How long do bromeliads live? That’s a question many gardeners often ask, since many bromeliads are fairly short lived and hard to revive when the time comes. The answer is: all depends on the species. Different species of bromeliads have different growth periods (some produce blooms and die off earlier), so there really isn’t one hard and fast rule for how long they live.
Some of the most common bromeliads live indoors all year, and in some cases indoor bromeliads can even outlast their outdoor counterparts. Some produce beautiful blooms throughout the winter, some die back in the spring, and some produce dewy leaves in the summer months. You can expect your indoor bromeliads to get a good few blooms every year! If you want to get them started early, you should be able to get a blooming plant in September.
Of course, if you want to get an indoor plant started in the fall, you’ll need to find a plant with large blooms and a long lifespan. This is why the common variety is usually the best choice. These plants are short lived, but produce large quantities of blooms. For this reason, they are perfect for a window planter or hanging baskets in the hallway outside of the house.
If you want to know how long do bromeliads live, but you don’t want to spend lots of money buying them, you can keep them indoors all year, while pruning the mother plant to keep the plant reproducing. Keep the mother plant alive, but remove the blooming part of the trunk (the part that produces seeds). Prune the remaining part of the trunk until it turns brown, and then repot the plant. You should be able to grow a new, fully grown plant in the area where you originally got the mother plant.
How long do bromeliads live outdoors? Some varieties, such as the red spider bromeliads, can survive in some extreme conditions, but many others will not. These types of bromeliads grow on trees that have needles falling off. The needles then collect water and become brown, rot, and stain the leaves. The leaves turn brown, drop off, and then grow back larger than the original. This condition can last several months, so it’s not a good idea to try to grow this type of bromeliad outdoors.
How long do bromelias live outdoors? Most varieties will do fine in full sun, but you should provide them with indirect light or never leave the plant in direct sunlight, even for short periods. Direct sunlight can cause too much evaporation, and the leaves will burn very easily. Don’t try to save energy by growing your brombean in an apartment that has lots of shade. If your area never gets full sun, or gets a lot of indirect light, your plant store will have information about the best conditions for your bromeliad.
How long do bromeliads live in their pots during their growing season? Many gardeners mistakenly think that they can keep growing a plant until the plant starts to die. In most cases, you shouldn’t. The key to brominator success is making sure that the soil is always moist and rich in nutrients, and that your plant is getting enough light. Too much light and not enough nutrients are the worst combination for most tropical plants, and this is especially true for the bromeliad. Make sure you give it enough time to grow and bloom.
When you get ready to replant your blooming plants, check their growth charts to determine when you should replant them. If your chart says you should replant at the beginning of the new year, then you should, no matter how busy you might be, put new plants in the ground as soon as you can. The first bloom from your new plants will be the most beautiful, so it’s important to take as many of them as possible. You’ll be glad you did.
