Tillandsia ionantha 'peanut'

[benetay]

Got this guy 5 years ago, only manage to bloom after a long long wait.

I have been to Adelaide to visit one of a very experience grower who have almost 50-60 years of experience in growing bromeliads.

This picture does not do justice to the real beauty i saw over there but nevertheless for it to bloom here in Singapore requires a cooler night temp drop of about 8-10 degrees.

Here it is, after 5 long years of waiting and watering..




Cheers!

[patticake]

Awesome!!! I really love these guys! That is a fantastic shot! What a cool plant, too!

[benetay]

Thanks! Glad you like it.

Cheers!

[patticake]

I have 4 tillandsias, but I don't know their names. I'll have to post them this weekend. Maybe you can help me! They're fascinating, to me!

[benetay]

No problem, i will try my best to ID them.

Cheers!

[tansyflower]

Fantastic shot, and what a bizarre little plant (looks like it's poking it's purple tongue out)!!

I have a couple (3, I think) of tillandsias too. have been experimenting with trying to get them to grow on trees and such. Have one flowering now, the one with the flat pink fan shaped flower, and little blue flower things poking out.

[benetay]

I see, that should be Tillandsia cyanea. Warm growing but prefers cool to bloom. It has a very nice smell when the flowers are fully open. We get to see them every year during our Chinese New Year. Plenty of them all around including orchids!

Cheers!

[delphiguy]

wow nice looking, me want one.

[benetay]

Glad you like it! I'm sure you can find plenty of them in the market.

Cheers!

[katrina]

BEEEEE OOOOOOOOOO TI FUL!!! I love the way you have it hanging! That's...what?....a mother plant (in bloom) and 2 babies that have grown? Or, is it 3 plants connected and hung?

I haven't tried hanging any yet...mine are either mounted (glued) to wood or potted in lava rock. I think I'll do that w/a couple of mine.

Like Patti...I don't know the names of any of mine...all noids. Some are blooming...others are just sitting there starting at me. Oh, and I've killed a few along the way too.

[benetay]

The parent gave off to 3 little pups that took a little long to grow up strong and healthy. So when mother plant loses all her energy, she went to tilly heaven and watch the 3 little children to grow.

Now mother is very happy because one of them had flowered and will be a mother too. Tillandsia in general bloom once in a lifetime. So after blooming, it will produce pups to make sure the next generation continues.

I do not like the idea of tying them together but let them grow into a ball naturally. Normally i will have to split up the clumps before deformation starts as space is limited in a ball.

Such clumps are frown upon in many areas where humidity levels are constantly high. Once the middle crown rots, the whole plant will just perish. It takes about 2-3 years to form a round clump depending on growth and species. I have some that i split and now have 2 balls from the original 1 plant.

All my 200 tilly are hung with a fishing line and hung outside the house where mother nature takes good care of them. Occasional watering once every 3-4 days if the sun is scorching! However those grown indoors are kept together alongside with the orchids hung on windowsill. By hanging them, air circulation can be generated throughout the plant thus reducing the possibilities of rot.

Tilly are very very skeptical about watering, they hate standing water more than orchid does. I have killed at lease a few hundred of them to set things right. That is also the reason why i took a little longer to start orchids! I didn't dare until i'm quite sure of what is going on.

Nevertheless, i can try to ID some of your NOID tilly but i'm no expert in this area. Sometimes a species can have many varieties hence making ID almost too difficult.

Glad you like it.

Cheers!

[trinigirl]

Thanks for all that good information on tillandsias. Sounds like you know a lot about them.

The one pictured above is very pretty. I am thinking about getting some to keep among the orchids. I looked on ebay, but I am skeptical about buying without seeing them, now orchids not that problem on ebay.

[hulaorchid]

What a cool plant!! Thanks for sharing!

[lmartiny]

That is a cool picture. It looks like the air plant my husband bought when we were at the Sarasota orchid show. From what you have said, it sounds like we should move it when our rainy/high heat season starts. Plus good to know mother plant will die after blooming.
There is a wild air plant growing on our wooded property east of here and I noticed last week it is sending up a spike. I'm going to try to catch a photo if our timing is right with our visits out there.

[norris]

I agree on that being a very cool plant, and bloom! I have one that I've had for a couple years, it's live and growing, but just hasn't bloomed yet.

[benetay]

Just wait for it to be fully mature before it will bloom. Given the right conditions i'm sure it will bloom nicely!

Wow, wild tillandsia! Hope you can get a picture of it, i'm sure it's doing very well out there. As long as the tilly are healthy, they can take the beating (for some).

There are a lot of nurseries in US that sells tilly, one of them is rainforest flora, a whole range of them that we import into Singapore.

Cheers!

[patticake]

I didn't know about the blooming being once in a lifetime. The one that bloomed for me has a pup as you call it, growing out the end! The long one w/red at the end has several new growths now, but I've not seen it bloom yet. These are pics of 3 of my 4 when I first got them, and the one that bloomed. I hope you don't mind me posting pictures in your thread. I'll try to take some up-dated pics Sunday...

[benetay]

First picture picture top (red top) Tillandsia funckiana. Pretty good growing, they can continue to grow and grow till the ones that my gf has about 2 ft in length.

First picture bottom left, baileyi - very easy growing don't really need high light, just good light will suffice, it will bloom once it mature. Give it good water and i normally hang such bulbos till upside down to prevent crown rot if the water doesn't drains out in the bottom.

First picture right, i think it's some sort of a brachycaulos or a victoria. Easy growing, unable to take direct sunlight from 12-3pm. As usual i will give it good circulation.

The one in flower will give pups ranging from 1 - 3 for this kind of bulbos tilly. Normally i have 1 and that 1 will produce a spike and flower and continue the process. The problem with some hybrids is that they generally became weaker and pups are often weak and blooms immaturely.

No problem posting them in my thread, it's an open forum and i'm sure the rest doesn't mind more pictures! Keep them coming!

Cheers!

[Anton]

Who is the grower here in Adelaide ?

[benetay]

Here are some of my older tilly collection.

T.didisticha




T. druid

[benetay]

Originally Posted by Anton

Who is the grower here in Adelaide ?

Derek Butcher & Aunty Margaret. There is another guy i forgot his name but he teaches in university of Adelaide a maths prof.

You know them?

Cheers!

[tansyflower]

Benetay, you must have a very good camera. They are great pics.

Just to clarify- tills, in general, only flower once and then die. Well, this makes me feel much better, as I thought I was killing them.

Is there any general rules to growing tillandsias, as I have seen some great photos of big clumps of them hanging from trees?

[benetay]

Just grow them in windy condition where they are allowed to dry out in between watering. The finer the leaf the more moisture it needs. Bulbs tilly prefer to be hung upside down to prevent water from retaining in the bulb. Whiter tilly, those white more hairs are able to be subjected to the sun. Greener ones prefer shadier places and a little more water.

As long as you hang them upside down, there is almost no way for water to be retain inside the crown. Just give it good air circulation and you are all set. The easiest method is to hang them on a thread or fishing line so you will be able to view it with ease and it will love it too.

Tilly are unlike some orchid where they will rebloom on the same spike. Once the tilly flowers, it will produce pups and all her energy will be converted and directed to the pups. It's much faster to grow them this way as the energy can be converted into 2-3 or even more pups.

I have no success in growing seeds and they really take a long time to grow. Around 8-10 years to grow into a 4-5cm seedling.

I have seen how those experience growers did it & i must say i really salute their effort.

Huge clumps require less watering and more air movement to prefer rotting of the core. Just remember that the roots of the tilly do not absorb water for consumption, it is just for anchorage purposes.

Tilly are easier propagated by pups but we can never really tell anybody we grown that particular plant from seed. They don't do well in flask culture so that's the difficulty.

If you want constant blooming tilly, the ionantha group which consist of many species , hybrids (natural/man made) and cultivars will reward you with blooms all year round. Ionantha druid blooms annually so it's really easy! while ionantha rubra etc blooms almost 3 times per year.

Tilly do not absorb water through the roots as the only function of the roots are for anchorage purposes. They absorb water through the leaves just like how tissue gets soaked up.

It's better not to water them in the night as they are CAM plants. They require a cooler temperature drop at night to breathe. They 'inhale' carbon dioxide at night and store it in little 'silo' converting it to carbonic acid to be used the next day. When the Sun shines on the leaves, the 'silo' releases the acid to aid photosynthesis. That is why, it's prudent not to water them in the long run at night. Your tilly may suffer after 5-8 years. Occasional watering at night prove no side effect.


Cheers!

[kid a]

those are so cool! Although I have then seen them around labelled as air plants I had no idea they could even bloom! Thanks so much for sharing this may be something I might give a try soon

[tansyflower]

Well, I've probably been killing mine trying to fill them up with water. I have one (Tillandsia cyanea) I was going to tie to a tree today, will remember not to attach it upright. I have two, so might hang one and see if I can get it to form a ball (that would be cool).

I have also been trying to pack dirt and bits of mulchy stuff around their roots, to help them along.


Thanks Benetay.

[lmartiny]

Benetay, awesome pictures.

[benetay]

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement.

Glad you have learn something.

Cheers!

[lmartiny]

Benetay, I don't think the wild one is the same species. Looks totally different. Its larger. Dry and beat up too. We are in a drought.

[benetay]

Well in the wild, i don't think we can find very pretty ones as they are expose to the elements of nature. Nevertheless they are actually more robust and strong in terms of genetics , which i believe.

If they can withstand drought, giving them good quality water, sun etc will actually make them bring out their very best. I'm sure this is what we do in out growing places.

Cheers!