Silver Tills in pots ??

13 years ago

Hi everyone, especially gonzer and any other Tillmeisters about.

I've had this (another) bee in my bonnet about growing some of the silver Tills in pots after seeing an absolutely stunning, irridescently white/silver/fluffy/perfectly symetrical but still dis-arranged T. tectorum grown that way at a local show, and a similarly brilliant T. ehlersiana (I think) at a show reported in these threads.

I have a T. tectorum and a T. ehlersiana that I'm just about to glue to a chunk of quartz or something else impervious and stick upright in a pot full of volcanic scoria, and I'm fairly comfortable with that, but tonight I came home with my weekly winter-night ration of eBay Tills to mount up, and one of them is a big T. seleriana that is just an absolute beauty. It is almost symetrical and would look just fantastic next to the upright T. ehlersiana and T. tectorum, but I just have to ask, does T. seleriana grow OK upright, or does it fill up with water and rot?

I'd hate to loose such a seriously nice plant, but I really really really want to stick it in a pot. All counselling would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Paul

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Comments (7)

bromadams
13 years ago
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User
13 years ago
Paul, medium size scoria and/or orchid bark in a terra-cotta pot would be fine as long as you water from the edge. I use this method for the super-size ionanthas. I'm sure you've seen the examples in Hiro's "Handbook"?
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paul_t23
Original Author
13 years ago
Hi Nick, just love it. Hi gonzer, sounds great. WCIF Hiro? I guess I should probably google-or-other-search-engine-it.
Many thanks, Paul
bromadams
13 years ago
Paul, that's not my plant. I suspect that you will need room for the pups but I'm not sure. I bought my ehlersiana with pups so I put it in a bigger pot to give the pups some room. I just tossed in a few pieces of lava rock and bark to keep it off the bottom of the pot. I've only had it for 4 months so I'm not totally sure this is a good set up in the long run.

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User
13 years ago
Paul, Hiro is Hiro Takazawa who authored "The New Tillandsia Handbook". An indispensible guide even if it is written in Japanese. He shows many plants potted up exactly as Nick's showing.
paul_t23
Original Author
13 years ago
Hi gonzer,

Thanks very much for that. I've only been getting into Tills for a bit over a year and I haven't acquired or seen any Till books yet. That's something I must do so thanks for the pointer, but what will that do to my already out-of-control apetite for more Tills!!!

Another neophyte question if I might. When you say "water from the edge", does that mean no direct watering on the plant at all, just misting or light wetting?

And Nick, thanks for that pic. Nice plant, and I see what you mean about the pups. My hesitation is rapidly waining - I'm off down the yard to pot up a couple of Tills!

Cheers, Paul
bromadams
13 years ago
My tills grow outside and for the most part they don't mind getting soaked by the rain and I do water a fair number of them twice a week with the hose if it doesn't rain. T novakii is one that doesn't seem to like water or wet surfaces.

I do think that you are better off mounting them on the smallest surface possible. A big ehlersiana is one of those that you can't easily mount. It also didn't look good in a wooden orchid basket. This 'Pink Velvet' does look good in an orchid basket.

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