Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS - NOVEMBER 2012, 2 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Wed 7th

Well at last I have some good news; once again I did a test post on DG and this time it worked. This same thing happened a while back where I couldn’t post for a while and then it just came good on its own accord; maybe it’s trying to tell me I’m talking too much! Anyway, I'll get on and type a few comments and hope it's still working when I've finished. I don't know about posting pic's yet as I haven't tried that, but by the time I get this finished, I should know. I must thank Sue for helping out and relaying my posts while I couldn't send them, I guess it's a good example of the old saying of “where there's a will there's a way”, so thanks again Sue.

Sue - I like your Ae. Nudicaulis “sport”, it's more of a lime yellow in colour and I think it would grow OK on its own as there would be enough green pigment in the leaves to sustain it. It would be interesting to see if it will throw any pups of the same colour and certainly worthwhile trying to stabilise any that it produces. I had a Bill 'Foster's Striate' that once sent up a similar coloured sport but I wasn't as interested in that sort of thing then as I am now and unfortunately didn't do anything with it.

That's a great looking flower spike starting to happen on your alcantarea and judging by the thickness of it, you will have to get the chain saw out to cut it off when it's finished.

I also love your little frog, and they're always a good sign of a healthy environment.

Ian – I think Sue's “nailed it” by correctly identifying your plant as Canistrum aurantiacum, I don't know why I didn't see that, but all of the pic's I looked at had markings on the leaves. That will teach me to not do things in haste and to look more carefully in the future.

I think you did the right thing dumping your infested plants of Bill pyramidal are as it's a pretty common plant and easily replaced. We aren't troubled much with fly-speck scale down here as I don't think the climate is hot enough as it seems to favour the tropics more. I have found though that Bill Pyramidalis does seem to attract White Soft Scale and Mealy Bug; that's why I always keep a single plant as an “indicator” to remind me it's time to closely check my plants and if these pests are present, I can eradicate them before they get a hold of things. Like a lot of cultural problems, these pests can more often than not be either put down to over-crowding or coming with a plant you have brought in from elsewhere. I know we brom growers always say, “There’s always room for one more plant”, but if causes overcrowding and loss of good air circulation, perhaps it’s not a good rule to follow.

As for your Guzmania Wittmackii, I think you have labelled it correctly by adding NOVAR after the name. For anyone here who doesn't know the meaning of NOVAR it is just an abbreviation of NO VARiegation. I don't think it's a written law that this must be done, but more likely something done by all “responsible growers” who don't want to deceive people who buy these non-variegated plants into thinking that the variegations will develop at a later date; they won't!

Sorry I can't help you with your NOID in Pic 1, but when I look closely I would think it does have a bit of concentrica in its breeding background somewhere. Once again there are traces of those semi concentric rings I spoke of in a previous post. As for your plant of Neo 'Kelvin' there is an interesting history about the naming of this plant. There are no parents listed on the BCR but it does tell us that it was registered by Rob Smythe of Townsville who says: “Named for a Kelvin Shannon who was a Curator at the Townsville Bot. Gardens where this plant was found”.

Breeindy – That's a great coloured “blanchie” in your pictures and hopefully the seller is genuine and the plant you bought will turn out just as eye catching.

Wendy – Sorry to hear that Max is having trouble with a bleeding nose; hopefully it’s just a case of a blood thinning agent in some of his medication which is causing the problem. The trouble with dogs is that you just can't tell them to press the nostrils together until the bleeding stops, they just naturally sneeze to clear the nasal cavity and as we all know, blowing your nose during a nose bleed is the worst thing you can do and only makes it bleed more. Maybe you or Johnny should have sat with him and pinched his nostrils together?

It will be interesting to see how the Milton works on the little gnats and hopefully you will pass on the results to all of us. It may also be good for sterilising dry seed before it's sown and sprayed with again after it has been sown. There are some really great looking hybrids in those Vriesea pic's you posted and it definitely shows just what can be achieved when one dabbles around with Mother Nature.

Trish – When you get your trolley, get one with inflatable tyres; it will cost you a bit more but well worth the cost; especially if you have to push it over grass. I had a couple of old trolleys I bought from Bunning's way back when they first opened, and like Sue we are also troubled by the salt air which has taken its toll on the metal in both of them. However I was able to make up a bit of a prototype by adding the handles from one to extend the handles on the other and then mounting a plastic bread try on it to carry plants on. It works OK but would be much better with inflatable tyres. The best part is that our grandsons love it and every time they come over, they drag it out from under the house and push each other around the yard in it.

Shirley – Unfortunately I think you will find that all new high quality hybrids like those in Wendy’s pictures will be of such a high price as to put them out or reach for most of us for a while yet. Like most plants however, after they have been around for a while and there are more and more produced, the prices will drop to a level where we all can afford them. Until then we just have to be patient and wait.

That's all for today, except to say, “get well soon” to anyone on the sick list and “where the bloody hell are you?” to the other regulars who used to post. Once again, thanks to Sue for relaying my messages for me and it looks like now everything’s working again, you have to put up with a “double dose” from me today.

Pic.1 is part of the Ae Nudicaulis I won in the raffle on Saturday, (I gave the other half to a friend) Pic. 2 is a variegated Ae nudicaulis I found when “walking around the traps” yesterday together with Pic.3 a beautiful flower on a cold damaged plant of a Quesnelia. (Unfortunately I don’t seem to be able to accurately capture the beautiful cerise coloured flowers which at first glance looks a bit like crepe paper) Pic 4 is Neo Rosy Morn just starting to come into colour and pic 5 is the prototype brom trolley I improvised and which the grandsons' have taken ownership of.

All the best, Nev.