Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS MARCH 2012, 5 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone, what a nice fine and sunny morning it is here today; it’s so fine I can even hear the brom’s growing!

Colleen – The fact that your Neo. ‘Debbie’ looks different to the ones in the pic’s is obviously due to the low light then. I had forgotten all about your renovations and the fact that you had to move things around, and you certainly did the right thing to get them out of the hot sun. As the sun has now lost most of its heat, it’s a good time now to start re-introducing them gradually to more light and it will be no time at all when you will be looking at all the great colours again.

Yes a couple of little helpers would certainly not go astray, I thought maybe you could train your monkeys to lend a hand instead of just sitting there looking like they’re thinking about some mischief to get into.

As for the “mother plants”, I just put mine in a spot over beside the fence out of the direct sun. They still produce pups OK and don’t take up valuable bench space.

I think your picture is priceless; every boy should always have a dog, it gives them some responsibility of caring for something, and it’s a mate that’s always there to comfort them and play with them. I can’t ever remember not having at least one dog right back as far as I can remember, and to this day I would never be without one. In fact an English bloke said to me in a horrified voice a while back, “Oh you let your dog in the house”. My answer to him was, “I’d sooner have my dog in the house than a lot of people I know” and what’s more if they’re looked after properly, they’re often a bloody sight cleaner than a lot of people are too.

Shirley – Regarding grass pups, I usually remove them when they are about as thick as a pencil, but then I’m no expert. Some of the better known growers of Alcantareas especially those in the tropics remove them when they are just the size of a match. I think if I did that here they would die as it gets pretty cold here in the winter, but up in the tropics the don't have that problem. Up there, they can plant a nail and grow a “crowbar”.

As for a potting mix, the last lot I took off were planted in 50% Brunnings Cymbidium Orchid mix and 50% Coco-Peat mulch and they are really growing well. I’m told also that they can take more fertilizer than other brom’s, but then that’s an individual thing you have to trial yourself.

I like your pic’s; and I especially like a mature Neo ‘Silverado’ when it gets that silvery cast over the leaves, I think it’s most attractive and unusual. I have another Neo incorrectly called ‘Shadow’ (and it’s nothing like the pic on the BCR so probably a NOID just given a “pet name”. However it seems to have that same silvery cast over the tops of the leaves when mature and is most attractive. (A pup is on its way to you Colleen). Neoregelia ‘Camelot’ is always a popular plant and a good grower and producer of pups as well.

I’ll finish with a few more of Chanin’s pic’s but this time they are of a Thai Bromeliad Show, and I bet the Neo’s will make your mouth water. Unfortunately I don’t have the names, but it can at least show you the quality of the Neo’s they are breeding in Thailand

All the best, Nev.