Tillandsia secunda - Viviparous species.

"Viviparous - reproducing from buds which form plantlets while still attached to the parent plant, or from seeds which germinate within the fruit."

As with the first definitionhese plantlets/pups appear on this Tillandsia species in large numbers, as well as in the axils of the subfoliate scape bracts, as well as in the axils of the sterile bracts of the stem-like section of the spike.

The two names in bold are recognized and also shows the recent name changes:

Tillandsia secunda Sessé & Moç. => Pitcairnia palmeri var. palmeri
Tillandsia secunda Kunth
Tillandsia secunda sensu André => Tillandsia mima
Tillandsia secunda Sensu L.B.Sm. => Tillandsia cucullata
Tillandsia secunda var. major Rauh
Tillandsia secunda var. vivipara Rauh => Tillandsia secunda

 My plants would probably have been labeled Tillandsia secunda var. vivipara Rauh

The species grows as a terrestrial and on rocks and cliffs, 2000-3500 m alt, Ecuador.

The history of the plant.

 The plant was bought in November 2017. The plant was growing well and cleaning it up a bit, I noticed it was planted in garden soil. I decided not to bother with repotting because it was doing well.

This is the plant March 2018. I placed the plant in good light on a stand and it is growing very fast!

November 2018:

September 2019: The pot seems very small in relation with the plant now.
After each winter there seems to be some cold damage visible on the leaves as they grow out. Temperatures here can fall to 4 degrees Celsius in winter.

2 October 2019: Spring here and the first sign of a spike forming:

12 October 2019: Only 10 days passed and the spike is visible - incredible how fast they spike!

16 October 2019. The flower spike is growing out of the leaves.

27 October 2020. The plant was taken from the stand and placed on the floor. The spike was getting too long and I was worried about heat damage close to the roof. The first lateral spikes are visible.

23 November 2019:

5 January 2020. Flowers opened for the first time. The flowers and floral bracts are secund, meaning the hang down and most in the same direction.

On this plant the stigma extend beyond the petals. The anthers are just visible. Not all flowers opens as nicely as these ones did. (I do believe a lot of the flowers that did not open fully are going to be self pollinated - but only time will tell.)

Comparison of flowers with the one Ken Woods posted on bromeliad.org.au.

Did some pollinating. Will report on them if they develop.

Mostly used Tillandsia flabellata and Tillandsia capitat 'Rubra' as pollen parents.

6 January 2020. The first pup lower down is visible. Notice also the water in the "tank" of the plant. I believe that it holds more than a liter of water in the axils of the leaves, but I did not measure!

15 March 2020 - Pups galore! Some branches developed at the lowered bracts and up to three pups formed on them! At this stage no pups forming at the base.

 This one from Trevor Brauckmann seems to be pupping from the base also:

 Flowering and pups forming happens simultaneously. I do feed regularly and this probably boosted pups forming.

Some explanatory pictures of where the pups formed:

 It seems that the plant is weaning some of the pups. They came loose only by touching them.
(I am thinking this is a way of the plant spreading- these smaller pups can be easily washed down a slope or even the wind blowing them around will disperse them away from the mother plant?)

The inflorescence 30 March 2020.

 

 Growing conditions.

• LIGHT : My plant is grown in about 60-70% sunlight. 
• HUMIDITY : Because it is grown under plastic and shade netting, the humidity in summer is quite high. In winter I rarely water, so the humidity is very low then.
• TEMPERATURES: Temperatures can go below 0 degrees Celsius, but it normally goes down to 4. In summer temperatures can go up to 40 degrees Celsius outside - inside it can go up to 43!
• Feeding: As frequently as possible using organics through the micro sprayers.  
• Watering : Probably 2-3 times a week in summer early in the mornings. In winter very rarely and only on warmer days.
• Potting/Mounting etc.: My plant is potted in garden soil, but I do have others that is mounted or growing hanging in the air. The important thing is to keep the "tanks" filled with water or they will dehydrate if not potted up - especially in a dry climate like mine.

Tillandsia secunda grown by others:

 Marie Goosen

 Marlene Astrid

Riette Theron

31 MARCH 2020 - WILL KEEP THIS POST UPDATED AS THINGS DEVELOP. ANY COMMENTS WELCOME.

Tillandsia reichenbachii - love the fragrance.

This species is similar to T. duratii but doesn’t grow as large. It produces fragrant flowers similar to Tillandsia duratii. The leaves are a bit more stiff and less curly.

Tillandsia aeranthos - 5 different ones give color without fail!

6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) - a (non- scientific) experiment.

 WHAT IS BAP?

6-Benzylaminopurine, benzyl adenine, BAP or BA is a first-generation synthetic cytokinin that elicits plant growth and development responses, setting blossoms and stimulating fruit richness by stimulating cell division.

I came into contact with this when I grew orchids and I needed it to promote keikies (growths) on orchids flowering stems. It is mostly used on Phalaenopsis because they do this naturally and sometimes just pushing them making a keiki and not another stalk on a node. I had some success with it, but not "WOW" results. I used wool fat as to hold the Bap after dissolving it with
sodium hydroxide. I remember that it was suggested that it could be used to promote pupping on Tillandsia.

Loving to experiment I found the little bottle stashed away in a box and decided to experiment on Tillandsia. After dissolving a pinch of BAP in citric acid and then with 500ml of water, the experiment began!

I used two Tillandsia xerographica from the same source in flower. The plants were almost the same size also. This is when I recieved the plants in January 2018:

The plants in the Tillandsia house:


I sprayed the plant with the solution a few times a day and probably over a weeks time. I made sure that the whole plant was sprayed. This one was chosen for the experiment:

This is the control plant:

 

This is the control plant with one pup in April 2019. I also got one seed pod!

The treated plant also in April 2019.  9 pups formed on this plant, but they were much smaller than the control plant's pup.

I removed the pup on the control plant to hopefully get more pups.

This is the comparison between the removed pup and the ones on the treated plant in June 2019.

The treated plant in October 2019. I removed the two biggest pups.

4 more pups were removed in November 2019. The yellow powder is flowers of sulfur.

This is the treated plant in March 2020. It seems that the growth of the last 3 pups are  suppressed, because there is very little growth on them.

With no scientific certainty, I do believe that BAP promotes the forming of pups, but probably also act as a growth retardant. Will post pics of the pups that were removed, soon. 

30 March 2020:

One of the pups removed in November 2019 is pupping! It seems that the hormones has mixed up the plant normal growth pattern.

Any comments welcome.

Comment from

Richard King I have used 6BAP . I use it in my plant tissue culture lab to induce multiplication in orchids such as Cattleya and Oncidium - and have also done some trials on Tillandsia - 50mg/L applied weekly for ten weeks. I got amazing results - a tomaselli gave me 17 pups. The problem is that BA is very strong, and can cause growth defects and mutations (seldom if ever advantageous). Nature has checks and balances, and if it gives, it also takes - Plants have a very finely tuned balance between the different plant growth regulators (hormones).They act in synergy. For example, auxins at the apex of the plant suppress the activity of cytokinins in the axillary meristems - So the plant is a finely tuned clock, and throwing a lot of BA into the system is going to upset the balance. You may get deformed pups, or pups that flower prematurely. ie, it can send the plant into overdrive, almost like a cancer.

Comment from 

Frank Bezuidenhout 6BAP works well on Tillandsia but better on some species than other. Xerographica may not have been the best choice for it's extremely slow growth rate. It does however require a bit more science than a "pinch" dissolved on NaOH. It needs to be brought very accurately to a standard solution (1ml = 1mg) and neutralised with HCL before diluting to your required strength. I have never seen or heard of it applied 3 times a day over such a short period but rather at lower dosage 2 to 3 times a week for between 6 to 12 weeks depending on dosage selected. You have possibly hugely overdosed with what is essentially a growth tip retarder, which would explain your slow inferior growth of the test pups. Normally it is also applied to plants that have already done flowering. I have dabbled in 6BAP and had great success with plants like Cacticola for example with a seasonal growth cycle.......

Interesting how these double flowers were formed on Euphorbia milii Thai hybrid.

Removed two more pups from the mother plant. The one is a bit stunted, but it will survive. Now there is one pup left. The mother gave me 9 pups.....I think it is almost done.