Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS - NOVEMBER 2012, 4 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Good morning everyone – Here we are again at the start of another weekend, just where has the week gone? It's just an observation, but it seems the older we get the quicker the days pass by which is something I don't really like; anyway it's no good complaining, as there's nothing I can do about it.

Trish – It's great to see you converting some of your work friends into bromeliad growers. I like to do something similar with brom seed and at present have a group of about six friends who are trying their hand at growing them. The really good bit is that their young children are interested as well which reminds me of the interest shown by young children in a small tabletop display on growing brom seed I do annually at our brom show. The children seem more interested in how it all works than what the end result is. The year before last there was a little girl and her younger brother and girls being girls, she was doing all the talking and asking all of the questions. It seemed she was doing a project at school on how a vegetable plant grows from seed and they all had different seeds to use in their growing project. She asked how plants were pollinated, and when I explained the process to her, her brother asked if bromeliad seed developed in a similar manner as the vegetable seed; before I could answer, the sister piped up and told him although all living things grow differently, they all come from seed in the beginning and went on to add, “you know just like when mummy and daddy shut the bedroom door”. Well “bloody hell”, you could have knocked me down with a feather, as this was the last thing I expected to hear from two little kids. It seems like kids today know much more about the “birds and the bees” at an early age than I ever did. Fortunately the Mother and Father who were looking at the plants on the end of the table came to the rescue before the conversation went any further

With the Neo ‘Bold Streak’ x Neo Mc Williamsii pic's I posted yesterday, if you look carefully you will see the red marking on the leaf tips of the first plant, are missing on the second plant; this again demonstrates how plants can be mis-identified just because the colours are different even when this is only due to the fact they are growing in different levels of light.

To explain the small shelves in the front of the bench of the third pic, let me say that a lot of my stuff is made from re-cycled materials. These small shelves came from the tip where I just happened to be at the time they were being dumped. I was told they were original mesh guards which fitted over fluorescent lights in a large industrial workshop to protect the tubes from being knocked and broken. The electricians found they were a nuisance as every time a tube had to be changed these had to be removed, so into the scrap bin they went and were sent to the tip. I told the bloke dumping them I thought I could use them, and instead of throwing them over the edge among the rubbish, he threw them into the back of my ute. I found they were exactly the right size to accommodate a 3” plastic seedling pot so that's just what I used them for and fixed them to the front of that bench.

That's a nice lot of pic's you've posted once again; I think the correct name of your first one is Neo 'Grace Goode Girl', and it was a S. Zaghini cross named in honour of Grace Goode, one of our outstanding Australian hybridisers. See: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&i...

I have found that the colours in mini Neo. 'Flirtation' can also be enhanced when grown in bright light and as it's a very good “pupper”, it's interesting to grow them in a few areas of different light intensities just to see the difference. I love the area of bush beyond your fence and it certainly makes a lovely background for the brom. gardem and judging by the colour of your Neo ‘Bold Streak’ x Neo Mc Williamsii, you have found the preferred area of light in which it grows best.

Sue – I got your parcel yesterday, and once again thanks a lot, they will make for great reading.

I had also read somewhere that Neo Shamrock was a “slow grower”, but then all good things take time, don't they?

What are the best conditions under which to grow Till's 'Cyanea' and 'Creation'? My Till. 'Cyanea' seem pretty ordinary and nowhere as good as I would like them. But I did see a magnificent clump grown by one of our members, but it was mounted on a tree and as I don't have a suitable tree to try this on I'll have to find out the best way for pot culture.

Thanks for the info on the “tunnel house” construction. It seems so easy the way you explain it, however I supposed the council down here wouldn't allow it on a normal town block anyway, but I do have a couple of friends on properties and I'll pass on the instructions to them.

Finally, good luck with your sale today, I hope the weather's kind and everything goes well for you.

Wendy – I'm not sure how you should write that name. Is the Princess Grace F2, or the Solar Flare? Or is it a selfing of the (Princess Grace x Solar Flare) in which case I think that's how it should be written. I just always write down the “name formula”, as I'm not really up on the technicalities of nomenclature, Sue could probably give you a better answer as she is trained in horticulture, I'm just an old “back yard” bloke. The seedlings are showing a bit of promise colour wise though so I hope you post some pic's of the “finished products”.

Johnny's seedling has developed into a nice big plant but it looks to me to be an Edmundoa and not a Canistrum. The flower does look like it will be white at this early stage but then on the other hand it could turn out to be like the 'Rosea' flower as it matures .

Sorry, I can't offer you a name for your seedlings, but I'm just looking at the way the colour is developing in the centre of the leaf and wondering if you did any crosses with Neo 'Painted Delight'. Anyway, whatever they turn out to be, the moral of the story is, “don't try and commit names to memory, as you're sure to forget what they were”.

Shirley – You say that your Vriesea seed is growing slowly; I found that for me, they are one of the slowest seeds of the lot to grow, I have found that Guzmania seed is slower still, and I know that Tillandsia seed is the slowest of all so I don't even try that.

As for bi-generic brom's, I also have Niduregelia 'Something Special' as well as heaps of seedlings from some seed I got from an adult plant of it. I didn't do any crossing with it so it must have been insects and they obviously didn't listen to the “experts” when they say that seed from bi-generics is sterile and won't germinate. However there are quite a few which have now reached maturity and just looking at a lot of them, I'm almost certain that the other parent was a Neo. as there is a lot of similarity between them. Some are like the Niduregelia parent but the majority look like Noe's.

From what you say about the area where the dozer was working, it seems like it could be made into a great water feature, what do you reckon?

I must say I'm very envious of your extremely neat and tidy shade house, how do you keep it that tidy? I must ask, what sort of poly styrene boxes do you use for benches, do they come in that size or are they cut down? What ever the answer is, they look just perfect for the job, congratulations.

Finally just a “cheerio call” to those not posting and a “get well soon” wish to anyone on the sick list.

Today I'll finish with pic's of a few different Ae Nudicaulis which are all in flower now. Pic.1 is Ae. Nudicaulis 'Cuspidata', Pic 2 is Ae. Nudicaulis variegata, Pic. 3 is Ae. Nudicaulis 'Aequalis' (Costa Rica), Pic 4 is Ae Nudicaulis 'Mary Hyde' and Pic 5 is one not often seen down here and is Ae Nudicaulis 'Giant' so called because it's comes in at 39” in height.

All the best, Nev.