seem to recover faster when being repotted. The size of your plants may be both a blessing and a curse.

For now I think that's all I can say but in the meantime remember you don't suck at life and there is always hope!

Oh thanks so much, I think you've just cleared everything up for me!

Ah, well I'm glad I helped! I hope they recover for you; if you continue to get problems feel free to upload some photos and we'll figure it out!

I really don't post about pings too much... I just use superthrive on every other watering and I flood all their pots. Even the mexican pings. They don't rot on me then. I suggest using the superthrive every so often.

Just so you know that I'm not a newb, I've grown flytraps and other carnivores for a lot more than half of my life and I'm 64.

I don't know anything about pings but I wanted to wish them the best and I hope they start growing beautifully for you!