Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS - NOVEMBER 2012, 3 by weed_woman

weed_woman wrote:
Hi all, Nev has kindly sent me the next installment, so here it goes.
Good morning everyone – I can see we've had a bit of rain overnight and it's still drizzling, so that should freshen up the garden. There won't be anything getting done in the yard today though as our monthly Bromeliad Society Meeting is on again, so time to meet up with like minded brom lovers and learn some more about the culture of these wonderful plants..

I still can't post so I'll have to rely on Sue to relay again for me, however I suspect I know what the problem might be but unfortunately not enough time to sort it out today so maybe tomorrow will see me back posting under my own steam again.

Trish – When initially watering with a new sprinkler system, always check the mix in the pots to make sure it is getting enough water. When the mist comes off the sprays, everything gets wet so it's easy to assume that everything is watered, however this isn't always the case. You really need to randomly check pots especially the ones at the back and on the ends of your garden to make sure they are getting sufficient water from the sprinklers and if necessary adjust the sprinklers. I previously had sprinkler systems in two of my shade houses, but stopped using them during the extended water restrictions a few years back. I still don't use them now because although they do save time, in my opinion hand watering is the best part of growing plants as it's very relaxing and also the best way to look at each individual plant and pick up any problems early so they can be rectified.

I'll just correct you on the pic of the Lambert's Pride seedlings; the plants shown weren't mine, it's just a pic I got from somewhere to illustrate just what's possible using Lambert's Pride as a parent. I am fortunate enough however to have just harvested a few seeds from a cross I did of Neo. 'Lambert's Pride' x 'Barbarian', so it will be interesting to see what they produce down the track – always something new to maintain my interest.

How large is you plant of Neo. 'Princeps' (Select)? I have one called Neo.Princeps 'Rainbow' (special form) (Pic 1) which is a very open type plant with a spread of about 30” when grown in the garden, nothing special shape-wise, but I do like the colour; however it is unregistered so I'll never know for sure if it is actually a 'Princeps' or not. Your plant of 'Heck' is very different to mine (see pic 2) and either one of them is wrongly named or it is another of the many variegated plants which are very unstable, hence the different markings.

Wendy – Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the active ingredient in Milton Sodium Hypochlorite? If so this is the same chemical we always sterilised our orchid seed in when sowing. Ordinary household breach contains the same chemical and I imagine would be much cheaper. We always used the Woolworths “Home brand” which we made up as a mix of 20% bleach to 80% water; it always did the job well with orchids and I still use it to sterilise any dry bromeliad seed in before sowing. It's probably worth trying on your little gnats as well, but you would need to compare the % of sodium hypochlorite in each of the solutions to ensure they are the same and adjust accordingly with water if they aren't.

I'd better finish now as I don't want to give Sue too large a job of relaying so all the best,

Nev.

Pic 1 Neo Princeps 'Rainbow' (Special form), 2 is my Neo 'Heck', Pic. 3 is breakfast time at Nev's