Description
About Tillandsia hitchcockiana
Tillandsia hitchcockiana is a Tillandsia from the dry Andean slopes of Ecuador and Peru. It has stiff grey leaves in a firm, upright rosette, and a body that feels solid in the hand.
The species is stoloniferous. Offsets form on short runners from the base of the plant, and the plant produces them vigorously, so a single becomes a spreading colony.
It resembles Tillandsia espinosae, the plant long known as Vriesea espinosae, but in a much larger form. If you like espinosae, this is the same look at three times the scale.
We grade it from 6-to-7-inch smalls to mediums of 9 to 12 inches and larges around 20 inches wide.
Hitchcockiana is a must-have for a serious collection, and a good architectural plant for a shop that sells to designers. The stiff grey rosette holds its shape for months without attention, and it is priced at $8.
Growing Tillandsia hitchcockiana: Care Guide
Dry Andean scrub means sun, wind and little rain, so hitchcockiana wants bright light, quick drying and a soak every couple of weeks. The stiff leaves hold water in the leaf axils, so invert it and shake well, and give a colony of offsets a little extra time to dry. It tolerates heat and dry shop air with ease, and it forgives a missed watering. The stolons like something to grip, so mount it on a broad piece of wood or cork and let the offsets spread across it rather than removing them; a colony on a slab is the way this plant looks best.
- Light: Bright light with direct sun for part of the day.
- Water: Soak 20 minutes every 10 to 14 days.
- Drying: Invert and shake. Leaf axils hold water.
- Airflow: Good airflow after each soak.
- Temperature: 40°F to 95°F. Cool nights are fine.
- Feeding: Feed monthly with diluted TillyBoost Fertilizer at quarter strength.
- Mounting: Wire to a broad slab of wood or cork and let the stolons spread.
- Pups: Many, on stolons. Leave them on for a colony.
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