Bilbergia

Bilbergia drooping

Bromeliad family. Homeland of bilbergia Central and South America, Antilles. There are about 55 species in nature. Species that have become widespread as houseplants are distinguished by a rather unpretentious character.

• Bilbergia pyramidal Billbergia pyramidalis is a terrestrial plant with few leaves that form an elongated funnel-shaped rosette. Leaves are broad-linear in shape, pointed at the end, about 60-80 cm long and 5-6 cm wide, bright green, flowered leaves dark red with a serrated edge. It blooms from mid-spring to mid-summer.
• Bilbergia drooping Billbergia nutans - an epiphytic plant, forms an elongated rosette of numerous narrow leaves. Leaves are linear in shape, thinned at the end, up to 60-70 cm long and about 1-2 cm wide, with spines along the edge. The leaves are green in color, with more intense lighting they acquire a reddish or bronze tint. Thin long peduncle drooping, with flowering pink leaves. It blooms in winter.
• Bilbergia magnificent Billbergia magnifica is an epiphytic plant with an elongated rare rosette of several leaves, linear in shape, pointed at the end, dense and stiff, with sharp spikes along the edge, up to 70 cm long and 6-8 cm wide, sizo-green in color with light transverse stripes on the outside of the leaf. The flowers are collected in a loose drooping inflorescence with bright pink bracts and flowering leaves. It blooms in summer.
• Bilbergia green-flowered Billbergia viridiflora - an epiphytic or epilytic plant, forms a thicker rosette than the previous species. Leaves are linear, pointed at the end, serrate along the edge, up to 60-70 cm long and 5-6 cm wide, bright green, flowering leaves bright pink, erect. It blooms in early spring and late summer.

Bilbergia pyramidal

Bilbergia: care at home

Temperature

Bilbergia prefers moderate temperatures, in summer optimally 22-25 ° C. Poorly tolerates dryness and heat above 28 ° C. In winter it is cooler, about 18-20 ° С, at least + 13 ° С. Do not place bromeliads on drafts, such as near air conditioning.

Lighting

Bright diffused light, bilbergia need some direct sun in the morning or evening. It grows well on the eastern and northern windows. On the northern windowsill it can be too dark, on the southern window it is necessary to shade from 11 to 15 hours in the form of light tulle.

Watering

Not all bilbergs have a well-defined rosette of leaves, so they can be watered directly into the soil, like ordinary indoor plants - in spring and summer quite abundantly, after the top layer of the earth dries up. In winter, watering is limited or moderate depending on the temperature, after the earth dries in the pot almost completely.

Fertilizer

Fertilization is carried out in spring and summer. For top dressing, special fertilizers for bromeliads are used. You can use fertilizers for other flowering houseplants in a half dose or fertilizer for orchids (in the recommended dose). Feeding is carried out after 2 weeks.

Air humidity

Bilbergia needs to be periodically sprayed, the optimal air humidity is 60%. Protect the plant in winter from dry hot air batteries.

Flight connections

Annually after flowering into soil consisting of 1 part of light garden land, 2 part of peat or leaf, 1 part of humus, 1 part of vermiculite, sand or pine bark. You can use a purchased soil mixture for bromeliads. The container for landing should not be too deep, it is better to use wide plates. High drainage should be poured on the bottom of the pot. Coconut fiber or coconut chips, as well as wine cork broken into small pieces (up to 3-5 mm) can be used as a baking powder.

Reproduction of bilbergia

Seeds and side shoots (root offspring), when they are already sufficiently formed, i.e. have a length of about 13-15 cm. Just break the baby from the base of the mother plant, sprinkle the scrap place with crushed coal. It is better to root the root offspring in moist moss in a room greenhouse - it can be made from a cake box, a wide plastic bottle. Maintain moss by spraying in a moderately wet state - it should not be too raw. When the roots appear (within about a month), plant directly with a lump of moss in the prepared soil. The resulting young plants bloom, as a rule, only after 2 years.

To propagate bilbergia with seeds so that they do not rot, they need to be soaked for 2 hours in a slightly pink solution of manganese. Then sow in a mixture of sphagnum moss and light peat land in equal parts. You can use the soil from the store, add moss and a handful of vermiculite to it. Before planting, be sure to sterilize the soil in the microwave or oven.

Sown seeds are sprayed from a spray gun, you do not need to dig into the ground, they themselves will descend between the grains of soil. Just cover the area with film or glass. The temperature optimal for germination is about 22 ° C. Periodically spray crops and ventilate regularly. As soon as the leaves appear, you need to gradually remove the glass or film so that the seedlings get used to the room air. When 2-3 real leaves are formed from the seeds of bilbergia, it can be planted in small pots.