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Is insect important for pinguicula ?


natapongw

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I have new greenhouse since last year. This greenhouse is close system, have ventilation fan for air movement and insect can enter this greenhouse very hard so my ping catch insect less than old greenhouse that open.

They look slowly to grow and unhealthy

Is it important for ping ? What can feed my ping as insect ?

Thank you very much in advance and sorry for my not good in English ... :)

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It is a bit of a no-brainer I think - if insects aren't important for the health and growth of the plant, what is the point of catching them?

Just like speeding motorists are needed by police for their quota....

DexFC

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Hi!

Insects are not essential. As far as I know carnivorous plants catch prey to have an advantage against other plants (without the ability to catch prey) on the meager soil.

I made good experiences with milk in the past, perhaps you want to try it.

natapongw Tell us about your growing conditions perhaps there is something wrong.

Cheers Chris

Edited by C.Weinberger
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Hi,

Thanks for all reply.

@James : I'm not sure with this because some article said don't feed anything to CP some article different so I decide to ask from grower to share our experience.

@Chris : my growing condition is

evaporation cooling system greenhouse

natural sun light 50% shade more than 8 hours

humidity 75-99% all time

average temperature 20-35C depend on season

watering, I use tray method and let them dry for 2-3 days since I have fungus attack I change watering method I use top watering 2-3 days/time

media is vermiculite 3:perlite 3:pumice 3:sand 1:peat 1

Here is different from my old greenhouse :

less light 50-70% shade 4-5 hours

humidity unknow but I think 50-70%

tray method watering

average temperature 20-35C depend on season

Thanks for all again !

Edited by natapongw
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Hi natapongw!

@Chris : my growing condition is

evaporation cooling system greenhouse

natural sun light 50% shade more than 8 hours

humidity 75-99% all time

average temperature 20-35C depend on season

watering, I use tray method and let them dry for 2-3 days since I have fungus attack I change watering method I use top watering 2-3 days/time

media is vermiculite 3:perlite 3:pumice 3:sand 1:peat 1

Sounds good, perhaps you can post some pictures of your plants. Your humidity is quite high, I have no experiences with this large values, but if you have no mold it seems ok.

How about to feed with milk, Chris ?

Take some milk and dilute it with water: 1 part milk, 10 parts water; hand out some drops of the mixture on the leaves. You can wash of the milk after one or two days to prevent mold. Too large drops or a higher concentration leads sometimes to a brown dots on the leave, but this is harmless. Try it and collect some experiences.

Here is a german description (from "Taublatt" of the GFP), perhaps the google translation is good enough for you to understand:http://www.carnivoren.org/gfp/mitteilungsorgane/taublatt/artikel/40_01-ansgar_rahmacher-milchduengung.html

Cheers Chris

Edited by C.Weinberger
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Normally most species don't need an extra source of nutrition, especially when adult. I have never fed or fertilized my Pinguicula (even though it can speed up growth significantly).

What kind of water do you use? If it's distilled it could potentially cause a lack of nutrition.

The easiest way to spot your problem would still be pictures, though ;)

Edited by V.J.Treasure
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  • 1 month later...

Since most of the media used for Pinguicula are very low in nutrient levels, I have found that the carnivory of their leaves is important to provide nutrients for optimum growth. There are many ways to deliver nutrients to the leaves of the plants; light sprays of very dilute nutrient solutions (such as fertilizers), an environment that provides sufficient quantities of suitable prey insects, or capturing prey insects and manually placing them onto the plants leaves. I don't see why a dilute milk solution wouldn't be a suitable source of supplemental nutrients - though I have not yet tried it, and can't recommend it, it does, nevertheless, sound plausible.

What I have been doing for many years, is trap insects in an apparatus that lures them in with a light, at night, then quickly electrocutes them with high-voltage electrodes. Then I dry them and grind them to a powder, store them in used plastic prescription bottles. When I feed, I sprinkle a very light coating of dried, powdered insect dust, then mist it to rehydrate it and begin the digestive and absorptive process.

Here is a photo showing propagules of the same clone, growing side-by-side, the four plants in the lower part of the photo having been supplemented with insect powder sprinkled on their leaves -->

P_1713_bloodworm_effects_A1.jpg

Edited by Joseph Clemens
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I'm not sure why nobody else has mentioned this, but why not fertilise them? I fertilise my Pings (and also my sundews, sarras and Neps) with 1/4-1/5th strength orchid fertiliser about once a fortnight to once a month, and they love it!

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MFS,

Yes, one of the ways I too, get nutrients to my Pinguicula is to use dilute fertilizer solutions. I like using powdered insects too, because they contribute chitin and chitin-eating microbes, which helps support beneficial fungi and supress nematodes.

Edited by Joseph Clemens
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Joseph,

What is your source of powdered insects? I have occasionally fed fish flakes, but the only live food they get are springtails which are abundant in my indoor collection. Outdoor plants of course get more variety.

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I use an electric insect trap, during the Summer, when the most insects are available, with a plastic bucket under it. Whenever an insect gets lured and trapped, it goes into the bucket. I empty the bucket regularly, but I cover the trap and bucket in one inch chicken wire to keep birds and lizards from stealing the bucket of insects between collections. I spread the collected insects thin on dry paper, until they are dry, a day or two, then grind them to powder in an electric coffee grinder. Now they are "dried insect powder" and I store them in sealed plastic containers to use at my convenience.

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Yes, it seems to affect the quantity of chlorophyll first, but that happens in just the first two or three days, after the "green-up" the greener plants actually do exhibit a strong growth spurt.

I can see that I will need to repeat my feeding tests and take several more photos at more stages during the feeding process. It may take me awhile before I get there, but it is on my "to do" list.

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Jolly good. Just bought as many Pings inside from the greenhouse that I have space for to keep dryish and above freezing over our dark Winter. The others will have to take their chances in the greenhouse. I use natural light. I have a heater that I set to frost free but I usually lose a couple of the more fleshy plants during heavy frosts because I am too tight to turn the heating up anymore. These were just P. 'Tina' last year, but I had lots inside, too.

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