You are here:

Carnivorous Plants/pinguicula grandiflora

Advertisement

Expert: - 2/8/2009


Question
Hi, I recently bought some ping. grandiflora seeds and wish to grow them. I live
in Manchester, UK, and am unsure how to sow them or what to sow them on
(will potting compost do, etc). Any help you could give would be great. Cheers

Answer
Hello Lawrie,

The Pinguicula mix you will want would be one part sphagnum peat to as much as one or two parts perlite and one part vermuculite. Ensure that none of the materials you use has any fertilizers added. Regular potting soil would be fatal for carnivorous plants due to the fertilizers found within.

You can use a regular pot and just scatter the seeds widely around on the soil surface. Keep them hydrated and mist them daily with fresh distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis water. Just water them enough to keep the soil moist at all times and avoid allowing too much water to stand in a tray under the pot.

Keep them at about 75-85 degrees. Provide florescent illumination from 12000 lumens of 40 watt shop light tubes of the cool white variety 5-8 inches from the pot or place the pot in a morning sun window where the young plants will get a good morning dose of several hours sunlight. Direct sun, even through a window, could cause leaf burn, so be careful with light levels.

Christopher

Carnivorous Plants

All Answers

Answers by Expert:

Ask Experts

Volunteer

Christopher Littrell

Expertise

I am capable of answering questions about the most common carnivorous plants found in cultivation. I have no personal experience with Byblis, Drosophyllum, Aldrovanda, and Heliamphora. I have not cultivated gemmae forming pygmy sundews nor tuberous sundews. For information regarding those aforementioned species, I would suggest contacting other experts. I can answer questions regarding most species of Nepenthes, tropical and temperate Drosera, Mexican Pinguicula, Sarracenias, and Dionaea. I have some limited experience with growing Utricularia, Cephalotus, and Darlingtonia.

Experience

I have grown carnivorous plants off and on for about 27 years. I have made the same mistakes and suffered the same mishaps that many growers make as they attempt to separate the myths from the realities of growing these plants. Currently, I am successfully growing a variety of tropical sundews, a Nepenthes, several Venus Flytraps of varying ages, and Sarracenias. I have been successful in stratifying Sarracenia seeds and providing artificial dormancy requirements for my temperate plants when needed.

Education/Credentials
I hold a Master's degree in Educational Psychology. Over my lifetime, I have constantly read books involving the growing conditions of carnivorous plants. I hope to incorporate the educational aspects involved in psychology with teaching other people how to cultivate carnivorous plants.

©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.