Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for Novices and Addicts - September 2014, 1 by bromishy

bromishy wrote:
Hi Everyone!

Hi Teresa pleased to hear the interview went well and hope you get a second interview. Your Plan B idea about signing up for a computer course is a great idea and will look good on your resume for sure and the more courses you do to cover all aspects of computer applications the better that would be for you in the long run to cover all types of office work.

Hi Nev thanks for the advice on the different coloured shade cloth topic, I too do prefer the green in the garden especially with the wetlands situated behind our place where it blends in so well. I really only need it over summer and then can draw the curtains open or unclip the shade curtains and store them in our shed until the next time they are needed and because the curtains are relatively low to the ground and at least not at eye level so less noticeable I suppose to us.

Nev pleased to hear you liked the look and parentage of Neo. ‘Michi’ on the BCR, I adore it’s great shape, compact form and nice wide leaves and I can tell already that it will look fantastic when fully grown as it stops me in my tracks now when I am in the Igloo watering ect, so that for me is a tail tale sign that it will turn out to be an impressive plant so I am looking forward to it maturing.

Nev on the topic of Judges we have met some really nice one’s at the Orchid Shows we frequent so that keeps us going back as they don’t mind a good old chin wag and like to share in their passion of growing orchids and are down to earth and friendly but they are few and far between which is disappointing.

Nev pleased to hear you liked the look of my Neo’s. I ended up having to move Neo. ‘Amazing Grace’ out into more light to get the colour she has presently so hopefully she colours up even more in the coming weeks as I only changed her location around mid last month and the weather is warming up now. I really liked your Pic 1 of Neo. ‘Amazing Grace’ (dark form) and what a stunning flower on your Pic 2 of Ae. ‘Blue Cone’.

My ‘Mister Odean’ seedlings were pollinated by nature so I have written a question mark (?) after it’s name, the seedlings did take a bit to take off but they are all doing very well now and I have been thinning them out and potting some of the larger seedlings because I have that many in trays so thin them out every now and then to give the others a bit of a fighting chance; but I am pleased with how tough some of the individual little seedlings are growing and am sure some of them are going to grow up beautifully like their parent plant that has gone to brommy heaven.

Nev I took a closer look at my Pic 1 in yesterdays post that I thought was Neo. Olsens (Large Form) and you are right it is actually Neo. ‘Kiko’, but now I need to go outside in the daylight and look at the other plants I have labelled as Neo. ‘Olsens (Large Form) and see who I got it from and if I have any history on it? Also thanks for the lighting advice on Neo. ‘Kiko’ I will keep that in mind.

Nev in answer to your question what Brom Topic could we all discuss on this forum, what about this for a topic item: I often have people ask me the following question “Do mosquito’s breed in the centres of bromeliads”? Everyone please let me know if this is a good topic to discuss or not as there is a lot of uncertainty / negativity out there with people who have never grown bromeliads before and what they have heard that has put them off growing them, where they have not even given growing them a chance (which always frustrates me), and everybody I have spoken to over the years who collect bromeliads and all the internet sites I have visited back in the early days when I first started collecting bromeliads and wanted to find out for myself as no-one really gave me any sound advice on the topic as they really did not know. So the only way I worked it out for myself to satisfy my own curiosity was to conduct my own “experiments” in our garden during the different seasons and I did this for an entire year back in 2012 by testing various sections of my brom gardens by wrapping cling-wrap around the tops of my pots (around the neck of the brom) and secured the cling-wrap down and over the pot with an elastic bands and then proceeded to tip the water in my bromeliad out into a large white party tray and with my reading glasses on would look for signs of mozzie larvae etc and then I would repeat the process throughout different sections of our garden. Now keeping in mind our house is situated at the back of the Wetlands and we live on the Second Dune (by the beach) so we generally see a lot of Mozzies and Sandflies around anyway; but not once during these “experiments” throughout the year did I find any mozzie larvae etc whatsoever. It is also important to note that I do not flush out my brom centre wells very often (once a month if lucky) or put anything in the centre wells whatsoever like diluted dishwashing liquid or anything like that to help stop the algae, so this satisfied the Mozzie myth for me and whenever I get asked the same question that’s the detailed answer I am able to provide them from my own personal experience. I also heard recently from a brom grower that flushing the centre wells of the bromeliad on a regular basis disturbs the mozzies and they are less likely to breed in the wells but then I suppose if you are flushing the centres out that often you flush out whatever is in it so would be hard to really know if they are breeding in there or not anyway? I also believe the bromeliad produces its own secretion in the centre well especially in those big Tank broms and that maybe that could be what puts the mozzies off breeding in them as well as the algae that builds up in them, but I do not know if there is any truth in that and is just something I think the brom must do without sounding silly and I though I would share my thoughts with everyone? Anyway it will be great to hear what everyone else here thinks about this topic.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pic 1 - Bill. NOID flowering but I do not know what this one is called, it has super tough leaves?
Pic 2 - Some sort of wild mushroom growing on a log when we were last at the Tablelands, nature is amazing isn't it.
Pic 3 - Neo. NOID - any ideas anyone?
Pic 4 - Neo. 'Grace'
Pic 5 - Neo. 'Exotica Velvet' (top) and Neo. 'Royal Burgundy' (bottom)