Description
About Tillandsia bradeana x flabellata
Tillandsia bradeana x flabellata is a hybrid of two tank-forming Tillandsia species. Tillandsia bradeana is the soft, lime-green plant that blushes deep burgundy at bloom, and Tillandsia flabellata is the larger Central American species with glossy strap leaves and a candelabra of red bracts.
The cross has arching, strap-like leaves with a glossy surface. The base colour is green to lime, and in brighter light or as bloom approaches it flushes red to burgundy.
Seedlings vary, as they do in any hybrid. Some lean to the bradeana parent with a simpler spike; others take the branched flabellata spike with red bracts and violet flowers.
We grade it as smalls from 4 inches, mediums from 6 inches and larges from 8 inches wide. It is a medium to large plant at maturity.
Both parents hold water in the centre of the rosette, and so does the hybrid. That makes it a plant for growers who understand tank types, and a rewarding one, because tank plants grow faster and bloom bigger than dry-grown species.
Growing Tillandsia bradeana x flabellata: Care Guide
This is a tank plant, and it is cared for the opposite way from a silver air plant. Keep the central cup filled with water, flush it with fresh water once a week so nothing goes stale, and never invert the plant to drain it. Mount it level, or grow it in a pot of orchid bark or sphagnum, so the cup stays upright and full. Give it bright, indirect light; it tolerates lower light than most and scorches in hot sun. Feed by adding diluted fertilizer to the cup water. Good air circulation keeps the foliage clean, and warm temperatures keep it growing.
- Light: Bright indirect light. It tolerates lower light. No hot direct sun.
- Water: Keep the cup full. Flush with fresh water weekly.
- Drying: Do not invert. The cup should stay wet.
- Airflow: Good air circulation around the leaves.
- Temperature: 55°F to 95°F. It prefers warmth.
- Feeding: Add diluted TillyBoost Fertilizer to the cup water monthly.
- Mounting: Mount level, or pot in orchid bark or sphagnum.
- Pups: Two to four pups from the base after bloom.
Browse more Air Plants, or read our air plant care guide.
