Testing out fungicide

~ Wei ~ Leave a comment

My Tillandsia intermedia is looking even sadder than it was three months ago. Since then, I’ve really controlled the watering and for a while, there were no new yellow patches. However recently, I noticed that some new yellow patches had appeared. Now I know that the patches can’t be due to overwatering so the other possible cause was fungal infection.

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Sad-looking Tillandsia intermedia

Besides the T. intermedia, my Tillandsia paucifolia also looked really sad. The yellow patches spread quickly over a few days to almost the whole plant. Some parts of the leaves had already died off.

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Sadder-looking Tillandsia paucifolia

Searching online it seemed that the brown (and possibly yellow) parts will remind but using a fungicide could prevent it from spreading and killing the plant.

So I went out and bought a bottle of fungicide from Giant for $6.50. A fellow tillandsia owner recommended Vitaram but this was the only fungicide available at Giant. The nurseries will have more fungicide varieties but getting there is quite inconvenient for me.

captan

By pure luck, captan happens to be one of the fungicide that can be used on tillandsias. Most articles online recommended to use fungicide that can be used on roses, which happens to be one of the plants listed on this bottle. To use this on tillandsias, I need to reduce the dosage by half. The bottle states mixing 3 grams of the fungicide power with 1 litre of water, so it means I should use 1.5 grams per 1 litre of water.

It is also written on the bottle that a measuring spoon is included but I cannot find it. It may be buried too deeply in the powder but I didn’t really feel like digging for it so I just estimate. I wore disposable gloves when mixing it as the bottle says it can be absorbed on contact with skin. Then I dipped the plants in the solution and left them to drip dry on the sink. I didn’t want to spray them. Spraying is messy and I am doing this indoors so I didn’t want the fungicide to get everywhere.

Last week I applied this on my T. intermedia, T. paucifolia and some other plants that were showing brown spots. I just want to make sure that the fungicide didn’t kill off the tillandsia before I apply this to the rest of my collection.

Good news is they are still alive after one week so I dunked the rest of the plants in the fungicide solution, even those that looked healthy. This will be useful for preventing future fungal infection now that the rainy season is starting.

Tillandsia stall at Heartland Mall

~ Wei ~ Leave a comment

If you are interested in buying air plants, there will be a stall at Heartland Mall from now until this Sunday (30 October) from 10 am to 9 pm. This seller gets his supply from Pick A Plant (I’m not sure if he is affiliated with the nursery) and usually has a range of air plants for beginners to collectors. 

Yellow patches on the leaves

~ Wei ~ Leave a comment

When I was watering the plants this morning, I noticed some yellow patches on the Tillandsia intermedia. It doesn’t look good. There were no yellow patches when I watered it last week.

intermedia 20160827

So I search on the internet and found that yellow patches on the leaves could mean that the plant was underwatered or overwatered. Yes, apparently underwatering and overwatering have the same symptoms. How do you tell whether which is the right remedy to take?

I’m leaning towards overwatering at the moment. Due to the heatwave last few weeks, I have been watering my plants more frequently. That might be the cause for the yellowing of the leaves. So I will cut back the watering on this plant and see if the situation improves.

New buys from the Singapore Garden Festival 2016

~ Wei ~ Leave a comment

I visited the Singapore Garden Festival 2016 last month. I went on two separate days and bought a few new tillandsias to add to my growing air plant garden at home. There are a few stores selling air plants but they seem to sell similar varieties.

Tillandsia ionantha Druid

First are the five Tillandsia ionantha Druid I bought from two stalls. I always wanted one as I read that instead of the leaves turning red when it blooms, the leaves are yellow instead. The flower is white instead purple like the usual ionantha varieties.

I bought the adult ones first. Then I came across these cute little pups at another stall and bought them before I realised they were also T. ionantha Druid. All of them will go on my ionantha rack.

Tillandsia ionantha Druid

The adult Druids had bloomed and you could see the dried flower stalks. Ideally, I prefer to get some ones that have not bloomed yet as most air plants only bloomed once in their lifetimes. However, the store where I saw these are only selling bloomed plants.

tillandsia druid 20160731c

One of the adult T. ionantha Druid already has pups. I was amazed when I saw that it had four pups forming. The seller must have fed it fertiliser while it was growing to get so many pups at the same time.

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I find the baby Druids are so cute and they are surprisingly soft to touch, almost like velvet. Love love love ❤

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The three above air plants had no id. I asked the person manning the stall but he was not the owner so he did not know what are their names.

Tillandsia tricolor var melanocrater

A member on the Singapore Tillandsia forum said that the two of them are likely Tillandsia tricolor var. melanocrater. These are plants with stiff, smooth leaves, unlike other Tillandsia species which have trichomes covering the leaf surfaces. The base of the leaves are a dark colour, almost purple.

Tillandsia no id

I have no idea what is the name of this plant. It looks like a pup and I’m going to wait for it to grow up before attempting to identify it. I love the fat, squat shape, so cute!

Tillandsia intermedia

I almost forgot about the Tillandisa intermedia. It is still a pup but as the leaves get longer, they will grow curvy, giving the plant a whimsical shape. I’ve read that it grows upside down so that’s how I will hang it.