Plants
Neoregelia 'Fireball'
Neoregelia 'Fireball'
EasyFine in a closed jar
A small bromeliad that blushes red in bright light. Keep its cup filled.
What the simulation uses
- Light
- 8,000 to 25,000 lux
- The brightness it grows well in.
- Humidity
- 50 to 90 % RH
- Air moisture it is happy in; below the lower end it dries out.
- Temperature
- 10 to 32 °C
- Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.
- Dies at
- below 4 or above 38 °C
- Days beyond these temperatures kill it.
- Soil pH
- 5 to 6.5 pH
- Soil acidity it prefers.
- Grows up
- 0.35 cm/month
- How fast it gains height in good conditions.
- Spreads
- 1 cm/month
- How fast its edge creeps outwards.
- Copes with wet
- fair
- How well it stands soggy soil; poor means rot comes quickly.
- Copes with still air
- good
- Sealed jars have still air; poor means grey mould finds it.
- Copes with shade
- fair
- How well it holds on in dim light.
- Copes with drying
- good
- How well it survives the jar drying out.
- Water use
- 0.06 ml/cm²/day
- Water drawn up from its roots per cm² of leaves in room air; a sealed jar cuts this to a fraction and returns it down the glass.
- Leaf drop
- 2 %/month
- Share of its leaves it sheds each month as litter for the cleanup crew.
- Soft leaves
- no
- Soft new growth that hungry isopods will nibble.
- Full size
- 11.5 cm tall, 15 cm wide
- Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.
Care
- Day length
- 12 to 14 h
- Substrate
- Moist
What kills it
- soggy potting medium (root and crown rot)
- direct sun burn
- temperatures below 10 C
Description
In dim light the red fades back to green, so give it a bright spot. Keep the central cup topped up with soft water. Mount it on wood or plant it in airy bark, since dense wet soil rots the roots.
Also called mini bromeliad, fireball bromeliad.
Estimated, where sources were thin: mature_size_cm for 'Fireball' specifically; light_lux; growth rates; ph.