P. gypsicola 'Buena Vista'

[Muckydoo]

Got this one a few months ago.

Anchored it self in after arrival with some new roots, and proceed to start the long nap.

 

[Muckydoo]

I have a soil mix that I keep slightly damp as it "seasons" so I can use it in my isopod bins. Unfortunately some gnats have made a home in there. They are kinda dumb, and the bin is tall enough that they hit the side and land before they can escape. The bonus is I just squish them on the side of the container and then take the squished body and put it on my gypsicola.

 

[jeff]

it is a gypsicola (hence its name), it likes to be dry from November to April like many spindly pings elsewhere

I use a substrate for her and the other gypsums: river sand / pure gypsum 70/30% ; it gives that:

 

[Muckydoo]

As this one goes to sleep, the other one is still slowly waking up.

 

[Muckydoo]

Well it was briefly awake, put out some really nice colors and then decided it's ready for another long nap.

 

[Muckydoo]

This little gypsicola is waking up so I loaded it up with a bunch of fungus gnats! Going to give this one as much as it can eat to see if it'll stay awake for longer than 3 weeks lol.

 

[Muckydoo]

I kept this pot of P. gypsicola B.V. Red Leaf in the same tray as all my other pings all winter. I didn't adjust watering levels other than what I would normally do for winter which is simply once the tray is dry I water it again. It was moist enough for the moss to continue to grow. I found it interesting because I've previously kept my gypsicola seperate and been careful about water.

 

[Muckydoo]

Someone woke the babies up.

 

[Muckydoo]

They are like plant volcano's getting ready to erupt.

 

[Muckydoo]

Winter rosette P. gypsicola 'Buena Vista'
When they get this size I leave them in with my other pings, no special water needs. They are in winter rosette, but damp underneath, enough to keep the moss alive.
I dont like the moss, so I repotted this one, and you can see how damp it is.

And here is one that is still going full summer leaves!

 

[Muckydoo]

P. gypsicola are not as scary as they may seem. All the things I've seen about not watering them all winter or they will rot seem to be a soil medium issue instead of strictly water. With a good top dressing of a mineral mix, they seem to do just fine with or without water.

These 2 pots are mixed in with my other pings, and get water all winter long.

And these 2 I keep seperate, and give a small bottom watering once every 3-4 week.

And then there is this tissue culture container that have been in there for months and as you can see no ill effects of sitting in wet tissue culture medium.

 

[Lloyd Gordon]

It's the various fungi that over watering encourages that are the culprits.

 

[Muckydoo]

P. gypsicola 'Buena Vista' covered in moss, soaking wet all winter.
No problems.

I'm going to repot it and it'll probably die now