Tillandsia is an unusual and exotic plant. He is loved and appreciated for his decorativeness, and the species of tillandsia are completely different among themselves. Unusual in their shape, color, flowering and growth method, these amazing flowers conquered many gardeners and decorators. The most interesting thing is that these exotic epiphytes are the closest relatives of pineapple.
The origin and appearance of the plant
The native home of this exotic plant is the tropics and subtropics of South and Central America. Tillandsia belongs to the Bromeliad family and has more than 500 species. The most common are divided into atmospheric and potted:
- Atmospheric species do not have a developed root system, and root processes are used only to attach to a tree trunk, stone or driftwood. They feed from the air, getting the necessary moisture and nutrients. The leaves are similar to succulents - fleshy with a supply of moisture inside. They grow in the form of rosettes or randomly twisted long shoots, taking simple forms. A feature of atmospheric tillandsia is that the plant blooms once in a lifetime.
In the wild, a flower loves to sit on trees.
- Potted plants are more like ordinary houseplants. They grow in loose airy soil, preferring the upper deciduous layer in the wild. The root is poorly developed, the plant receives the bulk of the nutrition from the air. Leaves are green, glossy, juicy.
Flowering Atmospheric and Potted Tillandsia
Plant Flower Descriptions
Tillandsia flowers look like fantastic drawings by the artist. Such unusual tropical bright colors are collected in no less strange inflorescences. Atmospheric bloom with colorful fountains. Their flowers consist of petals that look almost like leaves, but have bright colors and color transitions on one petal. Stamens are long, stand out in a different color.
Potted tillandsia has a developed bract, which has the form of a single-row or multi-row spike. From his dense sinuses, flowers alternately appear. Ears of bright light shades, the flowers are as bright, but darker.
Flowering unusual exotics
Species and varieties
The most popular among Russian flower growers:
- Tillandsia Anita. This species is hybrid; it is loved and bred because of its colorful flowering. Home care for Anita Tillandsia comes down to providing the warmth that all bromeliads love and high humidity. Nutritious and light soil should be constantly moist, air humidity not lower than 60% for comfortable growth. Lighting is not bright, diffused light. You can fertilize by spraying, as the nutrition of these plants is through the leaves, not the roots.
- Tillandsia is unispecific - an aerophyte that does not have a root system. It feeds exclusively from air, which should be sufficiently moist and fresh. In summer, the temperature should not be higher than 22 ° C, in winter not lower than 15 ° C. To maintain optimum humidity, it requires spraying up to five times a day, but thanks the rapid growth and decorativeness of its falling silver lashes. Propagated by shoots.
- Tillandsia atmospheric in the care is unpretentious, if you create the appropriate conditions. The leaves are fleshy, gray due to small scales. It tolerates partial shade, but it needs a constant stream of fresh air, as well as 70% humidity. The temperature regime is needed at 22 ° C and 15 ° C in summer and winter, respectively. He likes temperature changes at different times of the day, similar to the natural change of day and night. It can be taken outside in the summer, attached to trees, shrubs, verandas.
- Tillandsia is blue. In the wild, it grows on the bark of trees, but at home it can huddle in a pot, but in an airy substrate. He loves light, but not direct sunlight. With a lack of light, it loses the saturated color of leaves and inflorescences. Watering is not necessary often, it requires more moisture through spraying, but without stagnation of moisture at the base of the leaves. After flowering, the blue beauty begins to overgrow with children, slowly dying, so it does not require a transplant.
- Tillandsia xerography has succulent hard leaves, having a decorative silver outlet. It can grow up to 50 cm in height. It has the ability to accumulate moisture in its curled leaves. It requires frequent watering and moisture in fresh air, as it does not have a root system.
Tillandsia Anita: flower and peduncle
- Tillandsia Head of Jellyfish. A fairly common bromeliad due to its unpretentiousness and decorativeness. It resembles a bulb of tightly collected leaves, which only at the apex deviate and begin to curl in a spiral. It has no roots, it feeds on the type of all atmospheric species.
- Tillandsia Cotton Candy - Aerofit, easy to care for. It adapts to the temperature of Russian apartments, in winter it can tolerate a decrease of up to 12 ° С. Watering is not necessary often, spraying every other day. Demanding only for light: it should be a lot, it grows even in direct sunlight.
- Tillandsia Samantha is a bright evergreen representative of the species. Saturated glossy leaves and voluminous colorful flowering allow her to be demanding in care. It can grow in a pot or planter, but the root is developed only as a fastener. Frequent watering and spraying without accumulating moisture in the foliage is all she needs as a nutrition. Good lighting and fresh air will create all the conditions for Samantha's flowering.
- Tillandsia Ionanta, or violet-flowering - an unusual appearance with beautiful flowers. Often grows in florariums, as it is a small bush. He likes to bathe in the shower once a half a month or in the baths with full immersion. It requires plentiful light, but not bright rays.
- Bulbose has stems, which means that it is peculiar to store moisture in its thick stems similar to bulbs. Atmospheric exotica is very easy to care for, requires plentiful watering, humidity and ambient light. The temperature is moderate, winters without whims. In the summer months it blooms continuously.
Species and flowering
Landing and transplanting
A plant that was just brought from the store is best transplanted. If the acquired plant fired a peduncle, the transplant may contribute to the drying of the flower. After 3-4 years, in the absence of flowering, you can also transplant potted species. In the wild, this beauty grows on the top layer of the earth or on the bark of trees, the mind as such is not needed.
Important! In ordinary soil, the plant rots.
For planting and transplanting plants, you need pieces of bark with the addition of moss, peat, sand, acadama, river pebbles, coconut fiber. The pot should be taken wide and low, the smallest sizes relative to the plant. Clay and ceramic pots will not allow the root system to choke in the soil.
Plastic pots must have many drainage holes
How to transplant:
- Soil and pot must be sterilized in the oven or steam.
- Taking the plant out of the pot, carefully examine its roots. If there are dry or rotten areas, remove and treat with charcoal.
- Dried or old lower sheets are removed during transplantation.
- Charcoal should be used as a drainage layer.
- Pour the soil mixture from above, then plant the plant steadily and cover it with the rest of the soil.
- If the upper roots look out of the pot, they can be cut.
Atmospheric species do not need soil; they feel great in limbo. They are hung on a wire, soft tape or rope. Also, the flower with its roots clings to pieces of bark, stones covered with moss, or shells.
The option of placing atmospheric views on coasters
Breeding
It is easy to propagate tillandsia - just wait for the children after flowering of an adult plant or plant seeds.
Propagation by processes
One plant can give from 3 to 8 children, which over time grow and fill the entire area, the mother plant dies. They need to be cut off from the outlet when they grow into half the size of an adult plant and they have roots.
Note! Atmospheric plants do not always die after the appearance of children, they can be deposited from the parent without harming him.
Seed cultivation
Only potted species breed by seed. At home, there is no way to get seeds, they are acquired. You need to plant it on a mixture of peat and sand without immersing the seed in the soil. Moisten the soil by spraying, be sure to tighten the pot with a film and put in a warm place at least 25 ° C. Tillandsia sprouts for a long time and reluctantly.
When growing tillandsia seeds, an adult plant blooms only after 2-3 years
Tillandsia: home care
The flower requires the following care:
- watering is frequent and plentiful for airy plants without roots. They like a shower or a complete immersion in water for a while twice a month. Spraying and maintaining a high level of humidity create ideal conditions for growth and flowering. Water should be purified, soft and slightly acidic;
- need to be fed with special fertilizers for the Bromeliad once every two months. There should not be copper and boron in top dressing;
- if the flower has lost its brightness, it is enough to provide it with good lighting, and it will begin to turn green again;
- care should be taken during dormancy, as the temperature decreases and prevents excess water in the outlet from evaporating. It is important to ensure that moisture does not stagnate, creating an environment for the development of rot and fungus.
Tillandsia plant ranks first among decorators to create outlandish compositions.
This unusual exotic does not require much in comparison with the full return of the beauty and decorativeness of its appearance and exotic flowering. The main thing is to follow the rules described above.
