Description
About Tillandsia Houston dwarf
Tillandsia Houston dwarf form is a miniature version of Houston, the classic hybrid of Tillandsia stricta and Tillandsia recurvifolia. Singles are about 2 inches, and they never get much bigger.
What they do instead is pup. This form produces offsets continuously through the year, and the offsets grow in every direction. The result is a symmetrical ball of small silver rosettes.
Our clumps are already forming that ball. Small clumps hold two plants, and medium clumps hold three or four.
The bloom is a miniature Houston bloom: pink bracts with pale flowers, on a short spike. A ball in bloom carries several at once.
Houston dwarf is a display plant that finishes itself. Buy a clump, hang it, and in a year or two you have a sphere. Few plants give that result with so little work.
Growing Tillandsia Houston dwarf: Care Guide
Both parents are Brazilian and like regular water, so treat this as a mesic plant. A ball has no top or bottom, and water gets trapped in the middle, so hang it where air can move through it after every soak. Wire the whole ball so it can be lifted out, soaked in a bowl, shaken, and hung back up in one motion.
- Light: Bright indirect light with some morning sun.
- Water: Soak 20 minutes every 7 to 10 days.
- Drying: Shake hard from several angles. Then hang in moving air.
- Airflow: Constant airflow for balls. This is the main risk.
- Temperature: 45°F to 95°F. No frost.
- Feeding: Feed monthly with diluted TillyBoost Fertilizer. Feeding keeps the pups coming.
- Mounting: Wire through the centre and hang. Do not glue it flat.
- Pups: All year, in every direction. Never divide a forming ball.
Read our air plant care guide, or browse more Rare Air Plants.
