I got my first ever Butterwort back in April of this year and so far I think I've been doing alright, but I have a few concerns. It's put out 3-4 new leaves since I got it but it has also recently lost about 4 of the lower ones and it looks like it might lose another soon. The leaves also look slightly paler than they do in older photos, though it might just be the lighting. Despite this, it looks like it has new root growth near the base and it also flowered for me this week. Talk about mixed signals.
Of course I've tried to do some basic research on my worries, but I always feel better getting second opinions from real people on my specific concerns. I think I might have overwatered slightly last week and I'm terrified there's nothing I can do to fix it now. Any advice to improve my care would be greatly appreciated. If I'm just over-reacting and it's fine or will recover on its own, I'd be more than happy to be told that, too.
Here's my current care, in case it helps:
Soil is 1 part peat moss, 2 parts perlite, 1 part sand, and a sprinkling of pelletized garden limestone
I have it almost directly under a full spectrum plant light, maybe 8-10 inches away. Not sure about the full specs on the light but I can find out if it's important.
I water about once a week with store bought distilled water. The pot sits on top of about 1 inch of rinsed gravel and I try to keep enough water in the bottom of the bowl to just reach the top of the gravel so the soil never goes fully dry.
I don't give it any fertilizer or extra bugs, I let it eat whatever it catches, which is admittedly not a whole lot.
(Also, if someone knows what specific variety of pinguicula I have, I'd love to know that, too!)
by AutumnRose08
2 Comments
Hey, so my biggest tips are these:
-Keep in tray of distilled water
-Give it lots of light, sunlight is best, but bright artificial light is good. (just don’t cook it!)
-If it hasn’t gotten any flies in a while, but a bit of fish flakes on it… like the tropical fish flakes you can get for about 4$
-Aaaaaaand, I heard that the lowest leaves get kinda old and just die. I have many pinguiculas, and my gigantea’s leaves just die once they are at the bottom for a little while.
-It seems like you are doing fine, if it’s flowering constantly, that is very good. good luck!
I keep my Mexican pings in shallow water and keep the soil moist at all times. I spray the leaves with k-lite fertilizer which is 12-1-1-10ca-3mg. Basically a nitrogen fertilizer with calmag. They go nuts over it. You can alternatively sprinkle crushed fish flakes. My light levels are about 500 par which you’d need to make yours pink.