Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS APRIL 2012, 3 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Well here it is, Sunday morning and another fine day. We had a couple of showers overnight, but they seem to have gone and the day looks like being another fine one.

Karen – Bill. Hallelujah has been around for a while now and still takes some beating for colour and ease of growth. I have seen quite a few seedlings which have been bred using Bill. Hallelujah as a parent but none of the ones I have seen come even close to being as good as Hallelujah itself.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the leaves falling into your brom’s; in the wild this has been happening for thousands of years and it doesn’t seem to have done them any harm. If however you are concerned about the cups getting full of debris simple for appearance sake, this can easily be removed with long stainless steel forceps which we get through our local Brom Society for about $12 per pair. I think you would probably find something similar in “Kitchen Shops” that sell all of the various kitchen essentials.

Jen – Thanks for filling us in on the history of Cee Bee, it’s always interesting to know bit about the background of these plants.

I hope your motivation stayed with you yesterday and you got lot done because I didn’t as I had to attend our monthly Bromeliad Society meeting. I thought there wouldn’t be many members there due to it being Easter, but it turned out to be a very big meeting and a good time was had by all.

Everyone seems to find the Deuterocohnia Brevifolia very attractive, but personally I just look at them more as being prickly little buggers. I’ll post a pic of an even larger specimen if I can find it. It’s enormous and is in a container almost two feet across, what a show.

That’s a great kaleidoscope of colour in the three pic’s you’ve posted Jen, I think they look great!

Colleen – I wouldn’t worry too much about your little seedlings, they’re pretty resilient and I’m sure they’ll respond well to your treatment. That’s quite a little windfall with the Till’s and I’m sure they’ll pick up quickly under you tender care. I especially like the little bulbous type which is second from the left on your mounting; although I’m not a Tilly grower I’ve always found these somehow quite unusual and attractive.

After your shock quote from Jack, I must explain that you have to realise that these plants are unique. They are not tissue cultured in their millions like so many others are and for the most part are “one offs” hence the high price. They are the result of years of research and breeding by him and at last he has the special “goodies” he can sell for whatever he wants to charge. With plants of this quality and limited availability the market dictates the price and the thing is that it’s an investment; and if you buy one, it’s usually (in the case of a seedling) you who are the only one who has it. Looking at it from a breeding point of view, you also have a unique parent as well, which puts you in the “box seat” to produce some high class seedlings in the future. I’d have no hesitation in buying some at those prices as I know their value, but unfortunately I don’t have a spare $500 to spend.

Wendy – It sounds like the granddaughters were high on sugar and you had to wait until it was all used up.

Congratulations on getting the Bill. seed; did you pollinate it or was it done by “Mother Nature” (insects or sun birds)? Everyone says how easy they are but I never seem to have any success with hybrids. I’ve tried many times and the pods always just either go yellow or drop off with nothing inside or the grass hoppers eat through the inflorescence.

Your plants of Neo Little Africa x Strawberry, Mandarin Miss and Gold Fantasy all sound very interesting is there any chance of some pic’s to share with us?

Your xNeomea ‘Strawberry’ is a very nice plant and for those of you who don’t know, is from a cross between a Neoregelia and an Aechmea. In this case according to the FCBS is thought to be a cross between Neoregelia carolinae (?) and Aechmea recurvata var. benrathii (?). It’s an interesting plant well worth growing however I don’t seems to do very well with it down here and it seems to suffer when the cold weather arrives and only ever makes just one pup before the cold weather destroys the mother plant, so I can never get in front, “production wise”.

That’s it for today and now a few pic’s; the first one is not my pic but should be credited to the owner and grower who is Ross Little of Pine Grove Bromeliad Nursery at Wardell N.S.W. I have posted this pic in the past but I’ll post it again mainly for Jen and Wendy who especially seem to like these prickly little plants.

All the best, Nev