Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR EVERYONE IN 2014, 2 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Nothing of interest to report today. I spent yesterday at the museum, so no brom work done, and this morning it's drizzling rain and not looking too promising either, so that's about it.

Colleen – It's good to see you back posting once again and also good to hear your brom's are all doing well. I think the space problem you have is pretty common among all brom growers and if you're anything like me, just when you think you have it all sorted out, there's another batch of pups to be removed and housed.

The year before last, as a trial, I potted all of my Neo. pups in 100mm pots like I had done previously with my Billbergias. I found they put down roots quicker and grew quicker as well. Obviously the real big types had to go into larger pots but generally speaking the bulk of them were in 100mm pots. As they grew they became a bit top heavy but that wasn't a problem as they were all hanging, however it would have been a very different story if they had to be benched as they would have been forever falling over. They seem to have thrived on being confined to a smaller than normal pot and constantly being surrounded by good air circulation, so much so that all now have a pup or two. It seems now that I've out smarted myself because I will soon have remove these pups and once again I'm back to the “where can I put them” question once again and a similar predicament to you.

I wouldn't worry too much about your plants that got a bit burned, they'll recover and put up some new pups. Do what I did after the heat wave and give them a good hit with Seasol at the strength recommended for stressed plants.

What's the name of the Neo in the second pic? It's very similar to a few seedlings I bred a while back and also is that an Ae. orlandiana peeping out from behind it? The colour looks great so your light must be just about perfect and right to their liking.

Jean – It does seem strange that you've got to put the heater on in summer which just proves how much the seasons are stuffed up. I've just been in shorts and singlet all day yesterday at the museum and I imagine our friends up north are really sweltering also.

From what you say your plants seem to love the environment you are growing them in, but I'm having trouble imagining you and hubby living there and the plants being moved into the house.

I've had a few people wanting the Ae. bromeliifolia rubra seed and I've just picked and washed another batch this afternoon. There's still stacks more so if any one else wants any just let me know otherwise it will just dry up on the plant and be of no use to anyone.

I don't think you'll see any of Peter's new Vriesea hybrids in Australia any time soon as he first has to build up stocks and then fill all of the N.Z. orders so I wouldn't stand around waiting as you'll have a very long wait.

True, what you say about the name tag on your chantinii x recurvata plant maybe having been written incorrectly, but it also possible that someone has tried the reverse cross also. The proof will become obvious when it flowers and there is a good example on the BCR to compare flowers with, in fact I've found mine to be very similar to a recurvata flower. You never know, the reverse cross might just produce a plant with similar foliage and robustness to recurvata with an inflorescence like Ae. chantinii. If this is the case, please put me down for the first spare pup.

I have also noticed how many new little pups are sticking heir heads out of the Billbergias I recently re-potted as well. It seems they are relishing the new potting mix after having been almost neglected for a couple of years and it's great to see a reward for your labour.

If hubby has a bladder infection, keep the fluids up to him, a minimum of 2 litres of water a day (and that's not counting the water in tea and coffee). It was once explained to me by a doctor that the antibiotics can only kill the bugs, the dead bugs still have to be flushed out of the system and this can only be done by drinking lots of water.

It's interesting with your pic of Neo. 'Midnight', when I look at the FCBS site I find there are two “Midnights” listed, one bred by Wurthmann with no parents listed and one bred by our own Grace Goode with two species as parents; tristis and concentrica. Strangely enough neither of them appear on the BCR so they haven't been registered. As for the Neo.'Kahala Midnight', well that doesn't appear to have been registered either, so big ???????? all around. What can I say about your cruenta 'Broadleaf' pup except, it's worth waiting for and you won't be disappointed.

Ian – I'm just looking at all of your freshly potted seedlings and thinking, “that's about where I was a couple of years ago” and now it's so overcrowded, there's no room to swing a cat; I think you'll need that second story sooner than you think mate.

Further to our discussion about various forms of Ae bromeliifolia, it looks to me (although not completely open), the flowers on your plant are a cream colour, and I think from memory those on Tash's rubra form as well as mine were cream coloured also, however the flowers of the albobracteata are different and are a nice bright green colour. (See Pic.1). Do you have this plant Ian? If not would you be interested in swapping a pup of yours for one of this? If you can manage a bit of seed from your plant I'd like a bit of that too, then I can say I have three different sorts.

I totally agree with what you say about “The seed parent ought to give the form and the pollen parent ought to give the colour”. Your inclusion of the word “ought” covers all bases. I, like many others have found if you make a general rule about brom's, sooner or later Mother Nature will surely break that rule, so very wise to add the word “ought”. I think when we start hybridising and playing around with a plant's genetic make-up, we can estimate fairly accurately how things will work out by applying Mendal's Law. I'm not going to attempt to explain this, but for anyone interested, a good explanation can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendelian_inheritance
The bottom line is, that when applying these rules, we should never forget, their will always be exceptions, and that's what makes hybridising so interesting (the unknown factor).

As for the differences in my Neo.'Camelot' plants, it makes no difference to me as I like them all but it does make you look a bit of a “goose” when you show a pic of one to someone and send them a pup which turns out differently as happened to me when I sent a pup to Breeindy a while back. The thing is, with any plant that's a bit colour unstable, this can happen and it really makes showing a pic of the mother plant pointless. It will be interesting to see what your seedlings turn out like though.

Ian which of the brom sites on face book did you read about Neo Sun King? There's now so many different brom sites on there it really gets complicated for this old “computer unfriendly” bloke so every little bit of time saving advice is very handy.

Shirley – From what I'm hearing about Brisbane and points north there's a lot of unhappy brom growers with plants burning from the excessive heat. I guess it's time to bring out the off-cuts of shade cloth you've been putting away for a rainy day and throw them over your exposed garden plants.

Due to the unpredictable weather and especially the hot weather up north, I was going to wait until the following Monday before I posted parcels again just to make doubly sure that the mail is back to normal and plants aren't any longer in the post than they have to be. No problem with the Ae bromeliifolia rubra seed, I'll put some in your parcel when I send it.

I like your Neo.'Dr Oeser' Variegated', I've never seen this one before; I have one called Dr.'Oeser' (Special Red) (Pic.2) which I've had for years and although not much in the shape department, it still turns heads with its brilliant red colouring.

Doesn't it break your heart when you see a plant like your beautiful Neo.'Inkwell' damaged by the sun. Unfortunately it's always the upper more tender leaves that cop it and you can't trim or remove them without spoiling the look of the plant. It seems like Murphy's Law also when a plant get blown over by the wind and it's always a leaf in the centre that gets broken, not one on the bottom where they are easily removed..

I haven't seen Neo.'Leopard Ray' before and no doubt it's named after the marine 'Leopard Ray' as they are both spotted; however it's not my type and I much more prefer the Ae.'Melodrama'. I can't find it on the register, do you know if it's just a recent hybrid? That pinkish tinge around the outside part of the lower leaves looks interesting and suggests maybe more colour when it's an adult plant. You must share another pic with us when it's more mature.

Cody – Hi again, I'll bet a few of our Queensland growers wish they could have a bit of your cool weather up there where it's getting pretty hot and uncomfortable.

Theresa – I once saw how a very handy lady took an old umbrella frame and covered it with a shade cloth off-cut and just stuck the handle in the ground as temporary protection from the hot sun, but then she didn't have any wind to contend with so if you do that it too may finish up here in Aus.

Time to go again and today's pictures are Pic.1 Ae. bromeliifolia albobracteata showing the green flowers in close-up, Pic.2 is Neo.'Dr. Oeser' (Special Red), Pic.3 is another sample of Neoregelia seedlings from New Zealand's Peter Coyle. Pic.4 is a random shot in the Neo. shade house and Pic.5 a close-up of the flowers on Guz. Wittmackii.

All the best, Nev.