Oh Chanin,
there you hit one of my
all time favorite bromeliads
This is a very delicate one, but in my opinion maybe the most
beautiful bromeliad at all.
The normal habit is small rosette, with about 20cm in diameter.
You have probably already noticed that the leafs are
very brittle.
Usually the leafs are standing abit upright in a more or less 45° angle.
But when it comes in bloom, all of a sudden the leafs are flatten down
to the ground so they assemble a plate, that is what the name
tabuliformis means.
And for only a few days you get these sensational bright orange
blossoms.
I have to tell you guys a story about my plants......
When I started working with the bromeliads in Heidelberg,
at least 10 years ago, somebody sent me a little seedpod of
Pitcairnia tabuliformis. I did not know that species at that time
so I treated it like all other seeds. And they germinated like hell.
After 1 year I had over 200 seedling !!
I ran out of space in my greenhouse and so I tried to get rid of them,
thinking "
if they grow like weed, it cannot be something special".
In the end I kept around 15-20 plants.
How stupid I was !
Later on they became less and less every year.
Today there are only
4 left.
Cultivation:
Due to the fact that there was no person to ask about the cultivation I
had to experiment with them. What I can tell you so far is, that this
species is
very delicate and needs a lot of attention, especially
in a european winter.
It prefers a rather cool environment, 15°C to 20°C I guess, so YOU
probably need to cool it down in Thailand.
It must be potted and likes a lot of water, but good drainage too.
Rauh notes in his book that it has a dormate period in the winter time,
which I cannot confirm so far, but maybe he ment it because of the
darkness here in Germany in winter.
Keep it shady and keep looking in the center and to the base every
other day. Constant moisture in the soil combined with low temperatures
and light can make it rott very fast.
And snails love the leafs
Propagation:
As I said, seeds are the easiest way, but they are hard to get.
My plant seem to be steril, I pollinated them several times but never
got seeds. If you are lucky enough to get it into bloom,
and the first pups do appear:
WAIT............WAIT..............WAIT before you cut them off !!
I usually loose 2/3 of them when I tried root them too early.
Keep them together as long as you can and as long the motherplant
is still alive.
I have setup the data sheet for this species in the english
Bromwiki
for you:
http://ephedra.hip.uni-heidelberg.de/br ... buliformis
Lets see if I (or anybody else) can find any more infos for you.
I keep my fingers crossed for you both because the flower are worth
all that work.
GOOD LUCK !!
Greetz Timm