Ask-a-Dave's-Gardener: Office Plant needs help......, 1 by drdawg43

drdawg43 wrote:
Pups are tiny plants that grow from the base of the "Mother" plant. They get their nourishment from that (dying) mother plant and at a point, they can be separated from that mother plant and grow on their own. These baby plants are also called "off-set plants" and perhaps go by other names as well. I just call them "pups". Lots of tropical plants grow pups - staghorn ferns are ones that do but not all varieties of staghorns will have pups.

The vast majority of bromeliads found in the big-box stores will not have pups. The typical commercial grower speeds up the growth/flowering to get the plants to market, and those plants won't have time to grow their pups. Always look for a pup when purchasing a bromeliad.

The first photo shows a mother plant with three large pups and the second photo shows two pups, with the youngest pup being on the right side of the mother plant.

Ken

P. S. I never sell a bromeliad that does not have at least one pup.