FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi again,
My pinguicula moranensis was looking a bit pale and withered (Last post I made asking about how to water it.) But now that I increased watering, it bounced back to its usual green color and "juicy" leaves.
I noticed something a few days ago which was not there when I bought it in early april. It seems like it has developed a new dividing growth, growing out the side in the past few days.
The seller told me that ping moranensis divides pretty rapidly and he went from 1 ping to 100s in a few years.

I'm just wondering if I should leave the side growth alone, or divide it? if I leave if what could i expect to see? I imagine they would look very crowded and grow on top of each other. If they should be split, then how to I go about splitting them? Do i have to wait until the smaller side shoot grows more? I noticed that the ping doesn't grow from a bulb, just has shallow roots, so I'm assuming splitting these two is relatively easy without danger of harming them?

I would divide it. Pings do not have very complicated root systems, so they can be divided fairly easily during the active growing season. April/May is the best time to divide, so I say go for it. If it was later in the summer, or during the winter, I would have advised you to wait until now.

My P. weser naturally divided around last October, and I separated the divisions about 1 month ago. They are doing great now. Just make sure you give them plenty of water for a couple days after you separate them. Gently peel the new growth back from the rhizome until it comes off, then re-plant.

Thanks
I will separate them soon. I wasn't sure about the roots or bulb because I never got a good look at the rhizome. I repotted this ping with keeping the soil around the roots intact, because the roots were very shallow and I wouldn't have been able to get the peat back underneath it.

The leaves are very stiff and I can't really fold them up to put the rhizome back into the soil. I kind of just filled up the container with peat, and put the ping on top of the peat. Then I pushed more peat underneath the bottom leaves of the ping with a chopstick. It was incredibly frustrating for me to repot this ping because leaves kept being broken off with the slightest touch and it was impossible to work the peat into the roots.

I don't know if I'm making repotting more difficult, but the rhizome wasn't really that apparent to me. I'm not new to plants either, i've been repotting cycads, succulents, cacti, bonsai, orchids, etc. for years now. This Ping was seriously the most difficult repot ever, delicate leaves that could not be moved and fragile roots. Repotting this little ping gave me a headache.

SundewWolf wrote:I don't know if I'm making repotting more difficult, but the rhizome wasn't really that apparent to me. I'm not new to plants either, i've been repotting cycads, succulents, cacti, bonsai, orchids, etc. for years now. This Ping was seriously the most difficult repot ever, delicate leaves that could not be moved and fragile roots. Repotting this little ping gave me a headache.

I accidentally planted my first ping upside down because I couldn't tell the difference (the ping was also a bit stressed from being mailed bare root, in my defense).

Grab, take each division in each hand, stuff a finger between 'em and snap it off. That's what I do... it sounds easier than it is Honestly though once you've done it a single time it gets easier from there.

If you find some of the leaves peel off you can stuff them on the surface of the soil and see if you get any signs of life. Mexican Pings are notoriously easy to propagate, even broken leaves might do it (not so sure about that as the magic usually happens at the rhizome end of the leaf, but hey, these things are pretty incredible with their hardiness, too).

The best way to find the bottom of the plant is to follow the leaves, where they end the heart begins. It's a tiny thing and difficult to find when you're repotting/potting/uprooting/tearing to bits/generally everything rhizome related, but you'll get it.

You might want to let the division grow a little more before snapping it off though I expect it'll be absolutely fine at this size, too. Don't worry if you get any dirt on the leaves, the plant will survive.