Beautiful specimen..gonzer is the resident pro on Tilly's Im sure he can advise you

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FUZZY WUZZY

Well,while we wait for gonzer to warm up an answer for you,let me tell you that I've had one about the size of your plant,however only indoors in window light.It was doing very well,until I misted it just a little ,while doing the plants near it. It did'nt take long for it to be a goner. The amount of water was small,so I'm thinking that the water temp was too cold for it. My gut feeling is that it will not be happy in the rain. Perhaps you can provide some covering for it,so it does'nt get drenched,but can benefit from the humidity.The ones we have at our botanical Garden,are kept in the Cactus house,and do not get watered,and do very well there.But I want to hear what gonzer has to say about your question.He's our Til-Pro.
Bob

Here's a pic of one at the BG--note the two new pups,lower right.
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I'd simply move it under cover till the monsoon season's over. Tectorums get by with just the barest of moisture in nature. The reason they are so heavily scaled (white trichomes) is because they grow at such a high and dry altitudes. This covering protects against extreme ultra-violet light (we're talking HIGH up!) and picks up what little condensation from fog they can. For this reason they can go weeks, months, without a good dose of water. Personally, I spray mine about once a month when hot. High light (direct sun preferred) and an occasional spritz and you'll be OK.

The lower two portions of my split clump.
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I have a question on T. tectorum. With my growing conditions, I am able to supply direct sunlight, but I am wondering if T. tectorum can tolerate direct sun at peak intensity? And watering just once a month? Amazing.

Mike

Yes they can Mike, the more sun the better. Their habitat is high up in Peru, way high! The reason for their heavy "armor" of trichomes is to deflect the intense UV rays of high altitudes. Scarcely any water either! They've adapted this for survival sake. Years ago when many botanists made collecting trips to Peru they'd encounter (around Xmas time) huge piles of tectorum strewn about villages to be used as snow to decorate their rooftops in their holiday decorations. Afterwards the plants would be unceramoniously dumped on the edge of town to die. The name tectorum actually means something like "roof plant".

I like that story about using T. tectorum as snow!

I read in Rauh's book that the Latin tectorum refers to roof, but Rauh appears perplexed as to why they would have this name... I guess he missed the part about Christmas.

Thanks Gonzer.

Mike

I was told tectorum was a syn for downy brom.
In relationship to Sempervivum, roof plant fits

This tilly is one of my favorites! Thank you for sharing this information.

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This post was edited by gonzer on Tue, Jun 11, 13 at 7:24

How many years did your T. Tectorum grow to be that large, Gonzer? Beautiful!

That's half of a clump that fell apart Colleen. I'm thinking it's about 20+ years of age. (we don't do birthdays in my garden)

Wow! I am truly jealous! You can celebrate my birthday then with a small clump :-)