Family: Bromeliad
Sub-Family: Tillandsioideae:
Genus: Tillandsia
Sub-Genus:
Native distribution: The plant grows as an epiphyte on trees in the states of Nuevo Leon and San Luis Potosi Mexico at high altitudes from 4,500ft to 6,000 feet.
Habit: T. karwinskyana is not caulescent (growing along a stem) but forms a dense rosette with up to 30 firm leaves
Foliage: The leaves reach 6-8 inches long and are covered in silver trichomes.
Flowers: The plant forms a relatively long wiry stalk about 6 inches long with the flowers having glossy green sepals and lilac petals. The scape of the inflorescence is red,
Seed:
Pups: The plant is a prolific pup producer
Cultivation: Although slow growing, As one might expect, the plant is hardy and adaptable to direct sun, heat, cold.
Fertilization: A mist every week with Epiphyites Delight or Epsom salts during the growing season will help the plant.
( Epiphyte’s Delight fertilizer was developed for a special reason. Nitrogen promotes foliar growth. If you have Tillandsias, Orchids, or other epiphytes and you feed them, take a look at the nitrogen content. If it’s high in urea, the plants can’t use it because the urea needs a bacteria in soil to break it down into ammonia and nitrates. Since the epiphytes don’t have any soil they can’t break down the urea. It was for this reason that we had Epiphyte’s Delight formulated. It contains only ammoniacal and nitrate nitrogen which is immediately accessible and usable by the plants.)
Availability: Occasionally avaiable
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