Oops, I meant to type August 2, 2009, not 2007. Still a long time for a baby though.

Elsie

Congratulations Elsie, isn't that exciting when it happens?

Well, I've had it take a year for a leaf to root & show new growth, but never really measured the time it takes for a baby to break through the soil. That does seem to be a long time!! Kudos to you for your patience.

I recently had 3 of them (new pups sprout) during winter, having learned I can water them more frequently than I had been in winter (I do use a fast draining mix).

Enjoy the new pup, maybe share a pic if/when possible.

Hi pirate girl,

I had heard it would take a long time, and the cuttings have had roots for a long time. Did not expect this amount of time, though!

Do you know if it makes any difference if the leaf is cut into segments and each rooted? (Making sure of which end is up, of course.)

Thanks, Elsie

Hi

the difference would be bottom heat. Cutting them up makes it slower but yields more plants. Sans do love their bottoms heated.

Thanks for the tip about bottom heat,tf.-drone. I will try it.

Elsie

ps These guys are reaaaaallly sharp on the tips. When I was repotting and dividing yesterday, I kept getting poked. Later I noticed my hand was bleeding.

Aw, that's a shame. I too have have been stabbed by the points of S. pinguicula (super sharp).

I have learned that for transport, it's helpful to put styrofoam peanuts on the leaf tips, protects the grower from stabbing & protects the leaf tip from being broken off accidentally. Not a nice look for most of the time, but maybe if you're gardening in their area, you might try covering the tips temporarily.

I used to have a pinguicula, pirate girl, you are not kidding about it's sharpness, it is really vicious! I also have a ballyii, I referred to it as the very sharp plant and the pinguicula as the extremely sharp one.

Thanks for the tip about using packing peanuts; I have lots of them around. I've also heard of nipping the points off with nail clippers, but you would have to be careful about where the points fly off to.

Elsie

Sharp tips are just part of the plant's make up. they have it for a reason. To ensure that the plants grow from leaf cuttings, there are things one can do to encourage growing faster. Sunlight is an important must for any shoots to develop. A slow developing shoot can be the plant going through its natural life cycle and purposely producing a new shoot in a long session because it may be experiencing a leaf covering or mulch covering (with low light levels) this triggers the plant to grow slower and make shoots less frequently. Oftentimes when you stress out a plant, they make shoots faster and doing so in as bright a location as possible increases this opportunity to make fresh shoots.
Also try fertilizing the leaves (rooted of course) as this also indicates that the plant is in an active state of growing and not dormant.