Solid Ping medium with plaster of Paris

[MFS]

I was thinking of making some solid medium for the calcium-loving temperate and Mexican pings by using some plaster of Paris to set the mix, like a cement.

I wasn't too lucky finding any references for this on the web, and I wonder if anyone has tried it before with any luck.

Miguel.

[Joseph Clemens]

I've sometimes seen solid blocks of porous gypsum used as substrate for Pinguicula gypsicola.

There might be some links to this on <pinguicula.org>.

[epbb]

I've sometimes seen solid blocks of porous gypsum used as substrate for Pinguicula gypsicola.

There might be some links to this on <pinguicula.org>.

I've sometimes seen solid blocks of porous gypsum used as substrate for Pinguicula gypsicola.

There might be some links to this on <pinguicula.org>.

I tried this before finding natural gypsum.

You can't use this with only plaster (and water) because you will have a dry block non really porous where roots will not be able to go in.

I used to do this :

A mix of sand (non salted sand from sea) 30%, I found the sand used at least in France for the filtration tank for people pool very good (0.5-1mm), plaster (60%), a very few white or yellow marble rocks 0.55-1cm (10%) and water.

You do your plaster and then, when dry, crush it in many parts as if you want to have small rocks from 0.1 to 2cm.

Then you can plant your plants in and its roots will found easely its road inside pot.

Hope this help.

[MFS]

Thanks Eric, Joseph!

What I was thinking of doing was, in fact, making an artificial very porous rock using plaster. I have been thinking of experimenting with different proportions of chopped sphagnum, perlite, vermiculite, peat and plaster to see what comes out. The aim is to make a slurry I can pour into punnets, to dry to an even more porous kind of artificial pumice, light and fluffy but solid and easy to carve.

I was planning to use this to plant pings onto, by drilling small holes.

I'm not sure I'm making myself too clear, sorry.

Edited November 10, 2010 by MFS

[japetus]

Thanks Eric, Joseph!

What I was thinking of doing was, in fact, making an artificial very porous rock using plaster. I have been thinking of experimenting with different proportions of chopped sphagnum, perlite, vermiculite, peat and plaster to see what comes out. The aim is to make a slurry I can pour into punnets, to dry to an even more porous kind of artificial pumice, light and fluffy but solid and easy to carve.

I was planning to use this to plant pings onto, by drilling small holes.

I'm not sure I'm making myself too clear, sorry.

What you describe, this mix of cement with sphagnum and peat, is called "hypertufa" and is used in making artificial ornamental rocks for garden features...

It might well suit the needs of pings...

[Rob-Rah]

What would be the effect of stirring a load of bicarbonate of soda into the plaster mix? Or whipping it?

[Zlatokrt]

Thanks Eric, Joseph!

What I was thinking of doing was, in fact, making an artificial very porous rock using plaster. I have been thinking of experimenting with different proportions of chopped sphagnum, perlite, vermiculite, peat and plaster to see what comes out. The aim is to make a slurry I can pour into punnets, to dry to an even more porous kind of artificial pumice, light and fluffy but solid and easy to carve.

I was planning to use this to plant pings onto, by drilling small holes.

I'm not sure I'm making myself too clear, sorry.

Hello Miguel,

what you describe (what i imagine from your description) works great for my mexican pings... I use it for about 5 years for P. gypsicola, moranensis and rotundifolia, this year I added a lot of new species. I use only very approximate proportions of sphagnum, peat and silica sand, just to make it porous enough, the plants are not very picky. The "stone" is standing in water during vegetation and i let it dry during the dry period. I think, that the mass of it helps to keep ideal moisture.

You can see a picture of my "stone" here:

And a detail on P. gypsicola cluster:

Edited November 10, 2010 by Zlatokrt

[Joseph Clemens]

Zlatokrt,

That looks like a superb way to immitate a natural substrate.

Can you provide details of your recipe, please. I think I should like to try some plants on a substrate like that. I think I would like to try some with Eric's recipe and some with your recipe. Also, could you please tell us how you provide nutrients to the plants and how they are illuminated - do you use artificial or natural lighting?

By the way, I believe your "rotundifolia" is actually P. rotundiflora. From time to time, I do the same thing, I'm so used to writing Drosera rotundifolia, I sometimes write P. rotundifolia when I actually mean P. rotundiflora.

[MFS]

Zlatokrt,

That's EXACTLY what I was after!

Do you use approximately equal quantities of the solid ingredients, and how much plaster?

Thanks!!!

Miguel.

[epbb]

Zlatokrt,

That's EXACTLY what I was after!

Do you use approximately equal quantities of the solid ingredients, and how much plaster?

Thanks!!!

Miguel.

Very good recipe ! This is exactly what I was looking after and trying to reach with my mix of plaster, rocks and sand to get porous media

[Zlatokrt]

Joseph: yes, it works very nice. And you are right, it is rotundiflora, thank you

For everybody:

My recipe is simple - i mix approximately 1 part of plaster and 1-2 parts of other ingredients (chopped dry sphagnum, peat, silica sand; in the past i also added perlite, but i believe that peat and chopped sphagnum are completely enough). First i mix some plaster, then i add the ingredients. I look at the mix and when it does not look porous enough, i add something. The resulting mix is not liquid, but it is a moist paste, which can be formed. I usually use some old clay pot (this one has crushed one side) as a "skelet", but you can also make some shape only from the mix itself.

When it hardens, it can be chopped and you can make holes into it. I make holes and fill them with substrate - usually crushed remains of the mix with some added peat and sand to make it less hard for rooting of the pings. It is interesting, but the pings never make long roots, they are usually not rooted deep into the solid material of the stone. It is more probable, that the stone provides ideal moisture level for them and keeps chemical stability of their substrate more than anything.

I do not provide any extra nutrients for the plants - they are growing just like that from the mix and some cought insect. The stone is standing on a south-east windowsill with no additional lighting. There is about 20 - 25 °C during summer and 15 -20 °C during winter.

Did i answered every question?

Adam

Edited November 11, 2010 by Zlatokrt

[Wim]

I planted my gypsicola in a Tuff stone.

[Joseph Clemens]

What would be the effect of stirring a load of bicarbonate of soda into the plaster mix? Or whipping it?

I would be suspicious of using a compound, like Sodium bicarbonate, with any plants, especially CP, since most ordinary plants are highly sensitive to Sodium, and CP are hyper-sensitive to Sodium. Though, if there were sacrificial plants available one could experiment to see for oneself.

[Joseph Clemens]

Wim,

Thank you for sharing another nice example of superbly grown plants, plants grown using a synthetic natural substrate. It certainly looks like a nice way to have plants appear similar to how they do in nature.

[MFS]

Well, I have started experimenting.

I made an artificial rock by adding peat, perlite and chopped sphagnum to some plaster of Paris slurry. I had to add water to keep it soft enough to mold. As the plaster set I ended up with a nice, porous 'rock', which is actually quite soft, like decaying tufa or really soft decaying limestone.

I've planted one with P. moranensis var. neovolcanica, a P. moranensis x ehlersiae, and an unknown plant. Another with a few gemmae of P. grandiflora I had spare.

This is what it looks like:

I'll post on how they do.

[johns]

Here's my very small-scale attempt. I mixed hobby gypsum with water per the instructions on the label, and then mixed in about the same amount (or slightly more) of soil mix (1:1:1:1 coco peat/coir, sand, perlite, vermiculite).

I shaped the block to fit the ceramic pot and made a 2cm hole that I filled with material scraped off the block. The plant is a P. moctezumae seedling which has been suffering from browning of the leaf tips for some strange reason (two other P. moctezumae seedlings in the same terrarium are doing just fine).