Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for Novices and Addicts - July 2013, 5 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – The weather's not looking too promising here today and is very overcast and looking like rain so I'll keep this brief so I can still get a bit done out in the yard. I have nothing new to report so I'll read through the posts and just comment if I have anything worthwhile to contribute.

Trish – Regarding seeds that are wild pollinated (pollinated by insects or person/s unknown); there are still many beautiful plants have come from crossings such as this and even though you don't know the name of the “Father” you usually know who the “Mother” is even if she's a NOID; so don't just do what many people who have registered plants on the BCR have done and just record “?” for Mother plant and “?” for Father plant; (This could mean “name unknown” or just “name not supplied”); always record everything you know!

If you don't know the name of the “Mother” or “Father” plants, record it as “Name Unknown” but in most cases the name of the “Mother” will be known and should be recorded on the name tag or anywhere else the plant is referred to. As for any records kept in a book or on your computer, a written description or even better, a pic. of the NOID Mother can be recorded.

This is all valuable information for anyone interested in hybridising because let's just surmise that a particular cross produces a large number of high quality offspring, knowing as much as you can about the parents (even just the Mother) is very important as you may want to use them in future crossings. Remember the basic hybridising rule; “As a general rule it has been found that the seed parent influences shape and size and the pollen parent influences the colour” This info combined with what is known about the Mother can be very useful for future breeding.

I just remembered another thing about Bill. Nutans also, and that is that the common everyday names are “Queens Tears” or “Friendship Plant”. (Another useless bit of info I know)

That's a great mixture of pic's today; (looks like the brom. seedlings are gradually taking over). What's the name of Joe's unusual little orchid? Judging by the labellum it could have a bit of Epidendrum in the breeding of it. I also like the nice plant of Neo.'Skotak's Tiger' standing guard over the rest of the brom's in the garden.

Ian – I guess if you hang around with “pricks” you'll eventually get “pricked” yourself! Ha! Ha!

By the way, I loved the “Darwin Awards” especially the one using a .22 bullet for a fuse, what a “Dum Dum”. I have to agree with your comments about Shirley's Pic 4 NOID it certainly does appear to have Concentrica in it somewhere along the track.

Hi Cody and Breeindy and anyone else who is looking in but is too shy to post, I hope everyone's well and keeping warm.

Pic today are: Pic.1 Bill. Hallelujah, Pic.2 looking down the back yard from our back deck, Pic.3 Ae.'Bert', Pic.4 Is a Neo. which was just called a Mulford Foster hybrid and is unregistered, Pic.5 Neo.'Correia-araujoi.

All the best, Nev