Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS APRIL 2012, 1 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone,

It’s good to see so many of you have been using the keyboard since yesterday and it’s also good to see that Jenny has now joined us as well, so welcome to our friendly little forum Jenny, I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself here.

Karen – I think I’ve finally sorted out the Face Book thing so everything should be right now. As for the Billbergias, although they have a most beautiful and unusual flower, they are unfortunately very short lived and usually only last from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. That’s why I chose to only collect the ones with nice colour or patterned foliage. That way you have colour all the year around.
The little Billbergia you call “Baby Tears” has been known by a number of names over the years and is one of the oldest Billbergias in cultivation in Australia. It is a species called Billbergia ‘Nutans’ and it can often be seen growing in massive clumps in and around old houses or even on vacant land where an old house once stood and has since been demolished.

That’s a nice little group of plants in your pic’s; what’s the name of the purple one in the top centre of the group picture, that’s the one that jumps out and catches my eye, and it will be interesting to see how it looks when it’s fully matured.

Tash – It’s good to see you posting again, but I’m sorry to see it’s with such devastating news. From what you say (and now I’ve read your P.S.), I’d be going for something that’s been sprayed from next door.

This stuff that cleans algae is a real possibility as some of these algae killers/cleaners contain salt and copper. Even salt in very high concentrations can mark plants, and we all know what copper can do. Is there any way you can find out the ingredients of the product used? It won’t help the outcome, but it may save you a lot of time searching for other answers.

You also mention you used a different fungicide, some fungicides still contain copper as well (especially some of the older ones) and remember not all plants react the same way to a toxic substance, some are stronger than others and would therefore suffer less damage.

Colleen – So the boys are home tomorrow are they? Well you’d better put in the ear plugs as your ears are going to get a bashing from them about the big camping trip. Glad to hear you got a few things done while they were away, I’ve managed to get a few seedlings potted up over the last few days as well and it make me feel like I’m finally achieving something also. I do hope your plants aren’t stuck in the mail over the weekend, but with the extra insulation with them being in polystyrene boxes there shouldn’t be a problem anyway.

Wendy – Wow, this must be the longest post you’ve ever done, it’s more like a book and something we can really get our teeth into, great stuff!

Well you may be sore with stinging skin, but the end result of your make over really looks good, and I don’t think you need to be bothered about damage from the sun at this time of the year (not even in sunny Queensland) as a lot of the heat’s gone out of the sun by now. By the way, when are you coming south, you can help do my make over while you’re here.

As I said above, I’ve been re-potting a few Neo seedlings over the last few days and there are quite a few interesting looking ones and some from a Neo ‘George’s Prince’ cross in particular which are showing nice wide leaves. It’s still too early to see any colour but it makes the waiting all that much more interesting doesn’t it?

I think you probably on the right track using Alan Freeman’s hybrids as parents as he did breed some wonderful plants and some of his better ones also had concentrica in the parentage which shows the value of this particular species as a parent.

Like you I’m always finding seedlings I’ve moved out of the shade house to the garden to make more space and it’s usually a pleasant surprise when you spot one of these plants that’s looking a “bit special” and find it’s one of the seedlings you grew yourself. I don’t have a Neo. ‘Catherine Wilson’, but I do have a Bill ‘Catherine Wilson’. I looked up Neo Catherine Wilson and it’s said to be a possible cross between two species, Neo Spectabilis and Neo. Marmorata so this is probably where the spotting comes from.

It’s interesting what you say about the water entering the lids of the containers that had the holes in them. When I first used these containers I put them on my benches beneath the adult plants and often was puzzled to find the seedlings covered in water after rain, even though there were no holes in the lids. I later found out that the water was entering by actually running down the outside of the lid and then finding its way “uphill” between the lid and the wall of the container. Who says water can’t run uphill? It can happen due to a process called “capillary action”. If you don’t believe me see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capillary_action.

Your description of the round seed capsules leads me to suspect they are from one of the Bill species, known as the “watch spring” types such as Brasiliensis, Rosea etc. I’m pleased to see you’re still collecting the Portea Petropolitania var. ‘noetigii’ seed; but there is one thing I’d ask of Johnny, can he get a video camera and get some shots of you as you jump across the pond and grab a golden cane palm to prevent falling back in while collecting the seed from the plant growing in the middle of the palm? I think it would be pretty good entertainment. Anyway I’ll appreciate the seed much more now knowing of the trouble you take when harvesting it.

Jenny – It’s very interesting what you say about Neo ‘Big Mac’ as a few years back I lost two of these due to rot and I seldom have a problem with rot down here. First I lost one plant and then about eight months later I lost another I’d bought as a replacement (from a different grower) about six months after the first one died. This makes me think it may be susceptible to rotting, (down here anyway), and for that reason I’ve never bothered with it since.

Just a little word of warning with what I wrote about the Sphagnum moss and the pups. I did say it works down here for me in "MY CONDITIONS" which would be very different to your conditions. Likewise I’ve tried the method with the root promoting hormone powder which I also read in one of the Brom Society Newsletters, and I had no luck at all; again I’m in a different area to that of the author of the article. So I guess my advice would be to “tread gently” and just trial these things on a few plants of which you have spares. Again, welcome to our group Jenny.

Now to finish with a few more pic’s, today I'll post some Aechmeas just for a change. Pic.1 is Ae Caudata 'Eiperrii', Pic 2 is Ae Distichantha, Pic.3 is Ae. Gamosepala 'Wyee', Pic 4 is Ae. Orlandiana 'Touch-a-Pink' and Pic 5 is an "oldie" but still nice, Ae. Weilbachii var 'Weilbachii'.

All the best, Nev.