Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for novices and addicts, July 2011, 0 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone,
Gee Wendy, you’ve started something now with your “dunny” story.

Tash – There’s a lot to be said about having brom’s before having to pay off a mortgage and for starters there’s more money to spend on brom’s. Besides the brom’s don’t care whether you own a home or are renting, they’ll still grow on just the same.

As for your seedlings, concentrica and Gee Whiz are both good plants and proven breeders.
Gee Whiz has 72 registered hybrids to its name and concentrica has over 500; and remember these are just the ones that have been registered and I expect there are many, many more that are not registered. So it looks like the “runs are on the board” and you have a good chance of getting something worthwhile with parents like them.

I've loaded a pic below of a concentrica cross I did about five years ago, it is of a pup from the original seedling and shows just how they can improve in shape and colour with the next generation. It's not the best one from the cross and not everyones "cup of tea" but I like the shape and the dark segments of the leaves and will probably use it in future breeding.

As for light requirements, it depends on what % the shade cloth is, but the old rule is “if they’re doing OK where they are, don’t move them. They are probably OK for now but maybe erect a bit of extra protection from the hot Queensland summer sun.

All the best, Nev.