Bromeliad: Hohenbergia castellanosii

September 13, 2023

Anyone out there growing this guy. I was looking for sun tolerant bromeliads that were medium sized, and this one came up as the best of the best for full sun (which I doubt, it would have to at least be a tie with Aechmea blanchetiana which can tolerate super-full blazing sun, but gets huge). They say to keep them very dry down below. I’m wondering if anyone is growing these well. They don’t seem super popular. I can’t really keep them super dry, so I’m hoping they can get somewhat wet in blazing sun. They arrived in 8 inch pots in dense wet medium. I put them out in no man’s land where they are getting blasted by noon til setting sun. Any pointers? Pics?

September 14, 2023

Wow, yours look MUCH better than mine!

I’ve had mine a few years now, and they’ve never looked very interesting. Mine stay solid green, even in my hottest spot. They also BITE (have to use my long leather gloves). They do “pup” well at least.

Mine are now hidden on a back row, but looked like the GREEN parts of the below Tropiflora page (but without the slightest hint of non-green color).
https://tropiflora.com/products/hohenbergia-castellanosii

If mine had the color yours do I’d love it!

As for care, mine always seemed healthy (just lacking color). I have them in a relatively well-watered bed, but we don’t get much rainfall. Soil is heavily amended clay, and they’ve handled my sunniest spot fine. Different climate, but hope that helps!

September 14, 2023

19 minutes ago, iDesign said:

Wow, yours look MUCH better than mine!

I’ve had mine a few years now, and they’ve never looked very interesting. Mine stay solid green, even in my hottest spot. They also BITE (have to use my long leather gloves). They do “pup” well at least.

Mine are now hidden on a back row, but looked like the GREEN parts of the below Tropiflora page (but without the slightest hint of non-green color).
https://tropiflora.com/products/hohenbergia-castellanosii

If mine had the color yours do I’d love it!

As for care, mine always seemed healthy (just lacking color). I have them in a relatively well-watered bed, but we don’t get much rainfall. Soil is heavily amended clay, and they’ve handled my sunniest spot fine. Different climate, but hope that helps!

Glad they survive some water. I’ll be sad if they crump, as it was a pain to track these down.

I read somewhere that they can take all the sun you can give (so I gave), and that the lemon-lime and red will get more intense with more sun. They are in a lot of sun here, and the tips are already expanding their red ends. They give a nice color “pop” to the front bed area, which was a little dull.

Habitat pics…

I also read that they get more red before flowering. Some of the various bromeliads seem to get better color seasonally, or is it with the arrival of cooler weather, or is it the day-night temperature differential, or getting the perfect balance of light?…. Or some combo?

….It seems to get pretty complicated and difficult to predict, so I just make a guess and toss them in the ground. If they bleach out, or rot away, I’ve guessed wrong and I’m a bad brom-dad.

I also did the unthinkable, after yanking all of the overgrown, ubiquitous, giant orange Aechmea blanchetiana….. I went and got a few pups of a nice, giant purple Aechmea mulfordii malva from a solid line. I just couldn’t help it. They looked so nice. They are also said to take a lot of sun, if needed, but get better purple color in part sun. I’ll post some pics tomorrow. I’ll have to manage those better as they pup out.

September 14, 2023

I've had my clump for years. It's a plant that requires all day sun to look its best. it is somewhat cold tender, getting damaged in the low 30's F.

September 14, 2023

4 hours ago, SubTropicRay said:

I've had my clump for years. It's a plant that requires all day sun to look its best. it is somewhat cold tender, getting damaged in the low 30's F.

Last winter, we had about 3 days in the 40s at night and mid 50s during the day. That mid 50s during the day for multiple days is unusual here. The Aechmea bromeliads of various types all moderately burned from that. I was surprised how much damage they took. Definitely my least cold hardy plants. They took about 5 months to grow out of the damage.

These Aechmea mulfordii malva have great color…. They will be huge. But I couldn’t resist picking them up…

This malva pup from a different source is not as colorful, but still nice….

This one can take full sun, but is better colored with part sun. It burnt bad over winter….

These Aechmea blanchetiana pups were the only rescues from my massacre a few months ago. They tolerate full sun and no care here, and get bright orange in summer and deep red in late winter. They burn a lot in cool weather, but grow and multiply fast. In just a little shade they turn more green. They are still fairly green from the shade of their mothers, despite sitting in full sun for a long time now….

September 14, 2023

I’ve also been just snagging various bromeliads locally and on Etsy as I’ve been running across them. Testing sun tolerance and general yard happiness in various spots.

This Neoregelia red tiger I’ve had for 3 years. It makes about 1.5 full sized clones per year.

I’ve been trying out various other types here and there…

Billbergia something…

This planter box is now a sun torture testing bed….

February 29

In the end, these guys handled the sun just fine, but they didn’t seem overly happy with the wet season and moist earth where I had them. They lost their ted tips over the wet season, and had a bit of spotting.

I ended up swapping them out for some large Neoregelia species, and potted them up to a sandy mix and put them back in the on deck circle….