Bromeliads for novices and addicts, June 2011

Happy brommy birthday Sue. Hope you have a wonderful day. Colleen

Thanks so much Nev and Wendy,
great advice and thanks for pointing me in the right direction :) I will get back to doing more reading today, but starting in the right place this time ;) Starting with Bromeliad key for dummies....... sounds appropriate anyway, ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Don't worry Wendy, you'll probably hear the clang from your place when the penny drops and the light bulb turns on, lol.
I have my days of feeling a bit lost with it all, but still loving it. I am pretty lucky that hubby works in a construction type job that has him in a different private backyard each week nearly and he usually manages to get given plants from the owners. If he admires something they often end up giving him a cutting, or pup. He came home with 2 beautiful white bat plants yesterday, we have a white and a black already, so two more to the collection is wonderful. Haven't had the whites long enough to see them flower yet, but it will be nice when they do. So I sent him off to work today with instructions of..... see if you can get me a brom pup today, ha ha ha ha ha. Mind you he often takes one of our desert roses to repay the favor of the person who gives him a plant. Give and take makes the world go round huh?
Ok well I will try to reframe from questions today...... lots of reading to do :)
Have a great day everyone
Tash

oh Happy birthday Sue, I hope you have a super Bromalicious day today and get spoilt rotten :)
Tash

Happy birthday Sue. I too hope you have a fantastic day.

Karen

❉❥ ❦ ❧ ❃ ❂ ❁ ❀ Happy birthday Sue, your cake awaits in the Tea Room. ❉❥ ❦ ❧ ❃ ❂ ❁ ❀

Jean.

Oops, was that Sue's birthday cake? Umm, well, I'm sure you won't miss a bit missing when you go to blow out the candles Sue. Yeah, I know, the candles should have been a hint .....

Hi everyone,

Sue - Happy birthday, and I hope you got home OK and haven't been washed away with all the rain. Did Bill buy you a nice big brom for a present?

Tash - Don't worry about asking questions, that's what these forums are all about, sharing knowledge where we can.

What you say about hubby being given plants is great. I've never understood why some people go to great lengths to steal plants when in most cases if they only asked, the owner would very likely give them a bit anyway, as most gardeners are friendly people who like to share anyway.

Anyway, the rain's stopped and the sun's out and the garden awaits.

All the best, Nev.

Nev, Tash, and Wendy, I got those vriesea seeds posted to you today. I hope some will grow. I probably should have started catching them much earlier, but didn't realize anyone would want them. Will be better prepared next time.

Karen

Tash this is a photo of our last white batplant in flower. Unfortunately we lost that plant when Johnny sat it in a bucket and forgot to put it back when he finished whatever he was doing. When we got a lot of rain the plant didn't like being drowned and never recovered. We recently bought a new one labelled white but when it flowered it was a black one. We will get another white one day.

Happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday dear Sue. happy birthday to you. (did you imagine me singing that Sue .... hope it sounded OK hahahaha) Hpe you had a nice day and not just cleaning up after you water inundation.

Wendy

Sue - hippo, birdie, 2 ewe...
hope it was a good one :)

You're too funny theresa. thank you all for the birthday wishes. Its been a good one. no broms as gifts, but really, I have plenty already. I have photos of Nevs to post, and got some lovely plants from him which I have yet to even look at! Its been quite busy here, or raining, so haven't had much of a chance to do anything in the garden. lots of branches to pick up and really can't do much more until the ground dries out a bit (in a month or two I reckon)
Anyway, just got back from dinner in town and its way past my bedtime.
I'll catch up as soon as I can.
Sue

Sue. I just looked at barclayana and that is the one that I sent you a pup of for your birthday. I assumed it was a tillandsia but it is apparently a vrisea. the label only says barclayana. Anyway hope you haven't already got one of those so it makes the present more special for you. Anyway I have about 5 pups of this new vrisea now.

Wendy

my tillandsia caput medusae is looking so nice at the moment with arms going in all directions. I just had to take a pic to share. I liked it so much when we went to Bunnings I couldn't resist buying 2 more.

Wendy

Wendy....thank you so very much for my package, i have just unpacked it all, you are just so generous, I have the biggest smile on my face and am nearly bouncing around the house in excitement. I really didn't expect all what you sent, thanks sooooo much :)
Gotta go tend to my package now, just had to let you know I got it,
Thanks again,
Tash

Hi everyone,

Wendy - I’m not a Tillandsia grower myself and only have a few bits and pieces that friends have given me, but if I'd been a betting man I would have bet that your Vr. barclayana was a Tillandsia also as it looks very similar to a couple I have which are Tillandsias and I can certainly understand how you would have thought it was a Tilly.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if somewhere down the track it becomes part of a name change when the taxonomists start shuffling things around like they occasionally do.

I like the idea of writing the names on the timber mounts as well, very handy in the case of lost name tags and certainly easier to read for “old farts” like me.

I like the white batplant, it's certainly unusual and what other colours do they come in?. I've never seen them down here though; do they only grow in the tropics?

I was checking out some of the brom sites on the web the other night and stumbled across a site from Thailand which had lots of pic's of a brom show. The following plant really caught my eye as I don't think I've ever seen a Neo with such a perfect circular shape before, and I just had to share it with you all. It appears to be a new hybrid as it only has the formula name and no registered name and it just goes to show the quality of some of the new hybrids coming out of Thailand, what do you think?

All the best, Nev.

wow Nev that neo is something sensational isn't it? I could just see the top half of a barbie sitting in the middle - the brom being her dress. Can you imagine it??? that is just perfect.

Tash you asked for a purple brom so the pup I sent you is from the attached brom in pic. Hope you like it. As I said it is an unamed hybrid from Alan Freeman. Have fun with the seeds and I hope you get a good show of seedlings from them. Post pics regularly.

Jen I can't wait for you to see the new chook house for vriseas. It is looking really really good but knowing Johnny he will want you to see it when it is finished. We are thinking we might just pay for a couple of towers to be made up at Thornside. Johnny wants it all finished and looking spectacular for Darren's birthday next weekend. Can you imagine that this time next week I will have a 40yo son????? where have the years gone.

Anyhow I must get these ancient bones of mine off to bed.

Wendy

Tash the white spots on the brom are actually the reflection from the flash. It is actually all purple wherethose white flashes are. Not a good shot but hope you like the colour.

Wendy

Nev, what a spectacular brom that is. Shame we can't get the new ones from overseas. Seems the grass is always greener...........

Wendy, Bunnings have had some lovely tills in. I think I cleaned out our Browns Plains store. Well, nearly. The only one budding up of mine now is the Bulbosa. One I got from you last time has just about finished flowering, and the caerulea is still opening, one flower at a time. This is the one I got from you. It had no name on it, but Neville thought it was Schiedeana X Baileyi.

Karen

Hi everyone,
yes Nev that picture is awesome, really amazing. Yeah Wendy I can just image what you described, like the old time dunny brush holders, lol.
Wendy I love the photo you put up, thanks so much for sending such a fantastic pup, I can't wait to see it grow and colour up. I will get some seeds done this weekend, and fingers crossed I will have some luck. the ones I brought off ebay are not doing anything as far as I can tell, so I'm not sure if I have them in the wrong location or hopefully it's just more a case of them taking there time, they are Vriesea's so take a while I guess. I just hope i get a few that take... I hope.
I will let you know how i go with yours Wendy, I really hope I do it all right and they work, cause if they don't, I know it's me doing something wrong..
A huge thank you to you for the package, you really made my day, if i can send you anything in return, please let me know.
Thanks so much
Tash

Nev, I've seen some talk about crossing plants, and the word "species" comes up sometimes. I don't understand. Can you not cross a non species, or do you need to cross species, and what is a species anyway?

Karen

Hello you lot. Tash, your Vriesea seeds might take up to 3 weeks to germinate, They are very slow to grow and you can expect to wait 2-4 years (4 for me) before you see much in the way of colour and pattern. It might be quicker for you in your warm climate. Be patient, as long as there is a bit of light and humidity, they should be fine, as long as they are not too old. you never can tell when the seed was collected. I always label mine as I collect them, as Vriesea seed has a short life of around 3 months, so I'm told.
Wendy, I'm glad we sorted out Vriesea barclayana, and I agree with nev, I would've picked it for a Tillandsia too. Peter Tristram told us that Tills differ from Vrieseas because of a part in the flower, I can't remember what though. One has it and the other doesn't. Most plants are classified and named by the botany of the flower, so the grey foliage means nothing really. I always look up a new plant and then question it if it needs to be, so I'm glad that mystery is no more wendy.
Nev, in Thailand, because of the almost constant warm temps and humidity, the Neoregelias hardly ever flower, and they have trouble getting pups. You can understand why that plant has such a nice shape, as it probably continues to grow layer after layer of leaves. I guess they sacrifce the next generation to have such great looking plants.
I did end up with broms for gifts, A couple of Tills and seeds from Wendy, and Jen sent me a couple of special bits too, which I potted up today.
I'm looking forwardto spring, as there are pups on most of the garden broms which I'd like to remove and spread in rows to make borders. In saying that, I'm enjoying the cooler weather that brings a slow down in the weeds, and the only gardening to be done is a little bit of pruning and some raking up of sticks and leaves.
Now, I must show you nevs. I really enjoyed seeing his seedling areas and its very motivating, because if he can do it under the adverse conditions caused by cool conditions and salt laden winds from the ocean, then it should be a snap for us warmer climate gardeners.
Nev starts them off on a north facing wall just inside the back door. I was amazed at how many he had on the go, and they also go around the corner too! I didn't realise you could stack them up like that, but Nev explianed that the reflected light off the light wall was enough to help with germination. At this point, the containers don't have drainage holes.

Once the little seedlings are touching the lids, its time to take the lids off, cut the drainage holes (ingeniously using an angle grinder) and then they go into the hardening off area, which is on the south side porch. Nev says its not ideal because it is cool, but he still seems to have them growing quite healthily. The polystyrene boxes no doubt insulate them, and Nev has more peat in the bottom, which is kept damp and helps with humidity and in keeping the seedlings moist. Nevs wife is very accomodating of his bromeliaditis! I don't think Bill would be quite so understanding, but I have my eye on the laundry for a growing area, and its not like he'll ever go in there and find out?

Now, down beyond the tree and to the left is an area under shade where the potted up seedlings are grown on. There is treated timber used in teh construction, but it is all painted, and Nev hasn't had any dramas with it. The seedlings are exposed to the rain in warm and cool weather, and most seemed to be thriving, although some tender ones had succumbed to the elements. Probably a good thing, as Nev is short on room.

In one of his shade houses, Nev had this little house within a shade house, with drop down sides. There were seedling in here also, but I failed to ask Nev why these were here, were they special? I did spot some variegated seedlings and was quite excited by them, as i haven't managed to grow any myself yet. Truelly, you'd be amazed at how much he has here. Its not a little back yard by any means, and every inch has been used economically, although I was surprised there was grass and a clothesline that hadn't been covered in shadecloth! I guess you had to compromise with the wife, Nev?

I was taken with this mass flowering of Billbergias. We must've visited at just the right time to catch these, as most Billbergias are short lived. It goes to show that even the more widely grown bromeliads can still be a show stopper!

This is along the back fence (right hand corner) with the seedling area. The shade areas and broms go down both sides and along the back, and the photos probably don't do it justice, as I had seen nevs photos before, but didn't realise the scope of it untill being there in person.
Anyway, thanks Nev for humouring me and answering all the questions. I hope we didn't keep you walking about too long while we were there. Would you believe I still haven't unpacked the boxes and had a look? My excuse is that I wasn't feeling ontop of the world today, but hopefully tomorrow will be the day. The weather has been nice, so fingers crossed it'll continue on into tomorrow and I'll wake up in good spirits!
Karen, a species is a plant that is an original, not crossed with any other. It must have to have features not common to others of the same genera I imagine? Once it is crossed (even with another species) it then becomes a hybrid. You can cross hybrids also, but you might get a real mish-mash of things, as they can resemble either parent, and the parents of the parents! Thats what makes it so exciting to hybridise.
Sue

thanks for the photos Sue. I can't beleive Johnny keeps telling me "no more seedlings. we don't have the room" Comparing to Nev, I've only just started. One thing I need to ask though is how the hell do you collect seeds from the guzmanias. I have been disecting several old flowers to see if they have seeds and can't really work it out. Is there seeds in each bract of the flower?????? How do you know if they are ready to harvest??? do they split open like vriseas, tillansias and alcantareas????

Oh another question, how the hell do you collect seeds from those tiny little centres of the mini neos??? I've been trying to get my fingers in to try pulling some pods to see if there are any seeds but only get a tiny bit and the fingers let go before I pull anything out. I've thought about tweezers but can't see how they can get a grip without squeezing out the seed. Any hints or ideas Nev will be appreciated.

Wendy

Hi everyone,

Gee Sue you make my place sound really good, I'll have to have a look at it through your eyes more often.
I must have forgotten to explain that when the seedlings are taken from the second area on the Southern porch they are then transferred to that section with the drop down sides in the centre of the main shade house. This is to harden them off further still as this is the first time they will be growing without any closed in overhead protection, only shade cloth from now on.

The old man’s whiskers hanging down are used to give a little extra shade and help create a suitable microclimate and they seem to like growing in these conditions. These plants aren’t any more special than any of the others; it is simply another step on the production line.

The area in your first pic I call the Maternity Ward, the second is the Pre-School, the forth is the Kindergarten, the shade house along the back fence is the Primary School and the shade shelter in the last pic is the High School.

Yes Sue, my wife is a very patient woman, but she still won't let me cut down the Tibochina tree or turn any more grass into brom gardens though, so I guess I just have to be contented with what I have.

Sue - We enjoyed having you and Bill visit as it’s always good to be able to have a “Brom Talk” with other interested growers and I certainly enjoyed getting the plants you brought down and hope you are happy with the swap. Anytime you or anyone else here on the forum want to drop in, feel free to do so, but just ring first to make sure we will be there.

Wendy – Guzmanias have seeds and seed capsules very similar to those of Vriesea, i.e. they are of the type that are wind dispersed and when ripe the capsules will split open as in the (not very clear) picture below.

As for the mini Neo capsules, I have a pair of blunt end forceps which I manage to get hold of the top of the berry with, and if it’s ready it will come away quite easily. From there on you just treat it the same as any other Neo.

All the best, Nev.

Guzzie seed

Wendy - Below is a pic of the empty Guzzie seed capsules after the seed was removed.

All the best, Nev.

Sue, thank you for showing us Nev's seedlings. Great shots. Nev, you are so neat and tidy. I could use some lessons in that.

Karen

Thanks for all the pics of Nev's place, they are great Sue. Nev you have a really nice set up, looks really good.
I love the names for each area or part of the production line :)
We managed to pick up a couple more broms from the markets today and one is in flower like my Neo. I have a question, if I was to try and x them, how do I do it.... I have read your book Nev, so glad cause at least I kind of know what to do, but everything is so small, how to do manage it? Any tips would be great :)
This is one that hubby picked, so he's calling it "his brom" not sure what it is... A vriesea I am thinking, and hoping the flower will help with working it out.
I hope you all had a great weekend
Tash

wow very nice score Tash. It has some fenestralis in there hence the spots on the infloresence. This will produce some nice seed for you to harvest and grow. This is what we are all looking for ..... foliage vriseas. This is a real brom fix.

Thanks for the advice Nev. I am dying to collect some seed from a guzmania. Now I know what to look for. I did cross a vrisea and a guzmania a while back but I didn't get any seeds from it. Maybe they all blew away and I just missed them ..... possibly while I was away.

We are patiently watching the old infloresence on the John's favourite (or dad's favourite as it is being called on ebay). A lot of the seed pods are very fat with seed especially the ones we crossed with other vrieseas. But some of the others are also fat with seed so we will have a go at growing some of each different type. I think the seeds are getting close to ripe so just watching for that initial split.

Now that a few people are wanting some of the seed I offered it is painfull to be checking each day to see if there is any ready to harvest and post. Before that I seemed to be collecting every other day but now that I am needing to collect there seems to be weeks between anything to harvest.

This is the old chookhouse photo for comparison.

Wendy

this is what the same area now looks like. it is still a work in progress but this is what Johnny can do. The 2grey posts are the edge of where the chook pen started to the left of them. Everything to the right of the posts is what was there before. Everything to the left and in front of those posts is what has been added this week.

Wendy

This message was edited Jun 19, 2011 8:44 PM

Wendy Johnny hasn't got a twin brother by any chance has he? I could do with him here to build things for me. Looks lovely. Colleen

he loved the time he was working as a landscaper. He certainly has the imagination for it hasn't he? But he doesn't like an audience when he works. I just have to be close enough to hear when he wants a lift with something or help to hold something. And I can't have an opinion or input. If I want something I have to plant a seed and walk away then allow him to process my suggestion and come back with the idea as thught it was his idea. hahaha

Wendy

Aren't all males like that wendy? He does an excellent job. It must be wonderful to have someone so handy around. My son does what he can for me, but he lives 150 miles away and a lot of his time when he does come to visit is taken up by 2 little boys who absolutely idolise him. Uncle John is their hero. Colleen

Hi everyone,

Tash – Your plant looks to me like one that’s been getting around for a few years now and they’ve only just sorted out the parentage and it’s been registered as Vr. `Tachete Gold` you can check out what is said about it on: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=VRIESEA&id=10477#10477 I have been in touch with a friend who was involved with the long running investigation concerning this plant’s history and have asked if he can ID it for you so we’ll see what he has to say. Most of these types of Vrieseas have to be pollinated at night (The experts tell me the best time is around 9.00pm) as they are normally pollinated by bats in the wild.

Wendy – If you can envelop the plant with some type of fine mesh (perhaps mosquito netting) you can prevent the seed from being lost when the wind blows. It’s interesting that you’re embarking on a journey into the land of the unknown by attempting to make some xGuzvrieseas. There’s only about thirty or so different ones registered but there are some really nice looking plants among them and some can be seen on:
http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=xGUZVRIESEA&id=9370#9370 . More and more hybridists are trying their hand at these bi-generic crosses and it offers a wide open opportunity for the development of some beautiful plants of the future.

I must say, that when I saw the pic. of your old chook house the first thing I noticed was the treated timber posts and I thought “Oh dear, I hope these have been painted if they were used in the new structure”. I needn’t have been concerned because when I moved on to the next pic WOW! What a transformation. It looks just like a “million dollar show room“. And the grey colour you’ve selected for the posts just works in so well with everything. It’s just so neat and tidy and a real credit to you both and it's very obvious that hubby is somewhat of a perfectionist.

All the best, Nev.

Wendy, wow! What a change. John really is good, and he works fast too. And it blends in so well with what was there. Good job, both of you.

Tash, that's a nice looking plant there.

Karen

John's done a fantastic Job Wendy. I hope you cooked him a nice roast meal on the weekend?

I reckon so, Colleen. lol

I have no idea what just happened to my post, lol, wrote it and then tried to work out how to include a quote and it all went haywire on me, opps.

anyway.... I'll try again....
first Wendy, that transformation is awesone, what a fantastic job he did, it looks so nice! Really amazing.

Now this was the quote I was trying to include......

I hate to say it, but I don't know what the bit "It has some fenestralis in there hence the spots on the infloresence" actually means???? sorry :(
But I would like to know what it means if someone cares to explain it to me the major learner in most things broms, lol.

Nev thanks so much for that link, it looks EXACTLY like it, I brought up two photos and could of sworn that photo in the link was it sitting outside.
Thanks also for asking your friend. Is it not so common that brom? I searched for hours last night clicking on all the Vriesea Species on fcbs but gave up in the end, nothing looked quite right, but your link looks spot on thanks Nev :)

So has it already flowered or still developing???? The fella at the market wouldn't budge on his price even though we had also just brought two Neo's off him and said it was about 4 years old. But I forgot to ask if it has actually flowered or was still to flower yet.

Thanks heaps,
Tash


This message was edited Jun 19, 2011 6:30 PM