How should I take care of my bromeliad?

Question

I have the following indoor plant but it looks it is not happy. Some of the leaves turned brown and the flower is dry. Is this a perennial plant? Do you think I can revive it? I water it once a week.

Answer 1

All bromeliads follow the same life cycle: growth, flowering and death. Your plant has flowered and under good conditions has put out two offsets from the bottom of the stem which will become a cluster of plants in time.

This kind of bromeliad is pretty tough but will benefit from:

• bright diffuse light
• higher humidity levels (place the pot on top of a deep saucer of water that has small stones in )
• surprisingly in lower light levels keeping the inner cup full of water which is helpful in high light environments can cause rot in lower light levels
• you can extend the useful life of this plant by removing the flower
• I have seen florists remove the flower and put a spot of spray paint on the inside under the theory that it is going to die anyway so why not brighten it up on the way out