Description
About Tillandsia Charles Wiley
Tillandsia Charles Wiley crosses seleriana with bulbosa, pairing two plants that both build a hollow swollen base but look nothing alike otherwise.
Seleriana is the silver one, thickly felted with trichomes and squat in habit. Bulbosa is the green one, smooth and glossy with long snaking leaves that twist away from a narrow bulb.
The hybrid lands neatly between them. You get a solid bulbous base with a light silver cast, and leaves that curl outward with more movement than seleriana manages on its own.
Plants ship at 6 to 8 inches and up. At $12 this is an unusually sculptural plant for the money, and the bulb shape gives it presence beyond its size.
Growing Tillandsia Charles Wiley: Care Guide
One parent is a dry-country plant and the other a humid-forest one. Therefore water it a little more often than a pure seleriana, and mind the bulb throughout.
- Light: Bright light. Some direct morning sun is fine, but bulbosa parentage means it burns more easily than a pure silver species.
- Water: Soak 20 minutes every 7 to 10 days. That sits between the two parents’ regimes.
- Drying: The critical rule. The hollow base fills during a soak, so invert the plant and shake it firmly every time. Water left inside rots it from the centre.
- Airflow: Strong airflow after watering. Dry within four hours.
- Temperature: Comfortable from 60°F to 95°F. No frost.
- Feeding: Feed monthly in spring and summer with diluted TillyBoost Fertilizer at quarter strength.
- Mounting: No soil. Wire it at an angle so the base drains freely.
- Pups: Offsets form around the bulb after bloom. Separate at one third the size of the mother.
Our Air Plant Care page has the fundamentals, and more bulbous crosses sit in our Rare Air Plants.
