# My Mexican Butterwort



## Heather (Apr 6, 2008)

I've decided to change the lingo just a tad so you wolves don't get out of control. 

Bloomed! (sorry for the blur on the first one....my lighting stinks!)











Cool spur, huh?! No - don't you go there!!
Anyone know what it is - have a species or hybrid name? That'd be great!

Oh yeah - note nice dead fungus gnats on plant. NEAT-O!


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## Yoyo_Jo (Apr 6, 2008)

Hey - that's cool Heather!

I hope mine blooms eventually. But I'm happy just to have it around eatin' up those gnats. I'd get a few more soapworts, but I don't have a clue where to purchase them here - got mine at an orchid society meeting from one of the members.

Joanne


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## Elena (Apr 6, 2008)

Neat :clap:


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## toddybear (Apr 6, 2008)

Funky butterwort compared to our native one.


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## rdlsreno (Apr 6, 2008)

Nice flower and good growing too!

Ramon


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## Yoyo_Jo (Apr 6, 2008)

Yoyo_Jo said:


> ...I'd get a few more soapworts....



 Crap, why do I keep callin' 'em soapworts. I _know_ that's an entirely different thing! I'm too young for alzheimer's...I hope.


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## TutoPeru (Apr 6, 2008)

Here is a picture of my Pinguicula vulgaris


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## NYEric (Apr 7, 2008)

Love the first photo! 
What kills the gnats? 
Why do you call it a butterwort [be proud of your thing for pings!] 
Did Tutoperu post a photo of his?! oke:


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## rdlsreno (Apr 7, 2008)

TutoPeru said:


> Here is a picture of my Pinguicula vulgaris



Can't see it?oke:


Ramon


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## cwt (Apr 7, 2008)

.ping.ping.ping....


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## smartie2000 (Apr 7, 2008)

nice bilabiate bloom

Its leaves are mucilagenous which traps gnats, and can make the leaves look butter-like in texture.


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## NYEric (Apr 7, 2008)

Thanx, do they like to be watered?


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## Heather (Apr 7, 2008)

smartie2000 said:


> nice bilabiate bloom
> 
> Its leaves are mucilagenous which traps gnats, and can make the leaves look butter-like in texture.



Fren, is that the species do you think? 

Eric - yes, distilled from below - I keep it sitting in about an inch or two all the time.

It does a good job but I miss my droseras! :sob:


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## smartie2000 (Apr 7, 2008)

sorry I don't know ping. ID....

I'm just being a dork...my prof had lectured about butterworts and other canivorous plants in the order Lamiales.

When I google _Pinguicula vulgaris_ the leaf shape looks different from yours...though it is hard to tell since they curl up their leaves when they catch something. Yours seems to have more leaves than those _Pinguicula vulgaris_ on google


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## TutoPeru (Apr 7, 2008)

I guess my link did not work before, so here is the picture I offered.
It has 4 flowers and there is a fifth coming


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## rdlsreno (Apr 8, 2008)

TutoPeru said:


> I guess my link did not work before, so here is the picture I offered.
> It has 4 flowers and there is a fifth coming



Nice growing Agusto!!!!!


Ramon


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## Gilda (Apr 8, 2008)

Heather said:


> Eric - yes, distilled from below - I keep it sitting in about an inch or two all the time.



Shhhh ! don't tell mine this..they drink tap water , and don't sit in water ! If they are small, they even get watered on their noggins..if they cover the pot then I have to water under the leaves.....I even give them a shot of weak fertilizer on occasion....not enough gnats here !


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## Carol (Apr 8, 2008)

*Pings*

My 3 pings are all blooming now, must be the time of year. All are in sphagnum per a suggestion of Ed Merkle on the OSF. I water them with RO from the top(also cleans off the gnats), no fertilizer and seem to be growing better than the other mix(coconut chips and peat). That idea with the single leaf propogation appeals to me and will try it out today and let you know.


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## NYEric (Apr 8, 2008)

Thanks, I would like to get a couple of these and some micro-mini Sinningia pusillas. I don't have a lot of gnats but I do need plants that can take being over-watered
Augusto, is that Lpths. calodycton? If so how long have you kept it alive?


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## philoserenus (Apr 8, 2008)

hey guys, do butterwarts in general need a cooldown period for them to live for a long time? i work in a drosophila (fruit fly) genetics lab and we always have many escapees, so i'm tryin to find some natural solutions... my worries would be they getting ODed on too many flies rather than not enough, haha


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## Gilda (Apr 8, 2008)

philoserenus said:


> hey guys, do butterwarts in general need a cooldown period for them to live for a long time? i work in a drosophila (fruit fly) genetics lab and we always have many escapees, so i'm tryin to find some natural solutions... my worries would be they getting ODed on too many flies rather than not enough, haha



Mine doesn't geta cool down but I can't really say if I have my original plant from 2 years ago or not since I have divided mine numerous times !Mine grow like weeds !


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## TutoPeru (Apr 8, 2008)

Eric,
It is actually a Lpths. calodycton. I got it at the WOC. It actually went through a rough time. It lost 4 of its 5 leaves, but it has put a new leaf since then. It have kept it alive for the past 2 months.

I have it mounted, surrounded with moss and sitting on pebbles inside a clear container. I fill out the container up to an inch of tap water every 3-4 days. The container is almost in front of the fan so it has a little air.

It has been recuperating and hopefully it would bloom some of these days


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## Heather (Apr 8, 2008)

philoserenus said:


> hey guys, do butterwarts in general need a cooldown period for them to live for a long time? i work in a drosophila (fruit fly) genetics lab and we always have many escapees, so i'm tryin to find some natural solutions... my worries would be they getting ODed on too many flies rather than not enough, haha




I know some are supposed to go dormant but mine doesn't get much of a cooldown. 

I would get some Sundews (droseras) if I were you - they seem to be able to catch and handle more gnats, at least in my experience they've been a little better at it. 

Clearly though, YMMV, we all seem to be doing things differently.
I have always heard never fertilize carniverous plant and always sit them in distilled water so that's just what I've done.


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## NYEric (Apr 8, 2008)

TutoPeru said:


> Eric,
> It is actually a Lpths. calodycton. I got it at the WOC. It actually went through a rough time. It lost 4 of its 5 leaves, but it has put a new leaf since then. It have kept it alive for the past 2 months.
> 
> I have it mounted, surrounded with moss and sitting on pebbles inside a clear container. I fill out the container up to an inch of tap water every 3-4 days. The container is almost in front of the fan so it has a little air.
> ...



Good job I massacred mine!


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## Yoyo_Jo (Apr 8, 2008)

NYEric said:


> ...I don't have a lot of gnats ...



I was reading on a carniverous plant website that you can supplement their diet with dried insects that are sold to feed lizards and such...eeew.


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## MoreWater (Apr 9, 2008)

philoserenus said:


> hey guys, do butterwarts in general need a cooldown period for them to live for a long time?



The temperate ones probably do, but I don't think the Mexican types need a cool down. At least not all of them.... 

I grow mine "hard" - no standing water! In other words, they be fairly easy going....

New one at the office caught a couple of gnats this weekend  finally settling in and getting the dewy thing going


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## smartie2000 (Apr 15, 2008)

I went to the greenhouse at my university and they had a _Pinguicula caudata _with very similar leaves to yours. No blooms on it though ....doh! I had my camera but I took no photos


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