| estación seca |
08-07-2016 01:43 PM |
You have to keep several things in mind to grow Tillandisas. Once you get the hang of it, they are easy. To be brief, treat it like a mounted orchid. If you like excessive verbiage, keep reading.
This one grows on cliffs. It likes lots of sun, but will dry out in the sun without enough water. The cliffs are covered with leafy plants and grasses. It's not as hot as it would be if you set it on a west-facing concrete wall.
Most Tillandsias are fine with a few hours each day of direct sun through a window. Some grow under deciduous trees, so they get lots of sun in the drier, cooler winter, and full shade during the wet summer. You can read to find out where they are from, but most do well in bright dappled sunlight.
They get dew almost every night when it isn't raining. The silvery fuzz (which is actually hairs called trichomes) is designed to trap dew. The plant is effectively immersed in a thin layer of water almost every night, so it gets lots of water for most of the year. Some species come from areas with real dry seasons, where there may not be any water, not even dew, for many months. These species tolerate this; they don't require it. So you can water all of them year-round.
They don't stay wet for long after the sun rises. They like being wet at night, then drying out. If they stay wet, they will rot.
Tillandsias almost all use crassulacean acid metabolism, as do most succulents. This means they open their pores to trap carbon dioxide at night, and not during the day. They close their pores at sunrise, and use the stored carbon dioxide to make sugar when the sun shines on them. The enzymes of this system work better at cooler temperatures, so a big day-night temperature swing is ideal. They can't metabolize when it gets much above 80-85 F / 26-30C, and they usually collapse and die after a few nights in this range. That's why I can't grow them outside in the summer where I live now. My mom in coastal Southern California has enormous mats growing outside on her patio furniture and in the trees, with minimal care.
I've heard Mark Dimmitt speak on growing them here in the Western US. In lower humidity areas with proper night temperatures, they do well with a nightly dunking in water. Swish them around so all the trichomes get wet and the plant turns all green. It only takes a few seconds. Once a week, soak them in the sink overnight, when the pores are open.
They appreciate regular fertilizer. You can use the same concentration as recommended for annual flowers or vegetables, but avoid copper in the fertilizer. Even small amounts are toxic to most bromeliads (but pineapples don't mind copper.)
Most of the ones sold in big-box stores die because they don't get enough water and sun. A few people keep them too wet.
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