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Mounting a bromeliad?

curtisconners

Greetings from the netherworld.
Hey, terraforums. I want to mount a small bromeliad to some cork bark and add it to my gecko terrarium. Are they safe for crested geckos? Can bromeliads handle distilled water? I know that tillandsia can't take distilled water. Would a mounted bromeliad be ok being sprayed with distilled water once a day? Thanks.
 
What makes you think they can't take distilled water? Just as with cps and orchids, Waterloo in TDS is the best choice.

Hot glue generally works well.

Real Q is whether the crestie will be safe for the brom. Animals tend to beat up plants -- not unlike the way lawns get bare areas due to foot traffic.

Whether you will be able to keep the brom healthy in crestie conditions is another Q. Much header to create good conditions for both animals and plant life. But if you don't mind the brom being more of a "disposable" plant then no worries at all.



 
The reason I was concerned about distilled water is because of tillandsia nor being able to take distilled water and tillandsia are members of the bromeliad family. Thanks for the tip about hot glue, I would've used twine otherwise. Dr. Conners (my gecko) is pretty easy on plants. The worst thing he's done to the pothos in in his tank is poop on it. Thanks for the help.
 
What was the reasoning given for not using distilled on tillies? I use RO or rain water on mine all the time. Don't see why distilled would be any different.
 
I was reading up on them after getting some. Distilled water is so pure that it leaches the nutrients out of tillandsia leaves. It sounds strange to me too, but every care sheet I've read on them says not to give distilled water and that rain water is fine. I've seen at least one care sheet that said ro was fine.
 
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I just googled tillandsia care sheets and read the first ten out of twelve that popped up. (one wouldn't open and one required personal information thus I read ten of the first twelve) Not a single one said anything about what water to use or not use. Just warnings about diluting ferts to prevent burn.
 
I just did my own google search, more extensive than my previous one. 7 of the first 11 care sheets that came up under the search "tillandsia care" said not to use distilled water, however I didn't read the tenth one because it was written by someone who had never grown tillandsia before.
 
I am not aware of water being an issue for bromeliads. In general, they do love to feed as they drink but are also quite capable of absorbing plenty of nutrients from the air. Over a looking period of time pure water might starve them, but by no means are you going to seriously harm or kill a tillandsia with a spritz of RO or DI water. And furthermore, that problem is easily corrected with a foliar spray of liquid feed. Airplants are extremely hardy and versatile plants.
 
  • #10
Nice link, thanks.
 
  • #12
Everyone is welcome for the link, I have some broms myself and know I can't use my household water for them. My raw well water is very iron heavy and is put through a softener plus "iron out". I use rain water whenever possible for everything, broms, cp's and chids. If I don't have any I use distilled or make the trek to buy RO.
 
  • #13
Depending on the size of your crestie and the brom size, it might get trampled a good bit. Another few good methods of mounting the brom would be toothpicks through the stolon and pushed into the background forming an "X" (if it is soft enough for that). An alternative is to use stiff wire, and make something like a staple around the brom holding it to the background that way.
 
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