Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for the novice and the serious addicts #4, 1 by weed_woman

weed_woman wrote:
Hey Leisa, your arrangment works fine. I found I had to keep mixing mine up, because I ended up with all red ones together and so on, and they all started to look the same, so now I try to arrange them so that each one stands out amongst the others, so a vibrant foliage goes with a plain foliage, and variegated go with non variegated. I think it works, but I move them around fairly often, so it doesn't really matter! he he. Yes, i am extremely lucky to have my bright/shade house, as it seems to be the perfect spot for bringing out those colours. I have found that I am now in need of a darker spot, as some greener plants are looking washed out, and some variegated plants go really red, and lose the definition of the vertical lines, so keeping them a bit more shaded should bring the green back. Maybe a bit of fertiliser too to get some size, as all the highly coloured ones are quite compact.
Jean, experimentation is the way to go! As long as you haven't spent too much money on your seeds, then you wont get too attached or disappointed if they don't suceed. I've lost quite a few, but have also had a good germination rates with others, using the same mixes and methods, so I assume faliure is to do with the seed type, viability, Hygeine and genetics. I found by washing my hands in a light bleach solution before handling the seeds ensured I wasn't passing any fungi or bacteria onto the sterile media. I also use the cold, boiled water from the jug in the morning, to fill my misting bottles. I have recently begun to add 1ml of Alginox, (a pool algaecide with NO copper) to a litre of water to keep away the algae e.t.c. High light is a major factor for algae too, so if it persists, move the container to a slightly darker spot. Anyway, just go for it!
Hi Themoonhowl, I'm not sure of the identity of your broms, especially with out a flower to help, but maybe your second is Aechmea gamosepala? I have attached a pic for you to look at. The first one might also be an Aechmea. Does the flower protrude on a longish stem? Is the flower stem upright or pendulous? The description you gave of red and white striped capsule shaped blooms does not ring any bells with me, how about you mike?