Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads For Novices and Addicts - October 2014, 5 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Nothing interesting to report today, yesterday was just a continuation of my long overdue re-potting.

Teresa – I like what you say about the “ring binder full”; that’s exactly what happens, and the longer you’ve been into growing brom’s the thicker that binder gets and before you know it you are starting a second one.

Trish – So sorry to hear about little Lucy, I know what I’d be doing to the mango tree if a falling fruit can cause that much pain; I’d either cut it down or put a light fence around it to keep animals and people from beneath it whilst it was in fruit. I read somewhere once that the greatest cause of death in some of the island countries was from falling coconuts; just something we never think about I guess, but then when you think of the weight of a coconut it’s not hard to imagine the damage they could cause.

When I was a kid we had a dog who hurt his back also, I’m not sure, he may have been hit by a car as in those times no one bothered about front fences where I lived. Anyway, for a couple of weeks after, he would spend most of his time lying with his back to the old fuel stove in the kitchen, I guess he got some relief from the warmth.

Animals are much more intelligent than we give them credit for, and when they’re injured or sick, they rest and don’t do things that aggravate their pain; in other words they listen to their body and act accordingly, and humans could handle their own medical problems much better if they took notice of how animals approach them.

I think the biggest mistake a person can make with an injured animal is rushing in and moving it; and although meaning well, we need to remember the animal will have got itself into a position which aggravates the pain the least and moving them into a different position could exacerbate the problem. The most basic treatment is the best, let the animal rest, provide plenty of fluids, and keep them warm.

After saying all of that though, I must say it’s great to see a dedicated pet owner who thinks more of her animals than going to work and earning some almighty dollars.

Shirley – All of the wonderful new hybrids that Chester Skotak is currently making are all out of my price range also. It’s all about supply and demand and at present the “demand” very much outweighs the “supply”, but this will change; and as they become more plentiful the price will come down, I just have to try and hang around long enough until that happens.

Your mention of “NOVAR” plants prompts me to mention that I’d never heard of the term until about seven years ago when it was a topic on a forum discussion somewhere. It was mentioned that some of the more responsible U.S. nursery owners were adding this to the names of these plants to avoid any confusion.

Before I go further I should explain to our newer members what the word “NOVAR” stands for. It’s an abbreviation for “no variegation” (NO VARiegation) and is applied to a non-variegated pup produced from a variegated Mother plant or as defined in the FCBS Glossary: “Novar: - A term used where a cultivar is registered as a variegated plant and ‘loses’ its variegation”

Based on what I have read, my interpretation of the application of the word NOVAR is as follows: To give an example, Neo. ‘Orange Glow’ as pictured in my second picture on Oct.18th is once such plant. Although called Neo. ‘Orange Glow’ NOVAR, it can legitimately be sold as just Neo. ‘Orange Glow’ even though it isn’t variegated. This is because even though it’s a “sport” without the variegation, it’s still a pup from Neo. ‘Orange Glow’ and automatically takes the Mother’s name.

Because it is different, it can of course be registered under a different name which would ideally solve any confusion, but in many cases this never happens and it’s left to responsible growers to add the word NOVAR after the name to identify what it is and where it comes from, and this will only happen if they know what is meant by NOVAR in the first place and it isn’t widely publicised.

I don’t think it’s an accepted and compulsory rule that it must be added to the name, and consequently there are still a lot of plants around without NOVAR on the name simply due to the fact that all growers aren’t aware of what this means. I think in the case of the non-variegated Neo.‘Orange Glow’ you bought without NOVAR on the name is an example of what I’m talking about so now you have two entirely different plants, one plain, and one variegated and both called Neo. ‘Orange Glow’; best you get to work with the marking pen on the name tag Shirley.

I don’t know of, and had never seen a picture of Neo. ‘Margaret’ and when you mentioned it I went looking on the BCR. It is mentioned there but unfortunately there isn’t a pic, so over to the old faithful FCBS site and there it is as No.2347 and as you said it’s very much like the plant in Brian’s picture. Don’t take a lot of notice of the bars on the leaves as this may just be a seasonal thing caused by temperature changes and as Mulford Foster the hybridiser says in his description on the BCR, "Leaves semi-glabrous - maroon with dark maroon spines and deep rose leaf tips". (No mention of any bars). I’m attaching a pic of my Neo. 'Pemiento' for comparison and I guess it’s now up to Brian to tear his hair out while deciding the name of his plant, although I suspect that Neo. 'Pemiento' would be more widely grown in the Sydney area.

Nice pic’s Shirley; and I’m always interested in seeing how some of my babies have tuned out. Those four are showing some nice colour and at this stage No.1 is my pick. I have no idea where the darker coloured spotting came from but then that’s what makes hybridising so interesting; that unknown extra feature inherited from somewhere in the past family history.

The Neo ‘Mandela’ x ‘Blackout’ cross was made with the aim of producing dark coloured plants but up until now none have shown this quality which once again supports what I said above.

Your plants all still have a bit more growing to do until flowering and the colours can change even more between now and then so I guess more progress pictures at anthesis would be appreciated.

Once again my mouth has run away from me and I’ve talked too much, so I’d better finish with a few pictures. Pic. 1 is Neo.’Pemiento’ for Brian to compare with the plant he bought. Pic’s 2 and 3 are both of Vriesea ‘Orange Sundae’ and they show the amazing part light can play in plant colour. The plant in Pic.2 has been grown in low light and the plant in Pic.3 grown in high light. Pic’s 4 and 5 are a couple of Lambert’s Pride hybrids I made; Pic.4 is Neo.’Lambert’s Pride x (‘Charm’ x ‘Cracker Jack’) and Pic.5 is Neo.’Thunderbird x ‘Lambert’s Pride’.

All the best, Nev.