Bromeliads on palms

[Gonzer 1,990]

Some palms lend themselves readily for attaching tillandsias, others not so much. This Syagrus x montgomeryana is ideal due to it's persistent leaf bases. My big King however needed small i-bolts to hold various clumps but most have rooted onto the trunk.

[Chris Chance 1,041]

Looks awesome man! Funny thing is I just added some to my Parajubaea sunka the other day. With all the fiber I figured it would be perfect. 

[Gonzer 1,990]

Tillandsia xnidus (natural hybrid) on S. botyrophora

1030201131.jpg (1)

[Gonzer 1,990]

5 hours ago, Chris Chance said:

Looks awesome man! Funny thing is I just added some to my Parajubaea sunka the other day. With all the fiber I figured it would be perfect. 

 

Chris, by putting them directly on/in the fiber you do know that when the palm starts to trunk you'll lose the fiber and the plants, right? Best to attach/wire them to the leaf base or burrow through the fiber to attach to the trunk. Many of mine have rooted through the fiber and have found a permanent home. With the x montgomeryana the leaf bases are going to stay attached for a very long time giving the plants plenty of time to root. Remember to use small i-bolts, not gonna hurt the palm, and you can tie the plant to them.

[Chris Chance 1,041]

1 hour ago, Gonzer said:

Chris, by putting them directly on/hIin the fiber you do know that when the palm starts to trunk you'll lose the fiber and the plants, right? Best to attach/wire them to the leaf base or burrow through the fiber to attach to the trunk. Many of mine have rooted through the fiber and have found a permanent home. With the x montgomeryana the leaf bases are going to stay attached for a very long time giving the plants plenty of time to root. Remember to use small i-bolts, not gonna hurt the palm, and you can tie the plant to them.

Thanks for the advice. Honestly I never did this before but I've seen it done. It's hard to tell in the picture but most are tucked under the leaf bases or I carefully slipped them through the fiber as deep as I can. I know eventually the fiber will peel away. All of the Tillandsia I had here was in my greenhouse sitting on top of a pot all forgotten about. I have been clearing the greenhouse out and I just looked at the Parajubaea and thought that might be perfect. I also have mules that could be a good candidate. Is there any other advice? How often so you wet them? That kind of fun stuff.

[Tracy 6,765]

On 10/30/2020 at 3:23 PM, Gonzer said:

Chris, by putting them directly on/in the fiber you do know that when the palm starts to trunk you'll lose the fiber and the plants, right? Best to attach/wire them to the leaf base or burrow through the fiber to attach to the trunk. Many of mine have rooted through the fiber and have found a permanent home. With the x montgomeryana the leaf bases are going to stay attached for a very long time giving the plants plenty of time to root. Remember to use small i-bolts, not gonna hurt the palm, and you can tie the plant to them.

I too have been lazy on this front.  I just stick Tillandsia in the retained leaf bases of my Pritchardia palms.  I have always been reluctant to put anything into the trunk of a palm for fear of creating an entry point for fungus.  I've used fishing line to wrap orchids onto smooth trunk palms, but generally have avoided putting any bromeliads on smooth trunk palms.  I really like what you have done with yours and am always thinking about where I can put more epiphytes.

Chris on the wetting, that really depends on time of year and location.  Here everything has been wet due to fog overnight and a thick am marine layer so these don't require much beyond a weekly wetting right now.  They are far less demanding about getting watered than most of the orchid epiphytes I grow.  You probably will have to experiment in your climate and see how long you can go, with obviously more frequent water during Santa Ana's and summer.  Maybe Senior Gonzer can elaborate though, as he has far more knowledge than I do when it comes to bromeliads.... and likely plenty of other topics as well.

[Gonzer 1,990]

On 10/30/2020 at 4:33 PM, Chris Chance said:

Thanks for the advice. Honestly I never did this before but I've seen it done. It's hard to tell in the picture but most are tucked under the leaf bases or I carefully slipped them through the fiber as deep as I can. I know eventually the fiber will peel away. All of the Tillandsia I had here was in my greenhouse sitting on top of a pot all forgotten about. I have been clearing the greenhouse out and I just looked at the Parajubaea and thought that might be perfect. I also have mules that could be a good candidate. Is there any other advice? How often so you wet them? That kind of fun stuff.

Watered a couple times a week in warm weather, less in cooler. Important note; don't merely "wet" your plants, get 'em completely saturated till the water runs off.

[ExperimentalGrower 202]

On 10/30/2020 at 9:37 AM, Chris Chance said:

Looks awesome man! Funny thing is I just added some to my Parajubaea sunka the other day. With all the fiber I figured it would be perfect. 

Nice looking sunkha! I've started to do this to mine as well but as was said, given that it is still small I anticipate needing to do a lot of reattaching as the palm grows and begins to trunk. 

[Chris Chance 1,041]

3 hours ago, ExperimentalGrower said:

Nice looking sunkha! I've started to do this to mine as well but as was said, given that it is still small I anticipate needing to do a lot of reattaching as the palm grows and begins to trunk. 

I'm super bummed to let you know that sunka croaked out of nowhere. Did great for years then died within a few weeks.

[ExperimentalGrower 202]

2 hours ago, Chris Chance said:

I'm super bummed to let you know that sunka croaked out of nowhere. Did great for years then died within a few weeks.

Very sorry to hear that! The Parajubaeas all seem to have this issue. Was there a particular weather pattern that may have caused it? Warm nights? That seems to be a perpetual problem.

[realarch 6,283]

Just a few more from a wet garden. From a few attached a few years ago……..now there are many.

Tim

[realarch 6,283]

A few more.

Tim

[edbrown_III 314]

Aechmea gamosepala aka Matchstick1 on a chinese fan palm in my lil rainforest 

[ExperimentalGrower 202]

1 hour ago, edbrown_III said:

Aechmea gamosepala aka Matchstick1 on a chinese fan palm in my lil rainforest 

Awesome, looks pretty old?

[realarch 6,283]

That is really nice Ed. 

Tim

[bubba 1,905]

[bubba 1,905]

[bubba 1,905]

A few more:

[Kailua_Krish 576]

18 hours ago, bubba said:

A few more:

This is gonna be a stupid question but what genus of orchids are these? Ive been embarrassed to ask but gonna lay it out since its Xmas.

[Silas_Sancona 7,813]

2 hours ago, Kailua_Krish said:

This is gonna be a stupid question but what genus of orchids are these? Ive been embarrassed to ask but gonna lay it out since its Xmas.

Not a stupid question at all..

Those are a sp. of Myrmecophila.  **  Related, and similar looking Orchids in the Genus Schomburgkia were lumped into Myrmecophilia not too long ago, though some sellers do still sell plants as Schoms.

Good article from the AOS ( American Orchid Society )..
https://www.aos.org/orchids/collectors-items/farewell-schomburgkia.aspx

Great group of Orchids, but some sp. get HUGE in time.
 

[Darold Petty 3,706]

Kailua, there are no stupid questions, only lack of curiosity is stupid.  Happy holdays to all !   

[Kailua_Krish 576]

Thank you! I was thinking they might do better in the part of hawaii I live in then some of the other ones. 

[Silas_Sancona 7,813]

8 minutes ago, Kailua_Krish said:

Thank you! I was thinking they might do better in the part of hawaii I live in then some of the other ones. 

Hawaii is pretty much the Orchid capitol of the U.S..  As long as you keep some moisture to them when they need it, if you were on a drier side of the Island, Pretty sure these would go nuts there. Not certain on this, but think flowers might be used in Leis / Headband- type things, much like Cattleya, Dendrobium, and Vanda. 

Most commonly seen species, M. tibicinis can produce flower stalks that can reach 10ft  ( or more ) in length.

[Kailua_Krish 576]

5 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Hawaii is pretty much the Orchid capitol of the U.S..  As long as you keep some moisture to them when they need it, if you were on a drier side of the Island, Pretty sure these would go nuts there. Not certain on this, but think flowers might be used in Leis / Headband- type things, much like Cattleya, Dendrobium, and Vanda. 

Most commonly seen species, M. tibicinis can produce flower stalks that can reach 10ft  ( or more ) in length.

Yeah, Im pretty familiar with most of the common species. Where I live is near the ocean and dryer with mostly winter rainfall (approx 40"). Im trying to figure out which species I can mount here without having to provide supplemental irrigation. So fare some of the semiterete vandas do well (of course the terete ones do) but the dendrobium have struggled. Haven't even wasted my time while phals as I know they dont do well. My neighbors have what I think is M. tibicinis and theirs seems to survive the dry summer well so Ive wanted to try one.

 

Most lei use dendrobium flowers

[Silas_Sancona 7,813]

2 minutes ago, Kailua_Krish said:

Yeah, Im pretty familiar with most of the common species. Where I live is near the ocean and dryer with mostly winter rainfall (approx 40"). Im trying to figure out which species I can mount here without having to provide supplemental irrigation. So fare some of the semiterete vandas do well (of course the terete ones do) but the dendrobium have struggled. Haven't even wasted my time while phals as I know they dont do well. My neighbors have what I think is M. tibicinis and theirs seems to survive the dry summer well so Ive wanted to try one.

Its a neat orchid.. As are many of the other sp.  / crosses w/ Cattleya and Laelia.  Remember seeing a massive -sized specimen at a growers nursery in FL. that was mind blowing when flowering.