The lance rosette (botanical Aechmea fasciata) only blooms once in its life. It is then disposed of. You should therefore pull offshoots if you want to care for this extraordinary houseplant. How to propagate a lance rosette.
How can you propagate a rosette of lances?
To propagate a lance rosette (Aechmea fasciata), you can either sow seeds or propagate the plant via kindles (offshoots). Propagation via Kindel is easier and more successful. Separate the children from the mother plant as soon as they are large enough and place them in nutrient-poor substrate.
Sow lance rosette or propagate via Kindel
There are two ways to propagate a lance rosette. Either grow them from seeds or use Kindel, which the plant forms after flowering.
Raising children is much easier and more successful than propagating them from seeds. Propagating a lanceolate rosette from seeds requires specialist knowledge of bromeliad propagation.
How to get seeds
Seeds for lance rosettes are not easy to find in stores. But you can try to get seeds from your flowering lanceolate rosette.
To do this, pollinate the flower with a brush. The fertilized flower produces berries that you can harvest. The seed cannot germinate for long and must be sown as soon as possible.
Sowing lance rosettes
- Soak seeds for at least 24 hours
- Prepare the seed tray
- Sowing seeds thinly
- do not cover with substrate (light germinator!)
- cover with plastic wrap
- set up bright and very warm
- Prick out and transplant later
The seed is very hard-shelled. If you don't pre-soak it, it can take months to germinate. Gardening experts use a solution of potassium nitrate or hydrogen peroxide for soaking.
The propagation of a lance rosette over Kindel
Only when the lance rosette blooms does it form small offshoots on the sides, so-called kindles. You can cut these off as soon as they are big enough. Prepare individual small cultivation pots that you fill with nutrient-poor substrate.
Separate the kindles with a clean, sharp knife and place them in the pots. Place the pots in a bright place with temperatures around 20 degrees. Keep the substrate slightly moist. Avoid direct sunlight during the first year.
It takes up to two years for the offshoots of the lance rosette to bloom for the first time.
Tip
A special feature of the lance rosette is that it forms a so-called cistern in its center. When caring for it, make sure that it is always filled with water so that the ornamental plant is adequately supplied.
