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Post by gregantula on May 26, 2014 14:02:26 GMT -5
Hey guys, I'm new here! I've posted this on the ICPS forum also, but since I found an Ontario forum, clearly, I'll be visiting here more often!!! About 10-12 years ago I was an AVID CP enthusiast, but moving away to college sorta ruined all of that... I tried with orchids, or individual CPs, but things just never took off they way it was back when I was younger... My passion for CPs still lives, and this drove me to snag myself a little Ping I saw at Terra Greenhouses, out in Waterdown... In the ICPS forum, I was told it's probably Mexican and it is going to have to "shape up" a bit (i.e., more light, better conditions...) before a better ID could be made. Also, obviously, a flower would be GREAT, but I don't have that (I can say a bud on the one I saw beside it was VERY purple... Not pale at all...). So, here is a link to my pics (the ping is about 8 pictures down the page, you'll see...). www.flickr.com/photos/98031810@N07/I know it's kind of a pot shot, but I'm still interested in hearing guesses and such. The leaves are STARTING to be a bit pointier as they come out, now that I've had it a week... It still doesn't seem to be producing any mucilage... Could these be dormancy leaves I have? Anyhow. Enough talking. Can't wait to hear what you guys have to say!!! ^_^
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Post by hal on May 26, 2014 21:51:07 GMT -5
Weser? Sethos? Probably some form of moranensis or a hybrid of it. It doesn't look like any other Mexican species and if you got it at a non-specialist shop, unlabelled, it's probably something fairly common and hardy, like a moranensis hybrid. How big is the whole plant?
Give it some food and more light and it should show more characteristics and flower for you.
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Post by gregantula on May 27, 2014 15:07:50 GMT -5
The whole plant is 7 cm in diameter. I can't really feed it as it is not sticky right now (I guess it was before as it did have flies stuck to it). I had a midge land on my arm, so I ripped it's legs and wings off and let if flop around on one of the leaves, and it eventually died close to the crown of the plant, but still has been mired up...
It's currently in a west facing window. I'm in an apt, so at this point in time, the sun doesn't hit the window until about 4:30. I have it covered with an uncapped pop bottle, until the sun hits, so that I don't cook it. From what I hear, I can leave it uncovered, but I just want to give it a little bit of extra TLC while it recovers from the nursery it was sitting around in... I figure the sun without the pop bottle might be a little dryer than it's used to, but the medium is damp enough that there should be enough evaporation to case a slightly higher level of RH around the flat rosette, at least...
Another concern I aired in the other forum was that I read something about Mexican pings being alkaline loving. From recent experience with CPs, I automatically went with long fibre sphagnum moss, as it was always my go-to and NEVER failed me with any other CP i owned (I had LOOOOTS). When I got home with the plant, and read on Mexican pings liking alkaline, I was kind of annoyed as it's the complete opposite of what I remembered! I am hesitant to repot it so soon (though the first repotting I barely disturbed the rootball at all). A member on that forum assured me that with a lot of Mexican pings, they REALLY don't give a damn, so I have my fingers crossed with that...
In just a little more than a week I've had it, I've got about three or four leaves unfurled, which is astonishing to me; I take this as a good sign... If there are to be colours on my plant, I hope for them to start showing with the new foliage coming up, with the strong sun it gets in the afternoon.
Thanks for the response, Hal. ^_^
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Post by hal on May 27, 2014 15:44:35 GMT -5
The common and hardy Mexi-pings will grow in almost anything or nothing at all. I switched to a 90% mineral mix and light watering a few years ago. It's great for the smaller, rosetted species but I swear my big moranensis grew better in 50% peat and 50% perlite in trays of water. Your mileage may vary though, because there's all sorts of factors at play including light, watering schedule, humidity, feeding and temperatures.
You can fertilize them with a mist of 1/4 strength orchid fertilizer.
Mexican pings are very rewarding because most of them are fairly easy to grow and propagate and they flower like crazy. When they get too big, they split into several plants and you can go from leaf pulling to adult in under a year. You might want to take a few leaf pullings for back-up if the plant is putting out lots of new leaves.
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Post by gregantula on May 27, 2014 19:34:45 GMT -5
I pulled a few while repotting, but tossed 'em because I jus couldn't be bothered. With cats that like to be off the ground, my plant space is limited, ATM... This one is in one of their favourite sills, but I've been careful to not let them get too curious about it (passive behaviour modification, lol). Dollarama has packs of three pots with clear domes that I was tempted to pick up for leaf cuttings, but again, I have no use for them. If anything seems to look like it is going south, I will defiantly try to preserve the genes with a cutting. My next "project" is a multi-plant planter full of VFTs on my balcony. I've yet to settle on a dormancy plan, but I have a few options in mind... Slowly but surely. Hehehe... (I can't wait for this ping to shape up and even flower, so I can move on with the ID, or at LEAST start feeding it...)
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