Ping Mystery

[Katarina]

Hi everybody! 

 

Haven't posted here in a while, so here's a little something to brainstorm about. 

 

Several years ago, I bought a pretty plant with a P. sp Pachuca tag. Man who sold me the plant didn't say where he got it from, but I have an impression it is quite rare, at least under that name. The plant has a distinct seasonal cycle, it has a tight winter rosette and relatively large summer leaves, with curved rims and visible central nervature. Leaves get pale green in more intense light. It also flowers prolifically during the fall and has quite small lilac flowers. Here are some photos:

 

  

  

 

To my amazement (and joy!) in december 2012 one of the flowers formed a seed pod. All of my plants were outside in the open during the warmer months, so the pollination was all natural. I've had it for 4-5 years and countless flowers before that. I sewed the 10+ seed and shortly after, 7 plants were born. And so was my greater interest in Pings. :)

Long story short(er), here are the resulting plants. They are kept under lights, fed regularly with mosquito larvae and they started flowering in January 2014. All seven are in the same pot, it's a bit crowded but they seem to like it. All plants are identical. Some look different then others because of different lighting and lately, plants closest to light got more intensive redness on their leaves. P. sp Pachuca never showed any color other than shades of green.

 

 

  

  

 

As you can see, they are all quite different from the mother plant, they are also larger with more succulent leaves. Flowers are also larger than that od P. sp Pachuca, petals are more rounded, they are more pink in color and have less pronounced purplish markings around the white ones.

 

So, here is the question:  Who is this plants' "father"? The only two other species I had at that time were P. 'Tina' and P. 'Sethos'. It seems to me that Sethos is the winner here and maybe a logical choice, which I will depict bellow. One other possibility is that Pachuca was self polinated. Is that even naturally possible?

Anyway, here are some photos of the neighboring Sethos (right) and it's possible 'child', lol.

 

  

 

So, what do you think?    

Edited March 15, 2014 by Katarina

[Mantas]

The mother looks like Pinguicula orchidioides a bit for me :)

[Dave Evans]

Its a form of moranensis from Pachuca.  And the leaves can show a light purple margin under some conditions.

 

And yeah, it looks like 'Sethos' is the father.

[Dave Evans]

Uhh... I just took a look at the closeups. The P. moranensis from Pachuca is showing its typical purple margins, but they only make it to the petioles and a bit of the lamia. Try giving them some weak orchid fertilizer, they may color up a lot more.

[Fernando Rivadavia]

Although a little on the large side, that does look like the P.moranensis form from Pachuca. And yes, the father does seem to be P.X sethos - congrats! :)

Edited March 22, 2014 by Fernando Rivadavia

[Katarina]

Thank you all!

Dave you are right, the leaves do show light purple 'rims' around the leaves, but they are pale and often not visible in my plants. How do you use orchid fertiliser on Pings; what concentration, how often and should it just be sprayed on the leaves?

 

Thanx Fernando! Mother plant is usualy around 5 inches in diameter, and the lagest it has grown for me is 3 inches. I'v had it growing in numerous different conditions over 6 or 7 years and they never showed any significant difference in shape, color or cycle.

I'm quite fond of this hybrid, it is mine and natures' small succes, kind of. :) My plan was to self polinate it but there is very little polen if any, and all of my attempts proved futile. Fortunately, they bloom prolificaly and I've had flower buds popping since January. With a little luck, there will be some seed from it.

Thanx again everybody!

Edited April 15, 2014 by Katarina

[Dave Evans]

You just use the fertilizer at a weak dilution, however the instructions say to use it.  Just cut what numbers they give you for the strength in half.