The fact that the bromeliad, which was initially colorful, loses its color over time leads to great disappointment among many gardeners. Does the owner have to dispose of them after they have flowered once? Luckily not, because with the right care it not only delays the loss of color but also preserves the plant for several years.
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Discard bromeliads after color loss?
Unfortunately, the mother plant does not recover after flowering and soon dies. But that is by no means a reason to dispose of the plant, because propagation is very simple, almost automatic. If you look closely, you can see tiny shoots at the base. These are children from which new bromeliads will develop if they are cared for appropriately. The gardener has two options for propagation.
Leave the children on the mother plant
Although the original bromeliad dies and loses its color, it looks good when the young buds turn green. The death of the mother plant in no way inhibits the growth of the new bromeliads. Even professional growers use this method.
Remove and repot the children
For reasons of space, it may be advisable to give up the old bromeliad and instead concentrate on raising the children alone. In this case, the time of repotting is very important for success:
- Only cut off the children when the mother plant has completely faded
- only then are they sufficiently developed to also become green
- Children should be at least 10 cm tall
- place in a pot with orchid or garden soil
- Kindel flower for the first time after 2 to 3 years
prevent color loss
So that the new bromeliad does not lose its color so quickly, the gardener should observe the following care tips.
location
The pineapple plant, which comes from Brazil, feels most comfortable in bright, warm locations, in accordance with its origin. However, the gardener must not expose the plant to direct sun. However, high humidity is required. In addition, temperatures should be between 24 and 32°C so that the bromeliad does not lose its color prematurely.
pouring behaviour
The exotic plant mainly absorbs the irrigation water via the funnel. Incorrect watering behavior is one of the most common causes of bromeliads turning green. The gardener should never pour large amounts of water on the leaves. If the plant is then also in an unfavorable place, its foliage threatens to burn due to the magnifying glass effect. In order to moisten the leaves, the gardener may only dust them with a little liquid. The substrate should also only be watered very lightly.
Tap water is unsuitable for watering. Instead, the gardener should use rainwater or distilled water. If you have no way of catching rainwater, you can produce suitable irrigation water as follows:
- Briefly boil tap water
- put in a bowl
- add a few dashes of vinegar
- let cool down
The right substrate
The bromelia feels comfortable in conventional potting soil as well as in orchid soil. If you want, you can mix the substrate yourself. For this he uses
- leaf soil
- peat
- and sand
in a ratio of 3:1:1.
The bromeliad does not need fertilizer.
Despite the diversity of species, all bromeliads share a common characteristic: their leaves are sometimes more, sometimes less covered with scales. These serve to protect against water evaporation, since the plant comes from hot regions. If the plant has a particularly large number of scales, it has a silvery-grey film. The color therefore serves as an indication for the choice of location.
