Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for novices & addicts, October 2012, 1 by weed_woman

weed_woman wrote:
A message from Nev.

Hi everyone – Wow so much reading to catch up on. Just to tell you the story briefly, I took the computer to the computer doctors last Friday and got it back on Monday , or was it Tuesday? I forget now; anyway he said he turned it on and everything worked normally – he did it a few more times and still no problems so no cost for Nev. Got home and everything's working again except I can't post on Dave's Garden (just like before when a similar thing happened – I can read the posts but can't send anything myself, so Sue has kindly offered to act as a relay and I'll email her and she'll (fingers crossed) post for me and we'll see how that works. As usual lots of great pic's of plants from you all, (and even boogie boarding dogs) and so much news to take in in just a few days.

Colleen – Your Ae Burgundy is looking great and I'm sure you'll like the flowers which are a bit similar to Ae Mirlo. It's interesting as it's from a crossing of species (Ae distichantha v schlumbergeri) x (Weilbachii f. leodiensis), but still a “striking” plant.

I'd just like to pick up on Sue's comment to Shirley about Neo. Lambert's Pride, it is a nice brom and a good grower and producer of pups as well but it's also proving to be quite a good breeder and I'm attaching a pic to this email in the hope that Sue can relay it on to you all.

As for Trish's seedlings and when she should take off the lid, I can only speak about what I do under my conditions. My containers are on a shelf in a closed in north facing back porch which gets good light but no direct sun. The lids stay on until I'm going to a aclimatise them prior to planting them out. Depending on what they are (but in my case mostly Neo's) I don't plant them out or thin them out until they have five leaves. This is what I was originally taught and it has always worked OK. I find that taking them earlier increases the risk of losses in my climate, but you could probably get away with it the further north you live where it is warmer. With some of the faster growing ones such as the larger Aechmeas, Porteas and some Bill's, they will reach to top of the container long before they have the five leaves and in this case I remove the top and put them in another area where I keep the ones that have already been planted out and I just water them when they need it. I must emphasise though that what works for me won't necessarily work for others.

Ian – You're not the only one with birds in the shade house, last year and again this year I've had Spotted Honey Eaters nest and raise young in my Vriesea shade house and the little New Holland Honey Eaters have done the same in an area further down the yard near the frog pond. We have all sorts of birds coming into the yard now and I think it's great. Yours looks like a Little Butcher Bird and these become very tame very quickly and will soon take food out of your hand.

Who owned the Vriesea that sold for $925 on Ebay, was it one of Jack's or Pedro's? Prices like that are another good reason to start growing your own from seed; you save money and always have the remote chance of getting a “cracker” like that which you can sell for that sort of money.

Sue – Your plant could still be Neo. 'Marble Throat', I've had them show some different markings like that from time to time (usually after a “hot spell”). Best wait until it pups and see if the pups are the same, and if they are you have a different one yet again. I don't think it's Ice White River as Shirley suggested but somewhere in between Marble Throat and Ice White River colourwise. It's the marble throated type in the next pic that really catches my eye and whenever you get a spare pup you want to swap, please keep me in mind. The same applies to Trish and her Neo 'Marble Mauve', when ever you get a spare pup of that one Trish, please let me know too.

Ian – Although I don't grow them myself, I love you little Tillandsia, I think its a “beaut”. And pic of the Poinsiana tree brings back some happy memories from a wonderful holiday we had in Cairns many years ago. I managed to bring back some seed and grow it and my son has since turned them into nice Bonsai specimens.

That's all for now and I'll finish with a pic of some Lambert's Pride seedlings.

All the best, Nev.