Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS IN SUMMER ..2014, 4 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone - Well I went to the "Weekday Workers and Volunteers' Christmas get together at the Illawarra Light Rail Museum yesterday. It was a very nice relaxing day and I spent most of the day catching up and chatting to people I don't normally see on a regular weekly basis.

During the last few months the volunteers had built one of those dome shaped Pizza type ovens and everyone was giving them a hard time saying what a waste of time it was and it would never get used; well yesterday it was used to cook five chooks for the lunch which was arranged and cooked by Doris, one of our real live wire lady members.

I must say it was a resounding success with the only hiccup being it took an hour longer to cook than first thought and like anything new. it's a learning experience. Doris's husband reckons with some modification to the flue he can make it retain more heat and work better next time as he thought that a lot of heat was being lost up the flue. There were no complaints from the people who demolished all of the chooks though and for something that began as just a joke, it has been a great success.

Brian - Your Bill. 'Hallelujah' x 'Golden Joy' is looking nice and healthy and the fact that it's flowering says it's happy with how you're growing it. I just have a suggestion though, that if you increased the light a little more, you may get a hint of the "Golden Joy" gold colour into it, but don't move it at this time of the year, wait until the weather's cooler and you have a spare pup to experiment with.

You say, "I don't know how the people with plants into the thousands get around to them all"; and I agree with you, I have a large collection by "back yard standards" and I can't keep up with them. So for people with thousands of plants, I guess it would be a case of putting on more staff or installing automatic watering and fertilising systems; but then in my view, hand watering is the best part of growing brom's as this is the time you really get to look closely at each of your plants and really appreciate them.

Getting back to the disaster at Martin Place; during an interview, one of the police representatives said they were aware of approx. 100 "people of interest to police" in Australia who had links to these criminal terrorist organisations overseas. Apparently the police have their hands tied by stupid anti-discrimination laws which prevents arresting or deporting any of these people until they actually do something illegal, so it seems we have to wait for another situation like Martin Place to occur before police are allowed to do anything. It seems they are hung up in a reactive role where they should be allowed more scope to be proactive against these known criminals. ..........At this stage Nev. will get down off his soap box and shut up.

Without wanting to steal Colleen's thunder, I think the idea of the fresh lawn clippings is produce roots on pups quicker than they would normally be produced when potted in the normal way.

Using this method mimics what nurserymen always called "bottom heat"which was usually achieved with an electric "heating cable" beneath the potting mixture in the propagation box and which worked in much the same way as an electric blanket.

With new clipping when they are damp they will start to heat up as part of the composting process and it's the provision of this heat which I think induces the pups to produce roots more quickly. This is just my thoughts though, and perhaps someone else would like to add a some of their suggestion to the topic.

Brian, as far as my budget goes these days, anything over $20 is out of my range and that is why I prefer to swap plants rather than buy them. As and example of high prices asked for plants, there was a variegated Alcantarea put on Australian eBay last year and the starting auction price was $999. It was a new plant never seen before and obviously because of the "supply and demand" effect, it was sold for well over this price I was told but I wasn't told for how much.

I like your Neo cruenta x 'Gold Fever', I haven't seen any from this crossing before and I think the cruenta influence should make it able to tolerate stronger light more easily. Again with your Neo. 'Marble Snow', I have found you have to get the light just right to get that nice white colour. To little light and the green takes over, too much light and you will get pink blushing in the centre of the plant. It's a bit of a juggling act.

I think your last plant is either Aechmea orlandiana or one of the many orlandiana hybrids. It is a very hardy plant which needs strong light to bring out the best in its colours. You can see pic's of some different examples on the FCBS species Photo Index at : http://www.fcbs.org/pictures.htm It also grows well, when mounted on a tree.

Looking at Bailey reminds me of my little dog Clyde, he used to follow me where ever I went among the brom's and would even sit beside me all day while I was potting plants in the garage. I really miss my little mate, and it's very true that a dog is a man's best friend.

That's for for today and I'll finish with a few random pic's I took a couple of days ago.
Pic.1 Neo.'Blue Heeler', Pic.2 Neo.'Blue Thing' (I don't know why it's called this as it isn't blue) Pic.3 Neo.'Burgundy' x 'Gold Fever', Pic.4 Neo. 'Midnight Moment' just starting to colour up and finally Neo. ('Charm' x 'Cracker Jack') x 'Lambert's Pride'. This seedling was saved from the bin because it has promising colour. The narrow leaves are a disappointment but may just be the result off too much overcrowding so I'll wait and see what the pups can produce when grown under better conditions.

All the best, Nev.