Bilbergia flower: growing rules and home care

The elegant tropical visitor is found in the humid forests of Latin America. The original beauty has no specific whims, therefore it gained popularity among novice plant breeders. If you deal with the rules of cultivation and care, then in the conditions of an apartment, an elegant green bush will not cause problems.

How to care for room billberg

Bilbergia flower photo

Air temperature humidity and lighting

Compared to other plants of the Bromeliad family, bilbergia is less whimsical in care. She perceives dry air more easily, is able to withstand an air temperature of + 2-3 ° C, small drafts will not destroy her, but still not worth it. Grows well in greenhouses, terrariums.

Lighting must be bright, diffused. On southern windows, shade from direct sunlight at noon - just cover the window with translucent paper. May not bloom when placed on a north window. The best place will be the windows of the west and east orientation.

Planting and transplanting

Regular soil for a flower is not very suitable, so it is best to use a ready-made store-bought soil designed for growing bromeliads. When compiling it, the plant's needs for a light and breathable substrate are taken into account. But if there are no such products in the store, you can make up the soil mixture yourself from the available components:

• 2 pieces of leafy land;
• 1 part coarse sand;
• 1 part peat;
• 1 part of humus;
• 1 part chopped moss

It is necessary to transplant young bilbergia annually in the spring. For this, the plant does not need deep pots, since its root system does not grow in depth, but in breadth. Therefore, for the next transplant, you need to take a container 2-3 cm larger in diameter, and leave the height of the pot the same. Adult specimens, which are over 3-5 years old, do not need to be bothered with an annual transplant, but can be reloaded only as needed.

Lighting

In everything related to lighting, bilbergia definitely outperforms any other plants - the whole point is that it, in general, does not care in what light conditions it grows. It is equally pleasant for her to live both on the sun-drenched windowsill and in the depths of the apartment, where natural light barely penetrates.

However, like any other plant, drooping bilbergia has its own preferences. This is diffused light shaded from the midday sun. To achieve this kind of lighting, it is best to position the flower on the east and / or west side windows.

Why does bilbergia not bloom at home

How to make bilbergia bloom? If you have propagated bilbergia, but young plants stubbornly do not bloom, then one or more mistakes in care have been made:

• There is not enough lighting for the plants, it is necessary to supplement them or place them on sunny windows with diffused light.
• When transplanting, the pot was chosen incorrectly, it is too spacious. You will have to wait until the plant grows, it will become cramped, and this will provoke flowering.
• Insufficient watering.The plant has little moisture. In the summer, you need to water often and abundantly, fill the sockets with water.
• The plant lacks nutrients. It is necessary to timely feed with complex fertilizers for bromeliads.
• Bilbergia blooms in spring, but after a properly organized wintering: with a decrease in air temperature to 18 ° C and a reduction in watering. If the plant has been warm all winter, it will not bloom.

Pruning bilbergia

The bromeliad beauty develops with constant replacement of faded rosettes, which are selected by young plants 1-2 months after flowering. Old rosettes must be cut by hand, 4-6 weeks after flowering ends. They will not only prevent the plant from retaining its attractiveness, but will also "inhibit" the growth of young children.

Substrate: for bilbergia, you need to choose a rather specific soil mixture - rough in texture, with a reduced proportion of soddy soil. Pay attention to the pH values: they should be equal to 5.0 units. A mixture of high peat, leafy soil, river sand, moss and humus is suitable for this plant.

Transfer: not annual, but quite frequent (active growth requires the timely separation and separation of children from the mother bush). There are no specific terms for the procedure: transplant together with separation as needed, as soon as there are too many children for this container, the roots will begin to crawl out of the drainage hole at any time convenient for you during the active growth period (from March to August, but not later).

Bilbergia containers: due to the fact that this plant actively forms young rosettes and grows, only large vessels can be selected. But they should be wide and not too deep. In addition to containers, bilbergia can be grown on tree bark or snags (according to the principle of other epiphytes and orchids), but only if the plant was initially accustomed to such conditions and you purchased it on the bark.

Bilbergia drooping. <>

Reproduction

The flower reproduces in several ways. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Children

An easy way, since a lot of planting material can be taken during transplantation. More than ten new specimens are obtained from one flower. The lateral processes are broken out, observing the utmost care. After that, they are transplanted into pots pre-filled with moist soil. Rooting requires a certain air temperature (not lower than 20 degrees), bottom heating and covering with a film. Flowering can be expected 2-3 years after planting.

How does it multiply

Bilbergia multiplies using seeds or lateral processes. Each method has its own characteristics.

Seed method

If you want to grow a flower using seeds, you need to know about the following nuances:

1. Sowing is done immediately after collecting the material. It is impossible to delay planting, otherwise germination will be worse.
2. Before the procedure, the seeds are soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate. This is required to decontaminate them.
3. After sowing, the pot is covered with foil and placed in a place protected from bright light and with a temperature of at least 23 degrees above Celsius.
4. When growing, the room must be ventilated at least once every 2-3 days.

Growing bilbergia from seeds

Bilbergia seeds photo
Seed and vegetative propagation is possible.

• Seeds are best sown immediately after harvest.
• Pre-rinse them with a mild manganese solution and dry them.
• Sow in boxes of peat-sand mixture or crushed sphagnum.
• Cover the crops with foil, place in a shaded place, ensure the air temperature is 21-25 ° C.
• Maintain humidity in the greenhouse, do not forget to ventilate.
• Seedlings should be expected for 1-1.5 months.

Bilbergia from seeds photo of seedlings

• Do not remove the shelter immediately, accustom to dry air gradually.
• When 2-3 leaves are formed, they should be planted in separate containers and looked after as for adult plants. the first feeding can be done 2 weeks after transplanting.

Reproduction of bilbergia by lateral processes

During transplantation, carry out reproduction with lateral processes (children).

How to propagate bilbergia by dividing a bush photo

• Larger divisions take root best. Keep them in a growth stimulator for a day (root, heteroauxin).
• For rooting, use a substrate: 1 part foliage and humus soil, 2 parts sand. It can be rooted in a mixture of coarse sand (it must first be washed and calcined), long-fiber peat, perlite, fine expanded clay and gravel.

Propagation by leaf cuttings

Can be propagated by leafy cuttings at least 20 cm long.

• Root them in mature soil with coarse sand.
• Cover the stalk with a plastic cap, jar, bag.
• Maintain air temperature at 22-26 ° C, use bottom heating.
• Lighting must be bright, but without direct sunlight.
• Maintain constant soil moisture: do not overdry or overmoisten, ventilate the greenhouse.
• The roots will appear in about a month.

Growing features

For all its unpretentiousness and soft nature, bilbergia for inexperienced florists remains a mystery. The main question is how to make it bloom? For an enthusiastic florist who is determined to collect a collection of exotic plants, even an ordinary window sill can become a full-fledged laboratory. There will be no difficulties with bilbergia, the main thing is to love your green friend and take care of him.

The culture is surprisingly easy to respond to attention, and also has an amazing ability to adapt to various living conditions. The plant adapts to almost any environment.

Soil selection

Any land for planting bilbergia is suitable. The only condition is that the earth must pass water, air, and be loose. Ready-made earthen mixture is bought in a specialized store. Many flower lovers prefer to make the mixture on their own. To do this, you need to mix equal parts of peat, leaf and humus soil, add a little sand and crushed moss. A drainage layer is placed on the bottom of the pot.

The flower grows well in an artificial environment, that is, without soil. The plant is nourished in this way from the nutrient solution that surrounds the roots.

Location and lighting

The excellence of a tropical beauty is the ability to adapt to low light. This is a unique indoor culture that feels as comfortable in the depths of the room as on the windowsill. This feature makes it possible to use bilbergia to decorate rooms, as a bright highlight in the design and decoration of living quarters.

For a tropical enchantress, strongly illuminated spaces with direct sunlight are destructive. Attractive blooms and pleasant shades of bilbergia leaves are observed in light and moderately shady places.

Basically, bilbergia is grown in flower pots on a windowsill. But there is also another way. Experienced growers grow crops on the "bromeliad tree", which is made from large branching driftwood. Before placing the bilbergia on a tree, it is pulled out of the pot, the earth is removed from the roots. Then the roots are wrapped in sphagnum moss and the plant is tied to the branches of the driftwood.

If the room is compact, then a tree bark composition is used, fixing it on a shelf or wall. The only difficult moment of this placement method is the stabilization of the degree of sphagnum moisture.

Temperature, humidity, watering

Bilbergia does not have extraordinary air and soil temperature requirements.Bilbergia prefers moderate temperatures: + 25 ° C in summer, + 17 ° C in winter, at least + 12 ° C.

The main condition for leaving is the method of watering the plant - water is poured into the middle of the green outlet, and not poured over the surface of the soil. The outlet funnel must be constantly filled with water, preferably melted water. The water in the funnel is changed every month. After flowering, when the plant is at rest or placed in a cool room, watering is carried out in the classical way.

In order for the sultry beauty to be a spectacular accent in autumn and winter decoration, it is worth taking care of the elementary maintenance of a stable substrate moisture regime. The soil should be watered as it dries, but not waterlogged, since bilbergia has a weak root system. In a loose outlet, water will not linger, which means that waterlogging will easily lead to the death of the flower.

Bilbergia needs a moderately moist soil, without stagnant water, with drying of the topsoil between waterings.

It is not difficult to calculate the number of waterings: the top 3 cm of soil in a container with a flower should dry out before the next watering. In winter, the number of waterings is no more than 1 time in 7 days.

Bilbergia responds to spraying with great gratitude. There are no other ways to increase air humidity, but you can spray the leaves in the summer several times a day. If the air temperature in the room is more than +23 degrees, then spraying becomes a mandatory procedure.

During flowering, growers install pallets with wet stones or moss.

It is important to take into account that the water used to water the crop must be soft and the same temperature as the air around the plant.

There is an important feature of Bilbergia - it grows outdoors in the warm season. Indoor plant lovers put a flower on a loggia or garden plot as soon as the warm weather stabilizes and the threat of night frosts has passed.

In the fresh air, bilbergia is rapidly developing, pleases with the charm of greenery, and most importantly, it is precisely being in the open air that stimulates the rapid flowering of young rosettes.

It is important to remember that the plant must be protected from gusty wind and rain.

Fertilizers and feeding

When spraying the leaves in hot weather, you can add liquid fertilizer to the water. The plant responds well to timely feeding - the leaves become more saturated color, shiny, the growth rate increases.

During the active growing season, bilbergia needs fertilization. The plant prefers stable cultivation conditions, so feeding is not stopped even in winter.

From October to February, nutrients are applied once every 1.5 months with a standard amount of fertilizer.

Top dressing in spring and summer is applied every 2 weeks from the start of rapid growth to the end of flowering. Fertilized with special mixtures intended for bromeliads.

There is no need to use classical fertilizers suitable for all plants, since a large amount of nitrogen can cause plant death.

Transfer

Bromeliad beauty is not transplanted every year, but often.

Rapid growth dictates the timely separation and transplantation of babies from the mother's specimen. There are no exact dates for the transplant. It is carried out together with separation as necessary, when there are too many children or roots peep out of the drainage hole.

For transplanting, volumetric pots are used, since the culture quickly forms young rosettes and develops. The containers are chosen wide and shallow. Use a ready-made bromeliad potting mix or one prepared by yourself.

Pruning

Bilbergia grows with constant replacement of faded rosettes. Out-of-date sockets are cut by hand 1.5 months after the end of flowering, as they worsen the appearance of the plant and "inhibit" the growth of young children.

Winter care

Flowers love care, appreciate attention.If you do everything right, worry about your plants from early spring to late autumn, then they will definitely dissolve their delicate petals and delight you with their beauty.

If in summer the plant grows in the fresh air, then when the first changes in weather conditions occur, the flower pot is brought into the room.

Caring for bilbergia at home is simple: providing a sufficient amount of light, proper watering, fertilizing with mineral fertilizers. In winter, the flower is not sprayed, watered sparingly.

Possible problems

• light coffee stains on leaf plates. Most likely, the cause of this problem is sunburn. It is necessary to rearrange the plant to another place, excluding direct sunlight;
• browning of the tips of the leaf plates. The reason is irrigation with hard water or insufficient water in the outlet;
• death of culture. If the flower has not bloomed yet, then too moist soil may be the cause of death. If the plant has already bloomed, then the death of an adult representative is natural;
• the rosette of the sheet plates is loose and falls apart. The reason is that there is little light in the culture.

Pests, diseases, care errors

Bilbergia has good immunity, diseases and pests are not often affected.

Scabbard, aphids, mealybugs, spider mites can occasionally appear on the plant. They settle on both sides of the leaf plate, suck out the juice, which is why the leaves turn yellow, the growth rate slows down. Dampen a cotton ball or sponge with soapy water and wipe the leaves. Treat with insecticide if necessary.

Aphids leave secretions on which a sooty fungus can appear - remove the affected parts of the plant, treat with a fungicide.

Disadvantages in care contribute to the deterioration of the appearance of the plant:

• Brown spots appear on the leaves from sunburn.
• If watered with hard water or the water stagnates in the funnels, the tips of the leaves will turn brown.
• From a lack of lighting, the leaves will lose their elasticity, they will grow slowly.
• From waterlogging, plant decay can begin, often leading to death. An emergency transplant can help.

The dying off of the rosette (decay, drying) after flowering is a natural process.

Pests

In order to detect parasites in time, the plants are periodically carefully examined. To combat aphids and scabbard, a solution of Actellik is sprayed onto the plant in a proportion of 20 drops of the drug per 1 liter of water. If the plant is affected by a mealybug, then before spraying with Actellik's solution, the plant is wiped with alcohol or a solution of laundry soap.

To get rid of the tick, first collect all the cobwebs, after which the leaves are treated with a solution of ordinary soap and sprayed with Deciss.

Types of Bilbergia with photos and names

Bilbergia pyramidal Billbergia pyramidalis

Bilbergia pyramidal Billbergia pyramidalis photo
Terrestrial plant. The elongated funnel-shaped rosette consists of a small number of leaves. They are broadly linear, pointed tops, length is 60-80 cm, width - 5-6 cm, are painted in bright green color, the inflorescence leaves are dark red in color. Flowering begins in mid-spring and lasts until mid-summer. Funnel-shaped corollas are collected in pyramidal brushes. The stamens are yellow, the petals are fiery red.

Bilbergia magnificent Billbergia magnifica

Bilbergia magnificent Billbergia magnifica photo

Bright epiphyte. The leaf rosette is rare, consists of linear leaves with a pointed apex, the edges are covered with thorns. The length of the leaf is about 70 cm, the width is 6-8 cm. They are colored gray-green with transverse stripes on the outside. Blooms all summer. A loose inflorescence, drooping, consists of large oval-shaped buds, the petals can twist in a spiral, Anthers and apex of the corolla have a bluish tint, the rest of the color is pink.

Bilbergia drooping, drooping or Queen's tears Billbergia nutans

Bilbergia drooping Billbergia nutans home care

Numerous narrow leaves form a dense leaf rosette, the plant is epiphytic. The leaf plates stretch 60-70 cm, their width is only 1-2 cm.The edges are covered with thorns. The leaves are mostly green, but under intense light they take on a reddish, bronze tint. Rosaceous leaves are pink. The peduncle is drooping. Blooms all winter.

Bilbergia green Billbergia viridiflora

Bilbergia green-flowered Billbergia viridiflora photo

Epiphytic bilbergia. Linear leaves with pointed ends and serrated edges form a very dense rosette. The length of the leaf is 60-70 cm, the width is 5-6 cm. The leaves are bright green, the flowers are also colored green. Flowering lasts all spring and summer.

Bilbergia zebra Billbergia zebrina

Bilbergia zebra Billbergia zebrina photo

Under the influence of bright light, the leaf plates become purple-bronze with transverse silver stripes. The inflorescences and flowering stem have a bright pink color, corollas gather in loose racemose inflorescences. Blooms in June-July.

Bilbergia tape Billbergia vittata

Bilbergia tape Billbergia vittata photo

The pink flowering stem with bright pink bracts is decorated with dark blue corollas.

Bilbergia Saundersii

Billbergia Saundersii photo

The plant is about 30 cm high. The upper part of the leaf plates has a green-bronze color, the bottom is brown-red, specks and stripes of a yellow-pink color may be present.

Description of the plant

Bilbergia are epiphytes, that is, plants that live on trees. They have wide, belt-like leaves that form a rosette in which water naturally collects. On the leaves of some bilbergia, you can see grayish chalky spots, and the leaf plates of other species become pink in too bright light.

The homeland of the flower is Central and South America, Mexico, in addition, it is sometimes found in Brazil.

The culture is similar to the Bromeliad family only in the strong, fleshy structure of the leaves. In all other respects, it is similar to epiphytes — plants with bright and long inflorescences, leading a parasitic lifestyle.

The height of the perennial reaches 35-60 cm. The stem is absent, the leaves grow directly from the root. The leaf plates are narrow, with sharp tops. Sharp teeth are located along the edges. Outwardly, they resemble bulbs or cereals. The leaves are covered with small scales and form tubular rosettes, the purpose of which is to accumulate moisture. There are variegated and monochromatic options.

The inflorescences do not look very attractive at first glance. But the bracts of raspberry or pink color look very impressive. Panicles drooping, bluish at the edges. Flowers have a wide color range from colorless to deep purple. They are attached to long peduncles, arranged in a spiral.

The flowering period first occurs at the age of two or three years. It falls in the cold season, from October to January. For this reason, bilbergia is often used in autumn and winter interiors. At this time, it is especially pleasant to enjoy the beauty of a tropical flower.

Not everyone knows, but this plant has unique properties. More about them:

• saturation and ionization of air due to the release of special volatile substances;
• absorption of loud sounds and noises.