Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for novices & addicts, October 2012, 4 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – I spent quite a productive day today dividing and re-potting Nidulariums which were long over due to be done. I've also just finished planting five lots of Neoregelia seed from my own crosses which hopefully will produce something worthwhile.

Jen – It;s just as well you didn't make it down to our place this time as everything's a bit of a mess and I'd be pretty ashamed for anyone to see it in its present state, but I'm slowly making progress and eventually I'll get it sorted out, so maybe next time you're down this way it will be more presentable.

Those pic's of the Bill seedlings I've been putting up occasionally are plants that Rick Cairns did and not my work as I've only just managed to get my first lot of seed. I will be breaking a few of them up this year though so I'll let you know what's available for swapping. Your Thunderbird seedling looks very much like the mother and it also has that brilliant coloured centre with a sort of iridescence about it that can't be captured in a pic. They aren't much on shape, but there are some nice clean colours coming out of that cross. I really like that Neo 'Freddie' so can you put my name on the label for when you have a spare pup available to swap.

Keeevin0 – I think you're the first person we've had drop in to say hello from India. Do you grow bromeliads over there and what sort do you have?

Ian – We've been lucky as we had about twelve hours of light non-stop drizzling rain yesterday which turned into storms and heavier rain last night, so everything had a good watering. If you want to get good colour in your Bill's, give them as much light as they will tolerate and a fertiliser which is very low in nitrogen and very high in potash. I'll post a couple of pic's of Bill Hallelujah one with high nitrogen and low potash and the other with low nitrogen and high potash, the difference is amazing.

Wendy – Thanks for kicking off the new thread, its great to have people like you, Sue and Tash around who can do this sort of thing. Congratulations on a successful sale, you must have all been totally done in by the end of the day.

Bad luck that poor old Max has to miss out on his biscuits, but he doesn't need an infected tooth socket at this stage of the game, there'll be plenty of time for biscuits when his mouth is healed up.

Shirley – What you say about the Vriesea flower spike is pretty true, while ever it's on the mother plant it's using up valuable energy and food which can be better utilised in the production of pups. As well as that, the fact that you have removed the flowers and the plant can no longer produce any seed , the pup production often starts quicker as the plant knows that's the only way left to reproduce itself. I tried this once with Vr. Angela, I cut the spike off one plant and left it on a second plant. The plant with the spike left on didn't produce any pups until after the seed had ripened and the capsules had opened a good six months after the other plant had started pupping.

As for checking your seed containers, I don' see how it does any harm as long as they don't dry out and in that case you just give them a light misting to rectify the problem, I do it often and always have.

Sue – Thanks for the info on the method of fertilising you use. I've always done it that way as well; it's just that you hear of so many different ways people do it, it's always good to make sure you're doing it right.

Do you remember when I sent you the Ae. Weilbachii plants and I said that I'd had a Weilbachii “April Showers” with unusual leaf markings, but I couldn't find the pic to show you? Well the good news is that I've finally found it and I'll post it here for all to see.

That's about it for now and the Pic's are: 1 Billbergia Hallelujah grown with high Potash/low Nitrogen. Pic 2 is a division from the same plant grown in the same location but this time fed a high Nitrogen/low Potash diet. Pic 3 is the Ae Weilbachii “April Showers” with the unusual leaf colour I mentioned above. Pic 4 is a group of Allan Ladd's Bill. Pyramidalis hybrids from which I was fortunate enough to be able to get two. The dark underside of the leaves makes an unusual contrast with the flowers. Pic 5 is another hybrid of Allans which I was also lucky enough to obtain, its Canistropsis seidelii x Canistropsis Billbergiodes 'Plum'

All the best, Nev.