Tillandsia guelzii – Flowering plants

Tillandsia guelzii (Air plant) is an ornamental epiphyte bromeliad that forms dense rosettes up to 8 inches high, 10 inches wide with numerous leaves. The scape is upright or slightly bent over, long or shorter than the leaf rosette, covered by the stem bracts, the ones at base leaflike, the upper ones erect acuminate not rounded with pink sheath and terminated by a bipinnate spike. The spike covered by bracts. The essential bracts are short tipped, carmine-red, the bottom greenish. The blossoms are subsessile, beginning dense, later lax upright, green, flat-edged, naked, flexuous rhachis is visible and the flower bract distichous, long-elliptic, blunt to acuminate, not keeled, the bottom greenish, scarcely downy at the tip, somewhat shorter than the sepals, with membranous edges. Sepals pale red, membranous, glabrous. The petals blade spreading not erect, linguiform, light violet to white.

Scientific classification:

Family: Bromeliaceae
Genus: Tillandsia
Subgenus: Anoplophytum
Species: T. guelzii

Scientific Name: Tillandsia guelzii Rauh
Common Name: Air plant.

How to grow and maintain Tillandsia guelzii (Air plant):

Light:
It thrives well in bright light, but not direct sunlight. The south, east, or west window is perfect. They can also be grown under fluorescent tubes.

Mounting:
Tillandsia guelzii refers to be mounted on a solid substrate that does not retain water. You can glue the plant directly to the surface with a strong adhesive or you can wire the plant to the base. Don’t cover the base of the plant with moss or it may rot. It can be grown on almost any imaginable decorative mount, including shells, rocks, slate, driftwood, etc.

Water:
Water two to four times a week with a mister. If your environment is dry, mist daily. Water until leaves is thoroughly wet. The water that runs off should be enough to wet the roots. Do not soak the base of a plant. Use rainwater or filtered tap water for misting your plant. Soft water contains too much salt and some tap water contains chlorine and fluoride that can leave water spots on foliage.

Temperature:
Tillandsia guelzii thrives well in average room temperatures 60 degrees Fahrenheit – 75 degrees Fahrenheit / 16 degrees Celsius – 24 degrees Celsius.

Fertilizer:
Fertilize once every month with a low-copper liquid fertilizer, diluted to 1/4 strength.

Propagation:
It can be easily propagated by detaching offsets, or pups, from the base of the mother plant. When the pups are half the size of the mother, they can be divided and mounted on their own. Tillandsia guelzii can also be grown from seed, but this is a slow process that might take months.

Pests and Diseases:
It has no serious pest or disease problems. Sometimes susceptible to aphids & mealybugs.