FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello, I am new to pinguicula and have become interested in them. I am looking for a low-cost, easy to take care of, hardy plant. I would like one that does not have to go through the dormant/succulent phase but it is not necessary. I also want one that can grow in an easy soil mix(any combination of peat moss, lfsm, perlite, silica sand) Thank you!

I'm not very fond of crosses so I will stick to non-crosses. My favorite unkillable Mexican Pings that don't need a succulent phase are agnata and gigantea, you could also try P. primuliflora, although I find it to be a bit more picky, if you would prefer to try a warm temperate species or you think it would be more likely to do well in your conditions. There are others that would also work for you but, under my conditions, these three are gold esp. agnata.

I second Huntsmanshorn recommendation for agnata and primuliflora. Unfortunately I have great skill in killing gigantea, so cannot advocate for that one. But many of the mexican pings are very easy.

twitcher wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 4:15 am I second Huntsmanshorn recommendation for agnata and primuliflora. Unfortunately I have great skill in killing gigantea, so cannot advocate for that one. But many of the mexican pings are very easy.

Yup, I killed my share of gigantea too, until I figured out they like/need a bit more light than some of my other pings, now they are a seemingly an unstoppable tide.

try the temperate like grandiflora,vulgaris , etc they are quite robust, they can all stay outside all year round, with a very simple substrate like blond peat, that is enough for them, on the other hand they like to have a substrate always moist and even soaked

you can try also emarginata in a terra this plant is fairly flowering all year round

if not, you can also try the garden center hybrids, x'Sethos'; x'Tina 'quite easy, but on the other hand they are freezing as for their parents

I second Jeff, my Emarginata flowers profusely year-round. Also, it's one of the few mexi-pings that doesn't need a dry period!

Lots of people say gigantea is really easy, so I got it as my fist ping. It's leaves a very prone to rot and it gets moldy all the time. Also, it's really picky about how wet its soil is. I just keep my giganteas in trays with my cephs and they do great. Also, the combination of the dark purple cephs and bright green giganteas looks cool together .

Try an 'Aphrodite'. Very easy.

I like to think I can kill almost anything if I put my mind to it, but ‘Tina’ and ‘Gina’ are both pretty easy. Strangely, I’ve lost my share of agnatas, so I guess it depends on your local conditions as well. With Mexican pings, some temperature drop at night really helps in bringing out their color. ‘Sethos’ and ‘Weser’ are also pretty easy, and fairly free-flowering as well. Another that has been quite trouble free and generally has no succulent phase, is emarginata.


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Nepenthes0260 wrote: Lots of people say gigantea is really easy, so I got it as my fist ping. It's leaves a very prone to rot and it gets moldy all the time. Also, it's really picky about how wet its soil is. I just keep my giganteas in trays with my cephs and they do great. Also, the combination of the dark purple cephs and bright green giganteas looks cool together .

I agree. I love gigantea but I lost 2 of them to Brown heart disease. As far as I know there's no way to stop it once it starts.

what substrate for your gigantea ?
do you have a dry period for her ?

jeff wrote:what substrate for your gigantea ?
do you have a dry period for her ?

If that question was meant for me I used a standard 50/50 peat moss and perlite mix. Kept it drier during winter. That seems to work great for my aphrodite.

tommyr wrote:

jeff wrote:what substrate for your gigantea ?
do you have a dry period for her ?

If that question was meant for me I used a standard 50/50 peat moss and perlite mix. Kept it drier during winter. That seems to work great for my aphrodite.

You might consider using a more open mix
with less peat in it. The peat perlite mix is ideal for bog plants but mexican pings are not bog plants. I use a mix based on turface with the addition of some coarse quartz sand and some aragonite for a little alkalinity. I only use about 20% peat, and sometimes replace this with a cactus mix that has some horticultural lime added.

In some limited experimentation I haven’t seen a huge difference from adding the aragonite but some people have noted a great jump in growth in their giganteas. The thing that made a huge difference for me was adding a little mushroom compost to my mix.

Brown heart is not something I’ve had a lot of trouble with but it has popped up randomly in a couple plants, with no common medium or culture factors that I could identify. I do get the plant affected out of the tray and get rid of the mix that it was growing in.


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Bob Beer wrote:

tommyr wrote:

jeff wrote:what substrate for your gigantea ?
do you have a dry period for her ?

If that question was meant for me I used a standard 50/50 peat moss and perlite mix. Kept it drier during winter. That seems to work great for my aphrodite.

You might consider using a more open mix
with less peat in it. The peat perlite mix is ideal for bog plants but mexican pings are not bog plants. I use a mix based on turface with the addition of some coarse quartz sand and some aragonite for a little alkalinity. I only use about 20% peat, and sometimes replace this with a cactus mix that has some horticultural lime added.

In some limited experimentation I haven’t seen a huge difference from adding the aragonite but some people have noted a great jump in growth in their giganteas. The thing that made a huge difference for me was adding a little mushroom compost to my mix.

Brown heart is not something I’ve had a lot of trouble with but it has popped up randomly in a couple plants, with no common medium or culture factors that I could identify. I do get the plant affected out of the tray and get rid of the mix that it was growing in.

Thanks for the tips and info.

Are there any pinguicula that could survive outside in zone 6b? Those gnats deserve to die.

sanguinearocks101 wrote:Are there any pinguicula that could survive outside in zone 6b? Those gnats deserve to die.

I can't think of any offhand, they'd need protection like flytraps and sarracenia.