Houseplant portrait of bromeliad

The exotic bromeliad creates a natural room climate and at the same time gives a portion of looseness to modern surroundings. With its magnificent green leaves and colorful blooms, the South American bromeliad offers a refreshing contrast to the more neutral tones of Scandinavian-style rooms. If you prefer to have free space on side tables or on the floor, place them in hanging baskets made of reed or bast.

General information about bromeliad

The bromeliad originally comes from South America and therefore feels comfortable in our warm rooms. It is very popular with us because of its rather spartan nature and ease of care as a plant for the office. The best known of the approximately 3, 000 different bromeliads is the pineapple.

Appearance and lifestyle

You can easily distinguish the evergreen, herbaceous bromeliads from other ornamental plants because they have very special foliage. These so-called bracts - colored bracts in the middle of the bromeliad - unfold from the leaf rosettes. Most bromeliads are epiphytes and therefore grow at dizzy heights - not only on trees, but also on cacti or masts, for example. They do not form roots, but have dandruff hair or suction scales on the leaves. You do not need a plant substrate to supply yourself with nutrients and moisture, because these can be extracted directly from the air. The substrate - also in the form of pieces of wood or stones - serves to hold them in place. Other types of bromeliads, on the other hand, grow in the traditional way on the ground.

The blossom

The pineapple is probably the best known bromeliad.

/ krungchingpixs

Bromeliads are nondescript. After flowering, the rosettes of leaves shrivel, because flowering means enormous effort for the plant. For example, the giant bromeliad in Peru blooms only once in 50 years. But the flower is a veritable tower of over ten meters in height. The giant bromeliad blooms for three quarters of a year. Then she comes in.

Light and temperature

The light requirement of epiphany bromeliads is not as high as that of earth bromeliads. Since they actually grow on trees or the like, they are only indirectly exposed to the sun. The typical leaf color and the blooming are promoted by a bright place at the window, or by morning and evening sun. Earth bromeliads, on the other hand, also tolerate direct, strong sun rays. A very bright location is ideal for them.

The temperatures prevailing in our rooms tolerate all bromeliads - you can also spend the summer (June to September) on the terrace or balcony. However, if the temperatures rise above 18 degrees Celsius, you should spray the plants with warm water. As soon as the temperature drops below 15 degrees Celsius, you should quickly bring your bromeliads back into the house, as a few days at such low temperatures can lead to leaf damage.

Bromeliad care

Most of the bromeliads come from South America.

Photo: Flower Office Holland

When watering, make sure that the root ball never dries out. Bromeliads feel really comfortable in a sunny, humid place with a temperature of over 18 degrees Celsius. The leaf funnels should always be filled with water. In winter, the plants do not need as much water - then the leaf funnels are only sparingly filled with water and the water is changed every four weeks. The best irrigation water is rainwater.

You do not need to water bromeliads that are not in the soil. It is enough if they get a dash of water from the spray bottle every morning. There is a special fertilizer commercially available for bromeliads, but you should only supply your plants in the summer months. It is best to pour the liquid fertilizer directly into the irrigation water. The dosage can be found on the packaging.

Repotting

Bromeliads have to be repotted if the plants have grown too large or if the roots completely fill the pot (in the case of earth bromeliads). The best soil for the exotic beauties is lime-free bromeliad earth. The advantage of this soil is that the plants can quickly root here. Bringing up bromeliads into a permeable mixture of tree bark and peat moss. As a "climbing aid" take a small piece of wire, which you attach to the base of the bromeliad. As soon as the plant can hold itself in the ground, you can pull the wire out of the earth.

The increase

The flower of the giant bromeliad can reach over ten meters in height.

Photo: fotolia / ajkramer

The simplest type of propagation is via offshoots. The offspring, also called kindel, normally form the bromeliad on their own. They grow directly on the plant and only need to be separated. If the babies are about half the size of the mother plant, you can put them in an extra pot. They grow on their own and form the first flowers after about three years. To promote flower formation, you can place apple pieces in the leaf funnels and stretch a plastic cover over the bromeliad. The apple pieces release ethylene gas, which stimulates flowering.

Diseases and pests

Brown tips appear relatively frequently on the leaves of the bromeliad. Either air that is too dry or a temperature that is too high is responsible for this. You can easily act against the brown tips: cut off the tips and look for another place for the bromeliad. Make sure that the new location is not too dark - there is a risk that the plant will not bloom. Leaf rot or the complete death of young plants is often the result of a fungal attack.

Plant lice feel particularly comfortable on the epiphyte bromeliads. If they also get too little water, spider mites and black gnats are also not uncommon. To prevent the pests from spreading to your other houseplants, it is advisable to set the bromeliads aside. If you want to take action against the pests, don't overdo it with chemistry! It is not uncommon for the bromeliads to be as sensitive to this as to the pests to be removed.