The Pitcher Plant Project

Pinguicula minded planter.

In the process of moving my residences, it was inevitable for things to get jostled around in a not-so-gentle manner. My boys’ doggy-piggy-bank was one of the casualties of the move and somehow ended up a crack-head… no wait, make that a shattered-head. We extracted his valuable insides and did a money transfusion to another piggy bank. This left an empty broken doggy-bank shell which I thought would make a brilliant planter. I took it to The Asylum, filled it with peat moss/perlite mix and planted some Pinguicula in there.

Yeah. Peat moss and perlite. THAT’S IT! I’ve been using that on my Pinguicula for a while and they do fine. I know others that use like, a bijillion ingredient layered mix for their Pinguicula. It almost reads like the side of some cereal box. You know, whole wheat, raisins, calcium carbonate, sodium benzoate, red #5, crushed egg shells, and caramel color. Ok, ok! Just kidding with the wheat, raisins, sodium, and red dye! But others do find adding crushed eggshells, crushed coral, some calcium carbonate stuff, and other miscellaneous things add to the richness of the Pinguicula mix cornucopia.

Dude. I’m fine with the simple stuff. But hey, if that multi-faceted complex mix works for you – by all means PLEASE use it. Do what works for you and your plants. I seem to find that paying attention to the lighting and observing the water is more important when dealing with Mexican Pinguicula. I keep them in indirect but yet bright light. I also don’t let them sit in water too much but just keep them damp. When they hit their dormant state, I cut back on the water. They grow fine under florescent tube, and grow excellent when pretending to be puppy-piggy-bank brains.

For more Pinguicula inspiration, check this out over at Radmegan’s blog! It will leave you… hangin’!

Just a little Pingucula nerderiffic note: I believe that the label on this plant was P. ‘Weser’ however, I doubt it’s the real P. ‘Weser’. I’ll have to wait until it blooms again to confirm the ID. For example, check jimfoxy.co.uk out for clarification of P. ‘Sethos’ and P. ‘Weser’. I believe the plants in the photo were propagated from a single plant I had. I got that plant a local nursery, which probably got it from a place that tissue cultures these things with some disgruntled employee wanting to mess with everyone. It may be P. ‘Sethos’ which is also the same parentage as P. ‘Weser’ – which is P. moranensis x P. ehlersae. Will have to wait until it flowers again and see!