THE BROMELIAD SOCIETY OF GREATER CHICAGO

THE BSGC NEWS

November, 2002

The November 11th meeting is at 2:00 P.M. at E.F.G. Orchids in Addison. A map is provided. If you would like to visit their website, it is http://www.efgorchids.com/

President’s Column

The rains came and a few of us were left standing. I hope everyone survived the flood. We cannot predict the weather nor what’s around the corner but there’s an old saying, "There’s got to be a pony in here somewhere, Keep shoveling." We need your help.

The good news is that we found the hotel!, the Westin O’Hare, Rosemont, IL. Now we only have 2 years to plan for our 2004 Bromeliad International World Conference. Keep shoveling and smiling. We can do it.

CITES was created in order to eliminate illegal trade in endangered or threatened species. The seven Tillandsias on the list are : T. harrisii, T. kammii, T. kautskyi,

T. mauryana, T. sprengeliana, T. sucrii and T. xerographica.

I like the 5 groups into which he divided the people who buy Tillandsias.

1.) "I like It, I want it but I won’t take care of it" They say these are young people who see the plants and think they are interesting and buy them because the plants can live for quite awhile without too much care. 2) "I like it, but I am afraid I could destroy it." The second group is interested in finding out about Tillandsias so hopefully this book will help them change their opinion about killing them. 3) "I want to grow them up, could you help me?" This group wants more knowledge so they can have a small collection. The authors noted that there are many women getting interested in collecting whereas before it was predominantly men. 4) "Oh, what’s that?" and 5) Translates to "Where did you get it?" The authors say, "The fourth and fifth group are people not too abundant in intelligence." (Reminds me of some of the people who come to the booth at the Flower Show!)

They discuss the suitability of different species. They say that T. brachycaulos, T. polystachia, T. punctulata, T. ionantha, T. filifolia, T. butzii, T. bulbosa, T. streptophylla, and T. caput medusae are good for low light conditions. They find that putting plants out in the summer is very helpful and this is a good time to fertilize. They found that for the majority of plants that the temperature of 5º C. (41º F.) was the time to bring them back indoors. During the winter they found air circulation and moisture requirements needed to be monitored more since winter air is so dry.

They discuss arranging Tillandsias in ceramic dishes and gluing. They mention several kinds of bark to use and how to attach the plants. They discuss the propagation of Tillandsias by seeds and in a lab. They found propagating by seeds is effective but difficult. They describe the method they use for sowing seeds.

Most of the sweet smelling Tillandsias are xerophytic and come from the southern parts of South America. The ones they list with a fragrance are T. decomposita, T. duratii, T. tucumanensis, T. crocata, T. streptocarpa, T. xiphioides, T. usenoides, T. cacticola, T. humilis, T. purpurea, T. straminae, T. diagurtensis, T. hamaleana and T. dyeriana. They also give a description of their flower.

I found their discussion of myremecophytic Tillandsias interesting. These are plants that have a symbiotic relationship with ants. These plants include T. bulbosa, T. butzii, T. caput medusae, T. pseudobaileyi and T. disticha. They house ants in their leaf axils. The bulbous structure of the plant keeps the ants dry. The plants get nutrition from the ant waste.

The authors describe 22 Tillandsia species, the ease or difficulty of growing them and the area of their distribution. (We hope that the authors will come to the World Conference next year.)(And 2004 too!)

In the July 2000 Florida East Coast Bromeliad Society Newsletter, Jay Thurrott, president and editor has the following about Tillandsias.

Q. Tillandsias always look great when they’re mounted on driftwood and the roots grow around and over wood to securely anchor them. Whenever I buy a nice Tillandsia and set it on driftwood, the roots don’t "grow in" the way I see them on pieces of wood in bromeliad shows. What am I doing wrong?

A. There are several possible reasons why you are having this problem and, in a fine bureaucratic tradition, we will answer your question with a question:

1. Is the Tillandsia that you purchased a young plant or a mature plant? Remember that the roots on these plants don’t usually serve to absorb moisture or nutrients like typical house plants. Most members of the genus Tillandsia only produce roots when they are young...and, if you think about it for a minute, this makes sense. These plants are epiphytes and only use their roots as hold-fast to anchor them to a tree limb or a rock surface. Once the young plant attaches itself adequately to the surface, why should it produce more roots? If the roots don’t do a good enough job, the plant falls to the ground and , at this point, the last thing it needs is more roots-it probably won’t survive anyway. If they work as intended, the plant is anchored in position for life and can put its energy into maturing, flowering and producing seeds. So...back to the question at hand-if you are going to mount a bromeliad on driftwood, start with a young plant.

2. Have your been securely fastening your Tillandsias to the driftwood? Unles the young plant is tightly fastened to the wood (no "wobble factor" allowed!) It will not produce the roots that you are looking for. There are many ways to do this. You can try one of a number of types of glue on the driftwood and then hold the plant in place until the glue sets. You may also use wire (please, no bare copper wire though-this may kill the plant) to anchor the plant...or twine...or a heavy weight (if the plant is mashed flat-use a lighter weight next time). The main goal is to hold the plant in a fixed position long enough until the roots form and take over for the glue, wire or twine. Then you can remove these aids and the plant will look like it grew onto your wood all by itself!

3. One last point-if you have a difficult time keeping your Tillandsias looking nice as individual plants, you probably will have just as difficult a time keeping them looking nice when they are mounted on driftwood. Just because some people call Tillandsias "air plants" does’t mean that they can get along without proper light levels, proper watering, proper air movement and everything else that goes into good culture of plants in this genus. That seashell refrigerator magnet with a Tillandsia glued inside is not going to thrive on the side of your refrigerator-unless you keep your refrigerator outside in a grennhouse!