Tillandsia punctulata is native to Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama) and Mexico. It is found at various altitudes ranging from 0 to just over 2250 meters above sea level.
Tillandsia punctulata, also called as Tillandsia melanopus, is a species of the genus Tillandsia. This species was described by Schlechtendal & Chamisso in 1831.
IDENTIFY TILLANDSIA PUNCTULATA AIR PLANT
Tillandsia punctulata is native to Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama) and Mexico. It is found at various altitudes ranging from 0 to just over 2250 meters above sea level.
It is a medium sized epiphyte and acaule species with many, curved leaves that form a fine rosette. The sheaths are blackish and wider than the leaves. The triangular limbs, very fine, in gutter, with very few scales.
This air plant bloom from the simple, sometimes fingered inflorescence, with some spikes stocky, with few flowers couplets. The bracts of the flowering stem are similar to the leaves and red at the top of the inflorescence. The primary bracts are red and wider. The floral bracts are imbricate, leathery, shiny, not scaly, green, sometimes striated. The flowers are sessile, tubular, 4 cm long. The petals are blackish purple at the base and white at the tip. The stamens and the pistil are exserts.
TILLANDSIA PUNCTULATA AIR PLANT CARE AND CULTURE
Cultural information should only be used as a guide, and should be to be adapted to suit you. Your physical location; where you grow your plants, how much time you have to devote to their care, and many other factors, will need to be taken into account. Only then can you decide on the cultural methods that best suit you and your plants.
Light:
Tillandsia punctulata requires good brightness, but the plant should avoiding full sun. This species can grow in the shade but slower growth.
Temperature:
The required temperature ranging from 10 to 32°C. Get it early enough in the fall if you grow it outside, so that it does not face night temperatures below 4 or 5 ° C, especially if it is wet. The plants can faced temperatures close to 0 ° C (sheltered and dry) for a few hours without damage.
Humidity:
This air plant require high level of humidity. Good aeration is required, the plant must dry quickly (in less than an hour).
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
Tillandsia punctulata can be grow in pot or be mounted on a solid substrate that does not retain water. Place the plant very close to a window indoors in winter and preferably out in mid-shade in the summer. 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.
Watering:
Three times a week in summer, two times a week in winter according to the luminosity and the ambient humidity. Obviously when it rains and if you grow it outside, it counts as a watering. It is advisable to leave water in the rosette in summer (except at the beginning of flowering, so as not to drown the inflorescence when it does not emerge from the rosette yet), changing it every 2 to 3 days.
Fertilizer:
This air plant can be fertilized with the moderate doses. 1 to 2 times a month in the summer and 1 time a month in the winter.
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