Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS JULY & AUGUST 2012, 1 by bromalong

bromalong wrote:
Hi everyone
Thanks for the intro Tash and yes I know Sue & Goff they live about a kilometre down the road from me, do you live on the coast or part the way up the tablelands
The reason I ask is to enquire about your growing conditions and what sort of potting mix you use, do you use scoria or a pine bark based mix. I like to try and get a handle on what people are using in other parts of the country I don’t know many growers up your way. Neo Chirripo is one of my favourite Neo’s, one of the down sides of Chirripo is they often throw some dude pups (without a lot of colour a almost washed-out look) but when the dudes produce offsets they in turn can be stunners.
Thanks Wendy for the heads up on my noid Billy it dose look a bit like B amoena Var virids but the flower is the wrong colour my noid has a yellow stamen with purple sepals from memory it’s a large plant up to a meter in high, two weeks ago Val and Russ were up and I did not think to ask them!!!!! I will try moon billbergia.
Bree your plant is ospinae var Gruber and it’s not uncommon for them to throw pups right up top, expect a second pup next to the other, like most Patten Vriesea they are upper pupers and can be a real pain to remove with ospinae var Gruber they tend to pup at the apex after flowering, I’ve found that if you leave apex pup or pups get quite large almost full size then strip of the top leaves till you expose the base of the pups completely, remove them with a bit of mum attached they power on. Vr ospinae is a different plant its one of the few that don’t die after flowering but keeps growing and branching they can have quite a few flowers on at the same time.
Your N Hula Girl has nice colour Karen.



This message was edited Jul 12, 2012 8:38 AM