FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Which of these three kinds, if any, can be grown in a southwest window? I've read caerulea is the easiest of the southeastern us butterworts to grow, but the little info online says it can be acclimated to full sun? And that planifolia likes wet conditions but is difficult to maintain long term? Lastly, what kind of containers would these need or work best? Thanks!

fishandplants wrote:Which of these three kinds, if any, can be grown in a southwest window?

I would say all 3

fishandplants wrote:I've read caerulea is the easiest of the southeastern us butterworts to grow, but the little info online says it can be acclimated to full sun?

I grow mines in all direct sun, gets about 4 hours of direct sun, and they seem to do fine.( i have lutea, planifolia)

fishandplants wrote:And that planifolia likes wet conditions but is difficult to maintain long term?

Several sources show planifolia pics in the wild almost covered in water and really wet, i guess they like wet conditions just based on the pictures.

fishandplants wrote:Lastly, what kind of containers would these need or work best?

Well i have mine in a 6-inch pot, and they look ok, they're growing pretty nicely and big every time, so i guess something bigger than 4-inch will do it!
Just a note since planifolia and lutea like wet conditions, or at least humidity, i do a mix of peat, and very little silica. Also i put a layer of Lonf Fiber Spaghnum Moss(found at lowes) on top to keep humidity even higher, and they love it!
let me know if you need any pictures!


Good luck, and i'll be glad to help if you have any more questions!

Thanks, and yes, pics are welcome! I'd love to see healthy cps.

Whats the minimum for humidity, you would say? The window in question can get a little dry sometimes

fishandplants wrote:Thanks, and yes, pics are welcome! I'd love to see healthy cps.

Ok, will try to get pics today!

fishandplants wrote:Whats the minimum for humidity, you would say? The window in question can get a little dry sometimes

I don't know the minimun for humidity, but i think at least temperate pinguiculas need a lot of humidity compare to mexican pinguiculas. I keep them really moist, and the LFSM helps to keep humidity up more, so i would say don't let the media be that dry.
I had a primuliflora(my first temperate ping) and i accidently killed it by the lack of information i found about temperate pinguiculas, i put it with the mexican pinguiculas(moctezumaes) which are in a mix of silica sand and peat moss, more silica than peat, and the pinguicula didn't do to well and it died, so i would say if you can keep them with high humidty, then you are in the right track!

Good luck!

Some pics:

P. Planifolia:





P. Lutea:





and a pic of them from top, you can see the LFSM and some grains of silica sand, you can't see the peat moss of course, but is below the LFSM:

did u get those pings from Lees?

Dubstep13 wrote:did u get those pings from Lees?

No, I got them from another member in here.

Lees does have them though. And those are some very nice pictures. Thanks for showing. I wonder how planifolia woul do carefully watered in an undrained container . . . Hmm.

Warm Temperate pinguicula seem to need higher humidity than other varieties in order to survive whereas Cold Temperate pings seem to do very poorly with it, which is understandable considering their natural habitat. Oh, and some species of Warm Temperate pings enjoy an occasional flooding!

I'd say jht has you covered -- those are some gorgeous pings, by the way! Good luck, fishandplants!

I've never grown butterworts before but always fall in love when I see them. So what kind should I start with? I would like to not to have to constantly fight with humidity. 50% seems pretty low though.

I'd say go for a mexican species as they are much less fussy with humidity. Common species such as P. Weser and P. x Tina are fantastic starter plants (P. x Tina is much larger than other species as well). As long as they are in well-drained soil and are watered maybe once a week (with as much sun as you can give them) they are very content.

Other easy-to-grow mexican species include: P. Moranensis, P. Cyclosecta and P. Esseriana. Check out my site for indepth growing info and dormancy tips: http://www.greyspinguiculagarden.com