Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads - Autumn 2015, 1 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Another nice day here today so more work out among the bromeliads.

Jean – I too have often thought about how nice it would be to live in Thailand in the tropics among those spectacular bromeliads, but then I remember the humidity and the cyclones which soon brings me out of my daydream.

You say you sold your Alcantareas as they were getting too big, and I too have found the same problem; although they are spectacular plants some do grow to an enormous size and take up a lot of space.

I’ve heard of Ae Hawaiian pectinate before on one of the brom forums a couple of years ago and from what I remember it’s just like the common one which can be enormous (Mine was over three feet across) except it’s a smaller form. From what I can see of the markings on the pup you have posted, they look very similar to the markings on the larger form I have as well so it will be interesting to see just how large it does grow to.

Teresa – If the look on Sugar’s face in yesterday’s pic is anything to go by, she’s having a ball at the beach. We had a dog once who my eldest son would take to the beach and he would give it rides on his surf board with him. When it was time to go home, he wouldn’t get out of the water without a struggle and preferred to just dog-paddle around out of reach.
I think in today’s picture, she is saying let me out and take me to the beach again please.

Trish – Nice to see you able to post again, we’ve missed your interesting posts.

Regarding cleaning the small leaves out of your brom’s, I have the same trouble with the ones beneath our Peppercorn Tree and how I overcame it was to use an old wet/dry vacuum I have. It’s dose the job very well.

You’re lucky to be able to grow and flower Vriesea ‘Splendrite’; I have no chance down here as it’s too cold sensitive top handle our winters and just takes one step forward and two steps backwards. I did grow it well one year with an especially mild winter but no luck ever since; a beautiful plant never the less.

It’s great to hear that Cyclone ‘Nathan’ didn’t bother to visit you; that’s one sort of visitor you can certainly do without.

Regarding our workshop, it seems that we all learned something out of it especially about growing Cryptanthus. It seems that the secret is to grow them in African Violet potting mix, so I think I might give them one more try as I do like them.

Regarding the “leaf stacking”, I’m quite convinced it’s to do with the tropical environment. I’ve even noticed that some of the growers up in Cairns and “points north” even get leaf stacking to a certain degree but it doesn’t seem as common as in Thailand. I’ve spoken to my friend and as far as fertilisers go, they use similar types as we do here except different brands of course and there are also many who prefer to go the organic route the same as some growers here.

You have pic’s of some beautiful Neo’s here in your garden as usual but the little thing that jumps out at me are the leaves on the Billbergias that have been trimmed. The fact that they have just been lopped straight across spoils the appearance of the plant.

A better way to do it is to cut the tip off one leaf and then place that “off cut” over each leaf in turn you wish to trim. Using this as a template, you then trim the leaf around the edge of the template and the leaf is neatly trimmed in the same natural shape of the leaf instead of the previous rough looking cut made straight across.

I’ll just finish now with a few more pic’s from Thailand as I’ve been very slack and still haven’t taken any new ones of my own plants yet. The first four are of Neoregelias and the fifth is of a very unusual and beautiful variegated Ae. bracteata.

All the best, Nev