Bromeliad
Bromeliaceae (e.g., Guzmania, Neoregelia, Aechmea)
Through the year 🗓️
☀️ Summer now
Flush the central cup weekly in the heat and shade it from harsh sun.
🍂 Fall
Growth slows; keep humidity up as indoor heating dries the air.
❄️ Winter
Keep the cup barely filled and the mix drier; move away from cold windows.
🌱 Spring
Pup season: separate offsets once they reach a third of the parent size, and keep the cup fresh.
The details
Light & placement
- Light
- Bright indirect; most dislike harsh direct sun
- Ideal PPFD
- 150–350 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹
- Grow-light distance
- 18–24 in below LED
Water & feed
- Watering method
- Keep the central cup/"tank" filled and flush it weekly; keep the mix lightly moist. Use distilled or rainwater, as it is sensitive to salts, chlorine & fluoride.
- Fertilizer
- Balanced feed at ¼ strength, monthly in the growing season; apply to soil/foliage, never in the central cup.
Home & habit
- Soil
- Fast-draining epiphytic mix (orchid bark + coco/peat + perlite); pH 4.0–6.0
- Humidity
- High (50–60%+); mist or use a pebble tray
- Temperature
- 60–80 °F
- Mature size
- ~1–2 ft
- Repotting
- Rarely; mainly to pot up separated pups
- Propagation
- "Pups" (offsets) form at the base after flowering; separate once ~⅓ the parent's size.
When something looks wrong
- Overwatering signs
- Soggy soil → soft, rotting base; stagnant or foul-smelling cup water
- Underwatering signs
- Dry, curling leaves with brown tips; an empty cup
- Common pests
- Scale, mealybugs, aphids
Common problems 🩺
The usual suspects when Bromeliad looks unhappy. Most houseplant trouble is watering or light, not disease — see all plant problems if you are not sure which plant is the culprit.
Browning leaf tips
Likely cause
Dry air or tap-water minerals in the central cup.
What to do
Keep the cup topped up with filtered or rainwater and flush it out regularly.
The whole plant fading after flowering
Likely cause
Normal. A bromeliad flowers once, then slowly dies while producing pups.
What to do
Not a problem to fix — let the pups grow to a third of the parent size, then separate them.
Rot at the base
Likely cause
Soil kept wet. Bromeliads drink from the cup, not the roots.
What to do
Water into the central cup and keep the potting mix only barely moist.
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