Pinguicula - Mexican Butterworts

A few things about Pinguicula are irresistibly awesome.

First, they are carnivorous! They secrete digestive enzymes from glands on the sticky leaf surface, which trap their prey. Nutrients from the (most likely) gnat are absorbed through the leaves. When you have a Pinguicula in a plant cabinet, life becomes very dangerous for fungus gnats. It’s the one place where they’ll land and die. I’ve only seen fruit flies and fungus gnats taken out since they can fly around and need places to land. No effect on spider mites or thrips since they have no reason to go there. 

Second, they flower! It’s cute, look at the pictures. They flower a lot and I always seem to have at least one of my collection in flower. I haven’t noticed any change of care requirements because they are flowering.

Third, sometimes some of them are not carnivorous! This is the coolest fact! or at least a super necessary fact to share. Some of them go into a dormant succulent rosette phase where they can basically be treated as succulents. This fact I think makes them a little harder to kill. I’m not learned (2 syllables) of which ones do it and I’m never expecting it even though it’s probably just seasonal. Home conditions may throw off their timing.

There’s so much more to know! And I don’t know it. 

Unless you grow them under continuous tropical conditions, these pings will go under dormancy in the winter time. Their leaves are carnivorous only when it’s warm.  You just change the watering frequency slightly when the leaves starts to grow really close together.  It’s good to keep it in a shallow dish that you can fill with water to at least a quarter inch or half inch deep for the carnivorous phase. I like to refill the water to a quarter or half inch or so whenever the dish is pretty much out of water. During the winter succulent phase, I wait until the top of the substrate looks dry and then pour in just enough water to soak up in a few minutes. They say to treat them kind of like succulents for that time, just make sure they remember what water is.