Hechtia rosea photo

[Palm crazy]

When I got this plant four years ago it came with bright orange leaves. Since then it has never had them again. So my question is how do I get them to turn orange?

Is it heat and drought or cold and sunny that makes them orange? Gets around 5 hours of full sun.

In early summer started showing color (then it rained) turn green over night and stay that way rest of summer.

Thank you!

BTW hechtia rosea is rated at 9b but I can tell you its a lot hardier than that. Easy in a cold 9a. As long as it doesn't stay cold for to long, in a warm 8b with protection.

[MattyB]

Interesting. I have no experience with these but with these types of plants it's usually the sun that colors them up. Maybe once Spring/Summer hits your surrounding plants leaf out and create too much shade. Just a thought.

[Gonzer]

Like this?

[XYZ]

I grow many of the spotted, banded and colored Hechtia spp. from México and Guatemala and have both H. rosea in my collection and experience with it in the wild. Hechtias are rather unusual in that they have very marked summer (wet season) and winter (dry season) leaf colors. I would say that mine, grown full sun at about 5,000', start to color up in January and attain full color in mid-May just after the rains start. After that, they almost all rapidly fade to concolorous green or yellow-green by August. Not sure that in a winter rains regimen you will be able to get them to color up unless grown hard under clear polycarb with almost no water. Remember that most of these species (not all) are lithophytes the grow under very demanding conditions in nature.

I have a large colony of a very beautiful no-name, heavily-armed Oaxacan species that is chromium yellow with crimson polka-dots at the height of our summer (early April). Of the many terrestrial bromeliads that I grow it is far and away the one that attracts the most attention from amateur collectors. When it's in full dry season color, I am sure that I could sell every offset for 75 bucks on the spot...when it's at the end of the wets, doubt I could give it away to most of the same clients unless they had seen it six months earlier. In flower now (male) and completely glossy-gray. Got it from Guy Wrinkle years back; not as advertised and a clear case of mistaken ID, but an amazing hechtia all the same.

Good luck,

J

[Palm crazy]

Sound like I have the reverse rainy season for this bromeliad. Will grow it on the front porch which is hotter and drier. Will keep one in the ground with clear cover, see if that helps. (But in a more sunnier-hotter spot as mention by Matt.)

My future plan is to switch over to bromeliads with winter rain and dry summers. I really like the coloration and shape of Dyckia's so that will be my next plant lust.

S.J. I've always enjoy your post on these type of plants here and at GOTE. Thank you very much!

How good are you with Haworthia? Have one that is very hardy but can't ID it.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

~ Roger.

Gonzer here's a picture of H.rosea I found off the net. Looks just like the one I got four years ago, but mine was a smaller plant. Even the dead leaf tips are the same.

Edited October 20, 2011 by Palm crazy

[Darold Petty]

I just attended a program on Hectia species given by the SF Bromeliad Society. It showed several species in southwestern Mexico. They all grew in full, hot sun on harsh, stony hillsides, many as true lithophytes on bare rock. They color when stressed by heat and drought. The transformation to concolor glaucous green after the rainy season begins is truly amazing.