Bromeliads for novices and addicts, June 2011

ha ha ha ha, yeah I'm with you Pam, you should just give it away wendy to make room for more, LOL.
It's really nice Wendy, and the photos of the Tills are great too, I don't have any of them yet, ohhh hang on, Grand fathers beard, lol, have a tiny bit of that if the birds quit nicking it, lol.
Oh and my seeds have mould starting in them...... not looking good, I must of done something wrong :(
Tash

Tash, dust them with some cinamon powder.

Pam

Hi everyone,

Firstly, Sue's visit tomorrow. I hope the weather improves a bit, because as well as the cold, it is now starting to rain, but I keep telling myself it's getting it all over with today and it will be nice tomorrow, so fingers crossed everyone.

Wendy, to answer your question “would you buy this?” My answer is yes as I like the more subtle colours of that seedling more than those bright colours of the original registered Painted Delight parent as shown on the BCR (Bromeliad Cultivar Register).
http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=6181#6181

Tash – Don’t get your knickers in a knot over a bit of mould. This often happens and is not necessarily your fault. It may be from an air borne mould, it may have been due to cross contamination from your hands or it may have been lying dormant in the dry seed and just waiting for the right conditions to start growing. I personally haven’t tried the cinnamon powder but I know of growers who have had good results from it.

If the seed hasn’t germinated and mould is present I always use a 10% Sodium Hypochlorite solution which is what I always used when I grew orchid seed. “Domestos” household bleach contains Sodium Hypochlorite and you can mix one part of bleach to ten parts of water to make up the solution.

If the seed has already germinated, you can use one of the normal fungicides at the recommended rate as long as it isn’t one containing copper. In each case give them a good spray with an atomiser. A repeat application may be necessary in a couple of days if the mould is still there.

All the best, Nev.

nice try everyone to get that PD25 seedling. This one hasn't flowered yet so we have to wait to see what the matured plant will do. We have such a range of patterns, shapes and colours in these seedlings. I will post a few others over the next few weeks and see what you all think. The first ones to mature are now starting to throw pups so we will be able to see if they maintain the pattern of the mother. This was the first to mature PD#2 and we have 2 pups from it.

Tash this will give you an idea of the range of patterns you get from a batch of seeds from a hybrid.
Wendy

and this is a group of them together showing the range of colours and patterns.

Hi everyone,
thanks Pam and Nev for the mould solutions, I will stop sulking now, lol.
Wendy they are fantastic, I can't til the day I have baby broms from seeds all coming out differently like yours are, that's just amazing, and it must be so exciting, not knowing what you will end up with.
I really can't wait :)

My Vr Splenriet spike has burst open. I had cut it from the main plant to let the pup grow. I honestly don't know what this is. Is there seed in this or has the seed already gone, or didn't it get any? I didn't think it would do this, so it is mainly so I know what this is if it happens again.

Karen

Karen those hairy things are the seeds. Collect them in an envelope and put them in a plastic bag or bottle in the fridge until you decide if you want to plant them or not. If you have too many seeds we would love to grow some splenriet. Bring them over and we will help you plan them up if you like. Just collect them before they fly away all over the place.

I wonder if ours will do this too. I've never seen them break open before. I wondr if that is because Johnny has always cut the flower off when it is finished and we've never thought about waiting for the seeds.

Wendy

Oh wow Karen, thanks for showing that photo as I have never seen that before and that is a brom we have that Nev helped identify for me, so that's what it's seeds will look like one day if we are lucky to get seeds off it. Thanks heaps
Tash

Hi everyone,

Yes Karen, now you really have something to keep you busy, and as Wendy says, collect them before they all blow away. If they will fit, cut away the old spike and put the seed capsules as a clump in a brown paper bag untiil all the seed has released. Only when you're sure they are all dry, should you store them as Wendy says.

If you store them damp they will go mouldy , so to make sure they are perfectly dry, I usually sit mine on top of the hot water heater for a day or two before packaging them and putting them in the fridge as Wendy describes. It looks like you have a very good harvest there; did you cross them with another Vriesea or are they a result of Mother Nature doing her own thing?

I would be happy to swap you some other type of seed for some as I've never grown them from seed. They are a bit cold sensitive down here, but I'm keen to test a theory that if cold tender plants are grown from seed in the area they are to be grown to maturity, they can better adjust and deal with the elements.

I had a visit from Sue and Bill yesterday and fortunately the weather improved for thir visit. It had been pouring rain all night and early morning after a week of cold, nasty weather accompanied by freezing South West winds coming off the snow. I awoke to find the winds had stopped but it was still raining and so unpleasant I had thought of ringing her and telling them not to come, but knowing that all brom growers are mad and obsessed with brom's, I didn't think a bit of a downpour would stop them anyway. Fortunately, the rain stopped and after they arrived the sun came out, so that's got to tell us all that Mother Nature likes brom growers.

We spent the morning discussing brom's and swapping a few plants, but the most enjoyable part as far as I'm concerned was being able to put faces to names. I always enjoy visits from other growers as there's nothing like a good "yap" about brom's, and there's no other growers here where I live, so if any of you other bromeliaddicts are ever down this way, please drop in, you're always welcome.

No doubt you'll hear from Sue when she gets back as she also took a few pic's to share with you all.

All the best, Nev.

Tash, glad I had it to show you. There must be millions of those tiny seeds in that one flower stem. I guess nature has a way of choosing only the strongest to grow.

Nev and Wendy, would be happy to send you seeds. They've been rained on and neglected, so will try to dry them out first. Goodness knows how many blew away.

Nev, can you D-mail me your postal address? I don't want seeds back, as I'm just not into growing them myself, but am happy if you can get these to grow.

Wendy, I'll drop some in for you next time we are down your way.

Karen

Hi everyone,

I'm so glad the rain stopped for you, sue and Bill yesterday, sounds like you all had a good time.
You must live in the same region as my best friend, she lives in Gerringong...... watch out I might fly down for a visit one of these years and then I'll come visiting to see all your wonderful broms :)

Does anyone happen to know the username "woolkeb" on ebay? They have lots of broms listed and before thinking about bidding, I thought I would ask if anyone has dealt with this seller or knows of them? Just asking.

I would love to get some purple coloured broms, saw one in someones photos the other day and went "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" so decided we need a few of them, lol.

I will be off to bunnings within the next week to get a few things for the broms, need to buy some more shadecloth too, wish i had a big greenhouse like most of you do ......... one day.

I would love to get some seeds going ...... can't wait to watch some grow up...... mine are still doing nothing as yet ;)

Have a good day,
Tash

Tash, I am not in the class of most on here with lots of broms but I have bought from the seller you asked about. The broms were lovely and healthy and exactly as described.
Jean.

Hi everyone,

Tash, before you go buying plants from Bunnings or Ebay, why not tell the growers here what exactly it is you are after and I'm sure you could get it at a better price.

As for the shade cloth, what exactly are you going to do with it? There are different colours and many different percentages which can produce either good or bad results for your plants depending on what you want to grow beneath it.

I read an article on a trial of the different colours and the results and the one that got the best results on average was the beige colour (also called biscuit, sugarcane, sand or whatever colour the company making it wants to name it). I'll try and find the article and send it to you.

All the best, Nev.

Nev, I can second that comment on the shadecloth. I have been using the common green on my shadehouses but when doing the last epi house, I could only get the beige. I can see a difference in the size and vigour of the epis . I also used it over the top of on of the greenhouses . It lets in more light than the green but apparently has the same percentage of UV protection for plants as the green.
I will only be using the beige in future, but then it is not as hot or as bright here as further north.
Just my thoughts anyway.
Jean.

Hi Nev and Jean,

thanks heaps for letting me know about that seller Jean, nice to know :)

Nev, thanks heaps for email with the shade cloth info, it really good info and will come in handy :)

Nev you will have to let me know what you have for sale and anyone else for that matter, as ..... well we don't know what we want until we see it really. Not sure if any of you have albums or things like that with ones that you are interested in selling?
I am more than happy to buy off people on here, would love too, thought some of you might have ebay accounts you sell through?
Also I am "Tash Ako" on Facebook if any of you want to add me as a friend. I am loving seeing peoples brom photos, wow there really are some nice ones :)

Tash

Tash if you see anything on my facebook page let me know, I am happy to send some up to you. We have lots of purple centred broms. I will add a small pup to the parcel I will send tomorrow as long as it fits into the packet. I will also send a couple of small pups.

Wendy

Tash, just don't buy a Neo Medallion from that seller. I did, admittedly a few years ago, and not only was it NOT medallion ...... I'm thinking this was one of those occasions where someone went looking for pics that looked like their plant to get a name, but the poor wee thing was far too small to have been removed from its mum, and didn't survive.

The worst thing was that it had been a gift for a then neighbour (who was a brom collector.)

In fairness though , if Jean and others have had good results more recently, then it's worthwile considering that they may have changed their ways in the 4 or 5 years since then.

Pam

This message was edited Jun 14, 2011 7:03 AM

Tash, Pam is right. You do have to be careful of some eBay sellers. I have around 10 noid iris to prove that point.
Even if others like myself have had a good outcome with a seller, it may have been a fluke. I would try a brom that is not too dear , see what its like and then go from there , if you are happy.with the sellers plants.
Jean.

thanks so much Wendy, Pam and Jean, all great advice. Pam that's terrible that it didn't even survive, poor thing, lets hope that seller has improved. I haven't bid on anything, just noticed their broms start very cheaply, not sure what they end up on when they sell, but thought I would ask about experiences before considering bidding on any.
But like Nev said, I would be far happier to buy off people I have meet on here :)
Wendy your photos are wonderful, you will have me going through your album going "this one" "this one" "this one" ha ha ha ha.
And thanks so much about the parcel, I am so excited now, I will be checking the post box everyday this week in anticipation, lol. You are too kind, please let me know if I can do anything in return or give you money.
If you happen to see anything in my photos you don't have and would like..... please let me know, although I imagine you would have all the ones I have already ;) But if there is, please don't hesitate to ask

Thanks everyone
Tash

Hi everyone,

I'd like to offer a word of caution to anyone contemplating buying a bromeliad based on what it looks like in a picture. You should always keep it in the back of your mind that the grower of the bromeliad in the picture may have an entirely different set of cultural conditions to those of yours. It’s always a good idea to find out under what conditions the plant was growing and try and duplicate them initially.

Things such as temperature, light and feeding can have an enormous effect on the appearance of a plant. For example, good light and a low nitrogen fertilizer will give Neoregelias their best shape and colour, while the same plant grown in low light and fed a high nitrogen fertilizer will have thin strappy leaves and very poor colour.

You need also consider that the picture shown may well just be of a plant that looks like the one being advertised and not necessarily the same plant. It's far better to buy from growers you know or ones that your friends recommend.

You should also be aware when buying plants from a warmer climate and bringing them to a colder one, especially during the colder months, as the sudden change in temperature will stress the plant, set it back, and take it longer to acclimatize.

Tash - I'm only about 20 minutes North of Gerringong where your friend lives, so if you're ever down this way, please give me a call and arrange a time to drop in.

All the best, Nev.

Thanks Nev for the advice, all great valid points, I think I will try to buy off you guys or other local growers where I get to see the mother plant and the pup for myself instead of ebay for now. Unless it's someone I know who has some on ebay that is :)

If I am ever down see my friend, I will be sure to look you up Nev and see if I can some and see you, I would love to see your broms in person. I would love to visit all of you if I lived near you.

Nev how do they do when they go from a colder climate up to a warmer climate, do they still go through some shock or is it less when coming into a warmer climate?

Ok I have another question...... he he he he
We went to buy a seedling tray yesterday ..... but they didn't have the one we were looking for, so it was either pay $21 for a more expensive plastic one, or go for a little green house with a couple of little shelves for $40. It's like a 4 shelf little stand with a plastic cover to enclose it. I'm sure you probably know the sort I mean without the need for me to take a pic to bore you with, lol.
Anyway, I will use it for a few little desert rose babies, just as an experiment to see if it will speed them up at this time of year, we are not really wanting to grow more desert rose seeds as we have desert rose plants coming out our ears that we are trying to sell off to allow for our new brom passion instead, but the neighbour has some seeds she believes to be quite special... (I am very skeptical) but agreed to grow them for her. so they are in the little green house thingy..... but back to broms..........
If I want to put my chinese container of seeds in there too, do I leave the lid on or take it off?
Also.... pups. Whenever the neighbours remove pups, they just stick them in the ground in the new location, or bring them over to me and hand me a pup usually with no roots, of which ...prior to meeting you all on here, I would just stick them in a pot with normal old potting mix (blushing) and think nothing more of it. They never died, and eventually grew roots.
Lynn says in her book that she places pups in a polystyrene box with a depth of 6cm of perlite to encourage root growth. So needless to say, that's what I have my pups in at the moment :) Can I put that polystyrene box in the little green house thingy? Or are pups better off just being out in the normal conditions??

Do you treat your pups with anything when you cut them off? Is there a process I should be doing when a pup is freshly cut off and handed to me? I usually just give it a wash with fresh water if it has any debris in it and then I just pop it into my polystyrene pup box. Should I be doing anything differently?

Thanks heaps, and sorry for the long post
Tash

Tash, can't help you with answers on the above, sorry. If you want a few of those vriesea seeds to play with, let me know. I am sending some to Nev and Wendy, so happy to send you some too. You can send me your postal address by D-mail to keep it private. Just let me know. The seeds seem to be dry now, so about ready to go.

Nev, forgot to say earlier, the vriesea was the only one in flower at the time so must have self fertilized, if they can do that.

Karen


This message was edited Jun 13, 2011 11:09 PM

Hi everyone, back again,

Tash - Plants going from a colder climate to a warmer one still have to adjust a bit but they don't cop the stress they do when going the other way. In fact if they are bare-rooted pups, I suspect the warmer climate will promote roots quicker.

I think I know what you're talking about, are they are like a little mini glass house based on a light metal frame and covered with plastic with zippers on a flap which acts as a door?

I haven't used them but a friend has, and during the previous very hot weater we had in January, he lost about 4 trays of little vriesea and tillandsia seedlings as he had moved it into a warmer position previously and didn't allow for the extreme heat. The side zippers had been all done up and he was out for the whole day and when he came home everything in the trays were cooked.

He did have some very tiny seedlings in containers with the lids still on ,and there must have been sufficient air in them to act as insulation, because they were undamaged. So my advice would be, put it in good light but not direct hot sun, and open the flap on very hot days for extra ventilation and don't let any plants in trays dry out.

Pups - I only ever take off pups without roots in the spring or summer, I find in my climate that if I take them off during the colder weather they just "sulk" and stay dormant until the warmer weather starts. How I treat pups without roots is to just sit them in an empty pot and allow the cut to dry naturally for a few days before potting in my normal mix. I still keep some water in the vase in the centre though to keep them hydrated and they can stay like this for ages, in fact I have on some occasions forgotten all about them and when I eventually remembered and went to plant them, I found they were growing onto the inside of the pot. I have heard perlite promotes roots quicker but I'm only trying it myself for the first time this year so I can't say how good it is at this stage.

If your pups are growing OK the way you are treating them, I wouldn't change anything, remember the old saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

You mention Desert Roses, how do you think they would grow from seed down here, do you think it would be too cold, or should I give them a go? I've always thought I'd like to try some but never see them around and suspected that maybe it's not warm enough for them.

All the best, Nev.

Tash, I love all the questions you're asking because I'm learning too from the answers. The photo is my Neo seedlings of Red Earth about 6 weeks old. I keep them in a plastic cupboard with the zip done up at night and just sit the lid on the container but don't seal it tight. When one lot of seeds went mouldy I sprayed them with 1 part bleach to 10 parts water (Nev's suggestion, I think) and they are growing well now. Jen

Thanks Nev for the advice, all great valid points, I think I will try to buy off you guys or other local growers where I get to see the mother plant and the pup for myself instead of ebay for now. Unless it's someone I know who has some on ebay that is :)

If I am ever down see my friend, I will be sure to look you up Nev and see if I can some and see you, I would love to see your broms in person. I would love to visit all of you if I lived near you.

Nev how do they do when they go from a colder climate up to a warmer climate, do they still go through some shock or is it less when coming into a warmer climate?

Ok I have another question...... he he he he
We went to buy a seedling tray yesterday ..... but they didn't have the one we were looking for, so it was either pay $21 for a more expensive plastic one, or go for a little green house with a couple of little shelves for $40. It's like a 4 shelf little stand with a plastic cover to enclose it. I'm sure you probably know the sort I mean without the need for me to take a pic to bore you with, lol.
Anyway, I will use it for a few little desert rose babies, just as an experiment to see if it will speed them up at this time of year, we are not really wanting to grow more desert rose seeds as we have desert rose plants coming out our ears that we are trying to sell off to allow for our new brom passion instead, but the neighbour has some seeds she believes to be quite special... (I am very skeptical) but agreed to grow them for her. so they are in the little green house thingy..... but back to broms..........
If I want to put my chinese container of seeds in there too, do I leave the lid on or take it off?
Also.... pups. Whenever the neighbours remove pups, they just stick them in the ground in the new location, or bring them over to me and hand me a pup usually with no roots, of which ...prior to meeting you all on here, I would just stick them in a pot with normal old potting mix (blushing) and think nothing more of it. They never died, and eventually grew roots.
Lynn says in her book that she places pups in a polystyrene box with a depth of 6cm of perlite to encourage root growth. So needless to say, that's what I have my pups in at the moment :) Can I put that polystyrene box in the little green house thingy? Or are pups better off just being out in the normal conditions??

Do you treat your pups with anything when you cut them off? Is there a process I should be doing when a pup is freshly cut off and handed to me? I usually just give it a wash with fresh water if it has any debris in it and then I just pop it into my polystyrene pup box. Should I be doing anything differently?

Thanks heaps, and sorry for the long post
Tash

Wow Tash, you have some lovely looking broms there. Nice large specimens. Is the plant to the far left a brom too?. I haven't seen one like that. Can you put a closer pic up for me please? Lovely. Colleen

Wow Jen your red earth are looking good.
Tash we grow our seedlings in the plastic covered shelf unit like you. We have 4 of them now. Only one has new seeds and the others have small seedlings growing in smaller pots. We put 3 trays in each of the seedling trays from bunnings then have 3 of those trays on each shelf of the plastic covered unit. When the seeds actually shoot and we have a tray of green we just sit the lid on the top with about a 2 inch gap at one end to let air in so they don't go mouldy. They are still inside the bigger seedling tray and we adjust the slide to what we think they need. We have the plastic covered unit in a spot where it gets early morning sunshine through the trolleys of larger seedlings growing in the sun. They might get filtered sunshine through the growing plants durning the day als. The early morning sunshine is enough to warm up the unit and it gets fogged up and stays warm inside for the whole day. The seedlings seem to love this. We have a thermometer inside one unit and when we see that the unit gets too hot we open the zips to let some heat out but close them again for night. I guess you need to experiment until you find your own best practice.
Re pups I must tell you that when we went away on holiday we had a drink tray full of pups which we hadn't got around to potting up. We just kept a small layer of water on the bottom of the tray to encourage the roots to seek out the water. I started potting them up today and some of the labels are dated March or April. Many of the plants have quite good roots growing and some just a few but some were just like new pups taken. None have suffered or looking sick so they happily wait for us to pot them.
One last thing, this time last year we were holidaying in NQ and returned home early June with 78 new broms. Most came from Cairns and Atherton so came from warmer temp to our SEQ temp. No problems. ALso many were in the lava rocks so we had to repot as soon as we got them home. However we did leave 2 or 3 in lava rock and they are still growing happily. So this just tells us that they are very resilient plants which can adapt to whatever we put them through.

Tash I sent your parcel off today. I will post a couple of photos tomorrow to show you what you will be getting. Hope your seeds grow as well as they have for me. I was in a rush this morning putting them in the box. Johnny was rushing me so we could go into the shops so I just grabbed packets from the fridge and shoved them in. Not sure what you got but should be a good collection for you to start with.
Wendy

Hi everyone

Jen – The seedlings look good. I see you didn’t fall for the most common mistake we all make when we start off and that is sowing too much seed. Your amount looks just about right. Do you have holes in the bottom of your containers or not, and is that plain coco-peat they are growing in?

Tash – I’ve only just enlarged your picture and checked out your neat little setup. That little plastic house is the type I thought you meant so we were both talking about the same thing. I notice the post with plants hanging off it. Is it of CCA treated pine or other treated timber? If so don’t let you plants touch it, and don’t let any water from it run onto your plants as it will contain traces of copper which is deadly to brom’s. More importantly, are any of the overhead timbers of CCA treated pine? If it is treated, better to paint it with a good quality oil based primer, then an oil based under coat and finish with either an oil or acrylic paint in a colour of your choosing.

All the best, Nev.

Some Neo's after the rain

Nev, your Neos are looking great. The colours are beautiful. My seedlings are in coco peat (I think). I did exactly what you told us not to do. Just shoved the seeds in without keeping any records because I honestly didn't expect them to come up. Even some of the labels washed off. Now I'm scrambling to try and remember what I did. Thank goodness Wendy has been keeping detailed records because we did pretty much the same things. Anyhow, I've learnt my lesson now and will be much more diligent with the next batch. All of the seedlings you sent me are doing very well. Love the variegated Guzmanias.

Hi Everyone,
I am a bit worried about the whole amount of sun now, lol. hmmmmmmm
But first of all I'll reply to comments :)
Colleen, far left..... do you mean the one under the table in the black pot?
Wendy, thanks so much about the parcel, I can't wait, super excited now :) And thanks for all the info on your plastic covered shelf like mine, i am thinking mine is in the wrong position for this time of year, so I have to take not of the sun and where it's hitting etc around the yard and where might be a better spot to put it. In summer it would probably be good where it currently is, as our summers are so hot, so the more shade and coverage it gets the better, but..... for this time of year, I think it's not going to get enough sun. Wow I am so jealous........ "this time last year we were holidaying in NQ and returned home early June with 78 new broms" ...... how awesome is that, to be able to do that. I can only dream of one day being able to do such things.
I really wish we owned a house to be able to do what we like with the gardens and the yard, but alas we do not. So we have to make do with what we have.

Not sure if I have explained it before or not, but we live in a big shed! It looks pretty much like a house when you are inside, has rooms and all the normal "house" features, lol. But it's a work yard basically. Hubby works for his father, who owns this property, and it's the work depot basically, so we have to look after all the work stuff, and the yard always has vehicles coming in and out, killing our grass, parking all over the place, and loads of work materials, pipe, steel bars, timber, etc etc.
so we can play with gardens and do things, but only as long as it doesn't upset my Father In Law or the workers getting to everything. So it's a tad limiting. That photo I put in a few posts up, is about the only area we have been able to claim as our own, and we have gutted what was there as an old garden and made it our own, the rest of the yard, has existing gardens that so long as we stay within the borders of those gardens we don't seem to be getting ourselves in trouble. But again, that's kind of limiting too. so building things like a green house, as much as we'd like too, is pretty much out of the question at this stage, unless we can sneak it in somewhere where it's out of the way.

But anyway, I have to work out the right spot for the shelf, as that spot in the photo is getting no morning sun at all at the moment, I will keep an eye on it today and try to work out what sun hits that area. i have moved the seed tray to the hot water cyclinder for the moment, which is around the back of the house(shed) and is getting all the morning sun, but won't be able to leave them there too long or they might get too hot, so i'll move them soon. But i need to find just that right position to have them in, and i guess that position will change again when Summer comes.

Nev thanks re the CCA timber. I'll make sure those two broms are not touching the timber, and those other plants, not sure what they are that are touching those poles further up have been there for months and seem unaffected by them. No over head poles or beams, just shade cloth that is stretched out and tied from the shed to the poles.

ok i have waffled on and written too much as usual, better go check my seeds lol
Tash

Nev, these are the other seedlings you sent me. Should I poke holes in the bottom of the containers and when should I start using some very diluted foliage fertilizer? Tash, I just bought a Neo spectabilis variegated so it is good to see how big they get and how nice they look when mature. Jen

Last one. This is a bit of my front garden looking much happier without the summer sun. Jen

Hi Everyone, just wondering if anyone can help Identify this one. This one isn't actually mine, it's the neighbours, but we have about 4 or 5 just like it, but hers is more mature than mine, so i thought the photo of hers might be a better example than mine. Pups start off green, but as they get more sun, turn red except for the middle. We have all of these in full sun.
Jen, I had to work out which one your were referring too, lol, I knew I had seen that name somewhere, the Neo spectabilis, someone identified it in one of my Facebook photos the other day, so had to go looking through to work out which one. It was one that hubby wanted to know what it was, so he was happy to know it's name :) Most of the big broms we got because they were going to be dumped! So we are very grateful to have them and to be getting pups, but we don't know much about them, so learning all the time :)
We have a neo that is flowering, it would be nice to know it's name too, but so far no luck working it out, and I never see any ants helping to pollinate it, so thinking we might not get seeds anyway.... and i'm not sure what to do to help it.... looks awfully small and fiddly them little flowers, lol. But if we do end up with seeds, it would be nice to know what it is. But that's another time.
Thanks heaps
Tash

Tash, it looks like Neo Cockabell. Jen

I am full of questions today, so I will leave this as the last one or you will all get me kicked out, lol.
Ok so you all know we have quite a few broms that we don't know what they are or how to identify them.... I have been spending days slowly going through sites like this one http://fcbs.org/pictures.htm trying to work out what our broms are without having to annoy everyone by asking all the time.
But is there an easy way..... before a brom has flowered to at least decide which genera it is??? There is one we have been looking for that for some reason I have in my head that it must be a vriesea.... why I have no idea, not sure if someone said it is, or if I just got that stuck in my head some how.
So i was searching through that site for the photo i listed above .... so i know it's a Neo, but anyway, i came across a photo that looks very much like this other one that I have been looking for that i thought was a Vriesea but under the Neo category, which brought me back to .......... "what am I doing?" I tried yesterday googling what the characteristics of each genera is, but it all sounded very similar. Does anyone know a good place for me to start with all of this? I don't mind trying to work out what mine are myself and then maybe asking does my findings look right, but I need to know what genera to be looking in.
Some of these identification sites are quite confusing to me, I asked for help the other day on one on Facebook, and was pleasently surprised to find out it might be a Quesnelia, which I had never even heard of. Set off looking to work out which one and found a site.... http://www.bromeliad.org.au/ and looked up Quesnelia, and found 7 species. when i clicked on quesneliana there are two different looking broms to me.... ours looks like the bottom one, but not the top one...... so now I still don't know what it is. I am finding it quite confusing and I hate asking all these questions cause it just makes me feel really daft and I feel like I am being annoying as well :
Sorry for all the questions, i will not ask any more....today anyway ;)
Tash

ohhhhhhh thanks Jen :) :) :)

Hi everyone,

Jen – I leave the lids on until the leaves are almost touching them, and then I remove them. After a few weeks I put the holes in the bottom and sit the containers in cut down broccoli boxes on a bed of damp coco peat (See pic below). However don’t forget, I’m in a cooler area than you so you may need to do something different to suit your own conditions.

Tash – Identifying all of the different genera is something that will take considerable time and will only come with experience. Don’t try and do everything all at once. A simple starting point with the more commonly seen plants in shops and at markets is that generally speaking, if the leaves are smooth on the edges they are probably Guzmanias or Vrieseas although there are a few Neo’s that have smooth edges as well, but these are in the minority.

Go to the FCBS site http://fcbs.org/ and look down the index on the left and open the section on BROMELIAD CLASSIFICATION / TAXONOMY. I’m not trying to be insulting, but a good starting point is the “BROMELIAD KEY FOR DUMMIES”. By working your way though this you will be able to identify some of the more common plants you are likely to encounter.

You say that the Quesnelias have you a bit confused. This is understandable as the plants of some resemble Billbergias, some resemble Aechmeas and others resemble other genera. It’s the flowers that are the key to the ID as well as the form of the plant. Again go to the FCBS site and look for Quesnelia in the Photo Index there and you’ll find more to pick from. Let’s know how you get on.

All the best, Nev.

Tash that is the exact same question I asked Johnny when I stopped going to work and started taking an interest in the broms. "How do you tell what is a neoregelia, from a guzmania, or vrisea, or aechmea etc???" He told me to read a book. At that stage he had 2 books on bromeliads so I did start reading. After many chapters it all started to click and I began to realise that Johnny told me to read the book because he didn't really know that much either ......... (just kidding I think hahah) Once it clicks it is quite easy really as long as the brain works ... I find that it gets slower as we get older LOL.

Anyhow there are some very good brom books around but the same info is probably available on the FCBS site or on the local bromasilad associations webpages.

Happy reading. Let us know when that light bulb turns on and everything suddenly clicks for you.

Wendy

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