Q/A #127 - Pinguicula Took a Tumble

QUESTION:
Last year I bought a Pinguicula Alfred Lau #13, and it has been growing very well. I even had to transplant it into a bigger pot! Unfortunately, last night my roommate was moving my butterwort and accidentally dropped it about 2 ft “face first” onto the ground. We picked it up quickly and returned it into the pot with as much soil as we could salvage.

Several of the leaves either snapped or bruised and it was leaking juices from the wounds. I removed about 3-4 leaves that were severed and tried adjusting the plant back into shape with as little touching as possible. It’s still rather flat looking even this morning.

Is there anything else that I can do to help my plant recover? Also, while it was out of the pot, I noticed that it’s roots were rather shallow in the soil. Is that normal?

Attached is a picture of my ping from this morning versus what it looked like just a few weeks ago.
(Submitted in July 2020.)

PIC
Before the tumble.

After the tumble.

RESPONSE BY JEFF DALLAS:
Mexican butterworts have very shallow roots, so it's not unusual for them to pop out of the soil when you accidentally knock over a pot. That happens to us, too. Fortunately, they tend to recover from disturbance like this fairly well.

Overall, your plant looks healthy. The most you can do is to give your plant time to recover. You may need to wait until there is a new crop of leaves before it looks like it did before. 

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