BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS APRIL 2012

Hi everyone,
time for a new thread :)

Whether you are a novice or a totally addicted Bromeliad addict, you have come to the right place.

We came from http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1245043/

Ok Hi Everyone,

well what a month March turned into for us in this household. Phone line outages, road closures due to landslides from so much rain, medical issues, no work for hubby etc etc.... good bye March!

Well an update on what's been going on in the broms. As most of you know, we had some rot issues, that upset my apple cart and although it's something all growers face from time to time, I took it pretty hard as buying broms is not easy in this house, and when we do get them, we try to do our best to look after them well.

Anyway we got over that hurdle, accepted the loss of several more expensive broms and with the help of a few brom friends we managed to buy most of them as pups again.

Well devastation struck on Friday last week when hubby came in and announced that my beloved most expensive vriesea had rot! (bearing in mind this plant cost a few hundred dollars and was a special present to ourselves at a time when we had sold something and had that bit of extra cash to spoil ourselves.) The prices for pups have come down now days that I have seen on ebay and the like, but this was brought as a fairly mature plant that should flower this year with a bit of luck.

I was mortified and felt like just selling the lot. We have spent so much money on getting the brom house all done, getting some nice broms into the collection and it all just felt like too much. The rest of the day and next day got worse..... more broms were dragged out and tipped on their sides all suffering what looked to be burns or rot, yet they had all been in the brom house under 75% beige and a 75% green topper as well, so sun burn was impossible.

It was a heart breaking sight to see so many of our more expensive broms laying on their sides and wondering what the hell had happened to them all and why. And the fact that NONE anywhere else in the yard were affected, only ones in the brom house. You start to analyse everything... trying to work out a cause.

A phone call from a grower a couple of hours away from us started to shed some light on what it could be..... and then another phone call from Jack helped confirmed and define what had happened and how to hopefully try and save most of them. What a knowledgeable man Jack is, amazing to talk too, you guys down south are lucky to be able to see him in person, I would love to get down that way to meet him one day.

The long and short of the situation we all think... is that basically they got too dry. What a simple stupid dumb mistake.
We had so much rain up here, and that whole time we were worrying we'd end up with rot in them. Then almost overnight the rain stopped and it came out hot again. We naturally thought a day or two of not watering would be a good thing, you know to let them dry out a bit as they had been so drenched.... but alas..... that was our mistake.
We now know, that they adjust themselves very quickly to that extra water, and yes if it goes on too long then rot is a very definite possibility.... but that when the water stops so abruptly.... they stress and don't cope. So we needed to keep watering as soon as the rain stopped, especially for the vrieseas. And then we could of started to stretch the watering out to get them back use to not so much frequent water.

So we have a lot of damaged broms, Neo's and Vrieseas, but more so the Vrieseas. We have taken Jack's advice on what to do with them now, and can only hope and pray they either recover or give pups. The damage presents itself as burn, much like sunburn, but infact it's from dehydration, so the fact that in some cases, like the expensive one, it's in and around the cup, it may still cause cup rot and we might still lose it. But we can only try and see what happens.

so for all you experienced growers, you probably know all of this and are shaking your heads, saying what a silly novice mistake to make, well we know now. And for all you fellow novice growers out there...... don't make the same mistake we just made.... it's heart breaking and could well be a very expensive mistake to make.

so right now the best outcome we can hope for is a lot of nice broms growing out some very ugly burnt leaves.... but continuing to grow to maturity.... worst case scenario will be throwing the rotted out mess in the bin. So we are crossing our fingers, baby'ing them and just hoping they pull through. Like I have said a few times now..... hurry up and bugger off summer...... bring on winter for us Northerners cause I am so over all the trials our summer weather has given us with the broms.... talk about landing in the deep end!

Ok so that's what's been going on for me, and I am sorry I was absent most of last month, hopefully I will be able to keep up and follow along this month.

Cheers, Tash

Hi everyone. I'm late today as I've had computer problems and Barry has finally got it fixed (we hope, anyway).

I am very pleased I got the Vr. Saundersii, as just everyone has had good things to say about it. Wendy, I am so glad the sales went well and Jen was there to help out. I am so happy with my haul, I really am.

Shirley, those are lovely plants. I have Jewellery Shop too, two plants, and they are slightly different to each other. That's what I love about broms is that they can look so different from one to the next. Nev has explained why.

Nev, those pics are, as always, gorgeous. Thanks for the thumbs up on Saundersii. It is a very nicely shaped little plant, which I like.

Tash, I do so very much feel for you. You have had a bad run with your plants. Also a few of them would have been new, coming from different places and conditions, and into such extreme weather conditions. I sure hope winter is a time of adjustment and recovery for them.

Colleen, does that one (forgot the name - in the previous thread) grow very large? Would love to see another pic when it has fully coloured up.

I need to get my brom areas sorted more quickly. They would be OK for winter, except I am now housing another car in the carport where the broms were taking up residence during the wet. So there are 3 cars in the yard now, all Barry's, and I can't drive any of them (except his main one when I need to duck up the shop).

Anyway, got to go start cooking. Quiche tonight.

Karen

Gee Tash such a shame about your broms, really easy mistake to make....we have just been through a bit of rain 558mm in 5 days so I did exactly the same as you, allowed my plants to dry out a bit before watering them again, hope most make a complete recovery.

What part of FNQ are you?

I have a friend on the Island who is a manic and I mean manic, brom collector, I'll mention the water factor to her if it isn't too late....

Hi everyone,

welcome back Tash, glad you are now feeling better. Really sorry to hear that you lost so many of your lovely broms but it's good to hear that you now know what is happening to them and how to fix the problem. I do hope most of them recover eventually. I know how disappointed I would be if I lost any one of my babies and absolutely devastated if I lost quite a few of them. You’ve had a tough month but I am sure the rest of the year will be much better for you … good luck and thanks again for your help with FB though I haven’t really spent any time there as we have so much going on here too.

Nev, I would love some of your vriesea saundersii seedlings if you still have some to spare. I will D-mail you my postal address. I am sure you are right about the name of the neo ‘Painted Delight’ … can I blame it on the late hour and a poor memory.

Well, that’s it for me tonight, catch up with everyone tomorrow. Pics are (hopefully) Aussie Dream and Meyendorfii Medallion

Shirley

Hi everyone,

Wow! A new month already; I’d forgotten all about it until Tash “popped out of the woodwork” to start a new page for us, thanks Tash.

Colleen – I’ll get some of those saundersii seedlings in the mail to you after the Easter weekend. Even though they are “selfed” (for those of you not into hybridizing, this simple means the mother plant was fertilised with its own pollen) and usually with species, the seedlings are all the same as the mother plant, but sometimes there can be one or two that’s a little different, either better or worse shape/markings than the mother, so hopefully you or some of the others who want some, may be the lucky ones.

Your Neo. Thunderbird x Avalon looks like it still has a bit of growing and colouring up to do yet so it will be interesting to see what it turns out like; and as I say, getting seedlings is like getting a lottery ticket; you never know what you will get.

Who are the “ankle biters” in your pic. are they grand children? Whoever they are they look ready to demolish that birthday cake and just for the record whose birthday cake is it?

Tash – Gee it’s great to see you back here again and I’m sure we’re all pleased to see you. What’s the name of that beautifully shaped Neo. you posted in the first post of the month? It’s a “little ripper”.

You’ve had a pretty rough time with the rot problem since moving into your new shade house, but hopefully you have the cause now sorted out and can take some remedial steps to rectify the problem. What you have just gone through just goes to show how willing most fellow brom growers are to try and help a mate in distress. I’ve been following your “saga” on face book and the amount of suggestions and possible causes and remedies put forward by other growers was enough to write a book about, it was “mind boggling”.

Hopefully things will now improve with the advice from the “Old Master” (I’d better drop the “old” or I’ll be getting “told”) but I do very much respect him and the knowledge he so freely shares with everyone. Although I’ve never seen him in person, and don’t expect I ever will now, as travel is out of the question for me, but I know he is only a phone call away and is there to offer any advice on a problem I might have. I am of course referring to Jack Koning of Port Macquarie, a hybridizer of world note and a very knowledgeable man who freely shares his advice to anyone willing to listen.
I think I may have said to you Tash that the problem is probably something that’s pretty simple and is looking us in the face and we can’t see it, but I know I certainly never thought about that; but then we often miss the obvious while looking “outside the square”.

I once lost a batch of about twelve or so Ae Lueddemanniana seedlings to rot. The centre leaves were all colouring up this beautiful red colour and I thought I’d cracked some champions in one of my very first batch of seedlings, but my excitement soon turned to bitter disappointment when the centres started to pull out. It was following a heat wave we had down here one New Year’s Day and on first appearances it seemed like the water in the cups had got so hot it had cooked the tender centre leaves and caused rot, as the plants affected were all hanging up near the roof. However it was later revealed when looking at all of the other plants, that small slugs had sheltered during the day time in the centre of every plant (they hadn’t damaged them, it was just somewhere they were sheltering as they do during the day) but the water in the cups of the highest plants had got so hot that it killed the slugs which in turn started to rot, this of course started the cup rotting as well. So that’s the other side of the coin where the obvious is not always necessarily the cause of the problem and you do need to look outside of the square as well. (Sorry Tash I forgot to mention that one to you when we were trying to work out the cause of your problem; probably because it left such a bitter taste in my mouth I’d consequently wiped it out of my memory bank)

I’ll post a pic of what a group of these seedlings actually looked like and you will understand my initial excitement with the colour and then my disappointment when I realised it was rot.

On a final note Tash, don’t forget that brom’s are probably the most resilient plants of all and if it’s possible to reproduce themselves they’ll find a way if at all possible. Never give up and “bin” a supposedly dead brom until you are certain they are unsalvageable as I’ve had them put up pups just from a bit of dead looking rhizome, admittedly the pup was very undersized but I managed to eventually build up a plant from that little “runt”.

MyaC – I haven’t seen you here before, so a big welcome to our friendly little group and I hope you continue to stay with us and share some of your Magnetic Island knowledge, experience and pictures with us. It’s amazing what we all pick up just by sharing our experiences with each other.

I must correct you though when you say your friend is a maniac brom collector, brom growers aren’t maniac’s they just come in varying degrees of bromeliaditis ranging from acute to chronic and it seems that she just hasn’t been formally diagnosed yes. If the acute stage isn’t nipped in the bud, it very quickly turns into the incurable chronic stage where we can only just treat the symptoms by continually buying/swapping more brom’s and following the basic rule of all brom growers, “there’s always room for ne more”

Shirley – I’ll send you a few saundersii seedlings s well after Easter; and for anyone who missed my offer in the previous month’s post, I have a surplus of Vriesea saundersii seedlings about 2” high and will send a few to anyone who wants them for the cost of postage (while stocks last). Just send me your postal details and we’ll go from there.

They’re two very nice examples of two very popular hybrids, both of which are very variable. I think from memory there are about 28 registered different Aussie Dream hybrids from that grex and there are quite a few from the Meyendorffii grex as well, with some being plain colours, some variegated and with the added bonus there is also a miniature clone as well (Meyendorffii Minor). These are two great hybrids for a collection as there are so many variations you could build a good collection around just these two hybrids alone. I have a few different ones myself and will include a few pic’s as well.

That’s it for today and I’ll finish with a mix of pic’s starting with the disappointing collection of what I thought were some new rare hybrids of Ae Lueddemanniana; the plants on the left with the nice red leaves were unfortunately the ones with the rot. Next there are four different clones of Neo. Meyendorffii. The first one is Neo Meyendorffii 'albo marginata', next is Neo. Meyendorffii 'Red Striata, next is Neo Meyendorffii 'Variegata' (Red Form, and finally Neo. Meyendorffii Variegata II.
As I can only post five pic's at a time, I'll post some of the Meyendorffii 'Minor' grex tomorrow.

All the best, Nev.

Always read the brom thread, love them to bits however they don't do well in my little piece of paradise cause the wallabies eat them or they nibble the leaves to bits and make them look ragged and unloved.

I started collecting when a very generous brom lady LeisaD (a bit before you were on here Nev) sent me a parcel full of different varieties. I naively placed them out into the garden, in various locations and the next morning found them all chewed to bits, really heartbreaking . I packed them all up and gave them to a friend of mine that lives more in the built up area of the Island and doesn't have the wallaby problem I have,they are thriving there.

I guess If I had a brom house it would be no problem but I really enjoy to have my plants out in the open and in the ground so have elected not to have one put up.....as I mentioned my friend who collects broms has a huge orchid- brom house and she has some real beauties in there.

I'll take my camera one day and take some pictures. She acquired a lot of her specimens from an elderly collector in Townsville.

Also where is Sue?

Ahhhhhh … peace and quiet …

We have had another busy day and have two of our nine grandkids staying over tonight. Love having them but gee it’s great when they go off to bed and calm and tranquility return. Hopefully their mum will pick them up reasonably early tomorrow so we can get a bit done for a change.

Thanks Nev, looking forward to receiving those vriesea seedlings … do they need a special mix while so young and are they a slow growing brom.

Anyway, think I’ll call it a night … pic is ‘old love letters’ another of Wendy’s beauties

Shirley

Hi everyone,

Well the sun is shining and I woke up this morning to the beautiful sound of Magpies warbling; wow it’s great to be Australian!

MyaC – Well and here’s me thinking you were a newbie, oh well, foot in the mouth again; that’s nothing unusual for me. The last I heard of Sue was that they were planning a trip around Australia. I don’t know if she’s left yet or maybe she’s just “lurking” on the sidelines.

Shirley – The Vriesea saundersii seedlings do seem to be a bit slower growing than Neo’s, Aechmeas and Bill’s etc., but they are pretty tough and have been shade house grown beneath 75% shade cloth so should be hardened off and not “touchy” like ones grown in glass houses under controlled conditions.

As for a potting mix, I would just use equal parts of fine bark and Coco Peat down here in Shellharbour but up where you are I would suggest you speak to some local growers for advice for a suitable mix for your area.

I’m sure you’ll be most impressed with Neo. ‘Old Love Letters’ when it colours up as it’s a beautifully coloured Neo when grown in adequate light.

I’ll finish again with a few pic’s, firstly a group of ten plants I was getting ready to take to the Bromeliad Society Sales Table on Saturday, that is until a friend bought the lot! The second pic.is Neo Mini Meyendorfii variegata, 3rd is Neo Mini Meyendorfii, 4th is quite a large 'radial red' called Neo. 'Nina Rehak' and pic five is Neo 'Nobel Descent Too'.

All the best, Nev.

Hi everyone. It's warm here again, clear skies and crisp mornings and warms up during the day. Lovely camping weather for those who are going at Easter time. My boys will be going the next weekend with their Uncle John. Motorbike riding and camping. Gran gets to stay home and veg out for a couple of days. yippee. Shirley you certainly got some lovely broms from Wendy's sale. Bet you can't wait to get your SH done so that you can display all your lovelies. Nev was just out checking the seedlings and I have one, yes only one, Desert Rose up. Hopefully there will be others but I'll be happy if I can get one up to flowering size anyway. Nev love the red and yellow Meyendorfii red striata. That is a lovely plant. Have you any pups of that one or mature plant? Must get these kids ready for school. Have a great day everyone. Colleen

Nev, no wonder your friend bought the lot. What a bundle of beaty there. I love the ones in your previous post as well, but Neo. Meyendorffii 'Red Striata' really stands out for me with its creamy gold backing and red stripes.

Shirley, I find wandering through Wendy's a little overwhelming. I want everything I see, but have to consider size, amount of space it would take, etc. I usually leave suffering brom intoxication..........mmmmmmmmmm....what a way to go!

MyaC, lovely to see you joining in. Most times I don't have a lot to show, but sometimes I have a lot to say :). Plus I love the pics posted, oh, I love the pics. And the group is so friendly. Nev is so helpful. Its part of my morning routine, coming in to see what's new.

Hi Colleen. Have a lovely day. I guess its getting cooler there now.

Nev, my racinaea fraseri pups are now at least 2 years old, but showing no signs of spiking at all. The original plant was a seedling, and it was either 12 or 15 years before it flowered. Then it got its first pup, which I left attached. The mother died and the pup flowered in 2 years. And that has been the procedure since, until now. Last time the mother pupped, I removed the pup, and she had another one which I also removed. She then died. But the pups, though quite large and mature, are showing no signs of flowering at all. Seems this is a long time to be waiting for the plant to propagate. The pup doesn't come until the mother flowers, and the seedlings take so long to mature. Is this normal for this plant?

An old photo of racinaea fraseri I've shown before, but just putting it in as a reminder.

Karen



This message was edited Apr 3, 2012 3:12 PM

Good morning everyone and it certainly is a beautiful morning here in Brissie.
Colleen, I'm with you. My males are off riding trailbikes for Easter so I get 4 glorious days to myself just poking around in the yard. Is that a Datura in your photo? It's gorgeous. I got one from Sue and can't wait for it to flower. Speaking of Sue, she hasn't left for her trip yet but has been having a lot of trouble with DG cutting out on her. Frustrating when she's halfway through writing or reading a post so she's doing most of her chatting on Facebook. MyaC, she made a lovely memorial garden with Leisa's broms and it was great walking around it when I visited Sue a few weeks ago. Good to see you in the group. I've been a bit quiet for a while too. Sometimes it's nice just to read when you haven't got the energy to write.
Karen it was good to catch up with you at Wendy's. I had a great time there meeting lots of nice brom people and Wendy and Johnny even let me sell of my own pups as well so that was a bonus. I'm off today to spend the money on hangers and squat pots.There were so many beautiful broms there that I wanted to take half of them home with me but I always feel like that when I visit their place. There's always something new.
Shirley, from your photos it certainly looks like you got some good buys. Sorry I didn't get to meet you yet but I'm sure we'll catch up at Wendy's sometime. Good luck with your shadehouse. As a last resort you can always fall off a ladder and wreck your knee like I did and Wendy and Johnny will come and finish it for you. They did a much neater job than I could ever have done.
Tash, did you break a mirror and spill a ton of salt? What a horrible month you've had. Thank goodness your brom problems are getting sorted out. It always seems to be the expensive ones that have the problems. It's interesting that it's a water problem. Jack told me that Vrieseas do better in winter if you keep them well watered around the roots. I've told people and most look at me skeptically because most growers cut down on the water in the cooler months. Last winter I followed his advice and of course Jack was right. My Vrieseas handled the cold much better, no dead or brown bottom leaves or tips. Apparently keeping the roots moist reduces the stress on them. Sorry I've taken so long to post your broms from Nev. Work has been flat out and I haven't even had time to look at the garden but I'm on holidays now. Was going to post your broms yesterday but didn't want to take the chance of them getting caught in the post over Easter so I'll post them next Tuesday. They are looking good and hopefully they'll cheer you up a bit, lovely teeth. Speaking of Jack, I had to have a chuckle on my recent brom crawl. Visited Jack and Tamera on Wed and then went to Richard Harper's on Thursday. Was trying to tell Richard what I bought at Jack's but couldn't remember. Richard told me exactly what I'd bought, that I only had a small space, was fussy and what sort I was looking for. Apparently he and Tamera had been talking. What a great network!
Nev I can see why your friend bought all your broms. What a top mix with all the colours and patterns. Sue had a similar experience to your 'pink' seedlings. She had a Vr Nova that had gone the loveliest shade of pink. She was thrilled until the middle fell out. It's so disheartening when they die for no obvious reason. I try to ignore my fancy ones and shove them in the middle of all the others because I'm convinced that they become divas if you fuss over them and die just to spite you. Also the grasshoppers know which ones to target.
Now that I've written War and Peace I'll leave you with a few flowering photos. Haven't tried this multiphoto thing yet so fingers crossed. Happy gardening everyone. Jen
1. Aechmea Black Ice 2. Guzmania Luna 3. Aechmea Fantasy 4. Aechmea Aztec Gold 5. Canistrum triangulare
The photos wouldn't load all at once. Maybe too big so I'll post the saga and try the photos separately.

Try again

Last 2 and one more. Micro Guzmania Teresa, the whole brom is about 7 cm across.

wow, it's not taking much to get behind in here, lol, great to see the forum so active.

Thanks for the best wishes about of broms and the trouble we are having, it has been a big learning curve that’s for sure and I thought I had most of it under control, then you get a curve ball. Just shows how we all face different challenges in different climates, that’s for sure.
Hi MyaC, nice to hear from someone who doesn’t usually speak up. I’m up north of Cairns, you live in a wonderful spot, Maggie is a nice island, only been there once and it was a long time ago. What a bugger about the Wallabies, maybe you might be able to have a few hanging pots of broms here and there so they can’t get at them.
Yeah Nev I’m back, I was going to pop in at the end of last months thread…. But it was seriously too much to catch up on… so I cheated by waiting for a new month, lol.
Yeah this issue with the broms is a totally different issue to the cup rot we had, but…. Some of them may still end up with cup rot as a result of the dehydration burns though. I gave them a spray over yesterday afternoon with seasol too, in the hope that it will help too. Anything is worth a go right now and I know seasol is great for stressed plants, so I just hope it all works to help them out.
I love everyone photos, gee there is just so many nice broms!
Jen nice to see you floating around too, oh and no drama about the broms, you’ll have to let me know what the postage is and I’ll send it through to you, no rush at all. Yeah Jack is awesome to talk too, and he also told me about keeping Vrieseas wet in cold weather, not that he was meaning for up here, but yes for down south. That a they can handle cold and dry, but can't handle it together at the same time, so in extreme cold, you must keep the roots well wet. The same for up here... they can handle hot, and they can handle dry.... but again, not at the same time, so when it's really hot, they must be wet. The moisture in both cases stops the cells in the leaves from collapsing and sustaining burns, cold burns, heat burns, dehydration burns. He has so much knowledge! I wish I could of recorded the call just to make sure I didn't miss a word he said.
Yeah I was once told that I must not of run over a chinaman but shot a whole village in a past life. Seems I’m not someone who has endless amounts of good luck, ppfftttt. LOL

oh and Nev that brom I put up is Neo On Target.
Well I don't have anything of interest to put up in the way of photos, so I'll leave it to you guys, lol.
Tash

Nev your array of bromeliads are stunning, the colours are magnificent, I envy gardeners such as you ....sometimes I wish so hard that I had a regular garden and was able to place anything I wanted anywhere I wanted, without having to worry about the darned wildlife....

Tash great idea, I will place some Broms in a hanging basket and see how they go, if I have them low enough to be able to enjoy them but high enough so the wallabies can't reach ,they may just survive...I have a few pups around the place so will collect. I'm also off to Cairns for a family reunion and have to drop into Equatorial Exotics to pick up a medinilla miniata and noticed she has some great broms there that I may purchase, love that giant orange one....I could always cage it because something that size needs to go in the ground.

I placed these broms amongst my dieffenbachias , aglaonemas and aroids hoping that the wallabies would by pass them....see for yourself the below pictures.......these broms are enclosed in my pool area and the little blighter's still scrounge around for food in there.


This message was edited Apr 4, 2012 2:37 PM

Hi everyone

Nev, lovely lot of broms there, particularly like the large one on the bottom right and also the little one bottom left but they're all beautiful.

Jen, I certainly did get some great buys at Wendys and maybe we’ll meet up at her next sale. I am pretty sure I got one of your lovelies too … neo Raphael, I’ll post a photo tonight. As for falling off a ladder and wrecking my knee … think I might give that a miss. We may be slow but determined and we’ll get there in the long run, it's just that we always seem to have so many distractions.

Karen, I know what you mean about brom intoxication and it’s a nice feeling, isn’t it.

Hi too to Colleen, MyaC and Tash and everyone else out there in Bromland. Just in case I don’t get to post tomorrow, I hope you all have a lovely Easter.

Shirley

Hi everyone. Gee a lot of reading to catch up on. I've been lazy for a couple of nights and just used the laptop on the couch in comfort and I don't have a link to DG on that. I've now emailed Tash's link from end of last month's to myself so I can save it on the laptop.

Shirley that plant was painted delight. I had 3 nice big ones picked out for the sales table last week but when I went to get them on Friday 2 had been chewed badly by grasshoppers. Also quite a few others so was not impressed. Trouble is whenever Johnny sprays we tend to get a shower through the night and it doesn't have time to get into the system of the plants. We are now backto the grasshopper hunt each morning. stick in hand tapping broms to see if a grasshopper will fly out so we can catch it. The butcher birds are also doing their bit and we see them on the shadecloth looking down among the broms before diving right in among them. Sometimes they even bring their catch up to show us before devouring. That's why we feed them mince each day ..... to keep them here to work cheaply. About $2 every other day for a tray of mince is cheap.

Nev if you have some spare saundersii I would gladly raise them up. We can always sell some here. I sent that seed to you the other day...... I just haven't been on here to tell you so you may have even received it already. I collected some more ripe pods today so if anyone wants some let me know. Oh and I sowed the first lot last Monday or Tuesday (last week) and they are already up so very quick. However I expect the seedlings will slow down the growth after a while. I also collected seed from heltonii today so will see how they take over next couple weeks. I did take some pics but again I don't know where the camera is. I will upload the pics tomorrow to share with you all.

Jen you know you are welcome to any plant we have here. You deserve them for the help you gave on the weekend. Anything you want ..... just ask. And if I see anything at your place I'm sure I will ask you too. LOL

welcome back myac. can't remember ever seeing your name when Leisa was around but that was so long ago. a lot of names from those days have never been seen for a long time so maybe they are all just browsing but not talking.

Night all
Wendy

Love your Neo. Meyendorffii 'Red Striata Nev. And love all those you just posted Brombirdie.
Is this a Guzmania?
This message was edited Apr 4, 2012 3:27 PM

This message was edited Apr 4, 2012 3:30 PM

Hi everyone,

Well the sun is still shining even though they forecast rain all week so it seems something has gone wrong with the weather forecasts, and just when they had them pretty accurate. Anyway it will make for a nice fine weekend for those going away for the Easter break holiday weekend. Wow! It’s great to see so many posts, what a lot of reading to do, so I’d better make a start.

Colleen - I’ll bet you, John and the boys are all looking forward to the Easter Weekend, and all for all different reasons; John and the boys for the camping experience and motor bike riding and you for a chance to “recharge” and enjoy your garden without any interruptions. However you may find like I did once when my wife took the kids away for Easter that the house seemed so empty and I just couldn’t concentrate on anything. It was nothing I could put my finger specifically but things just didn’t seem right. What I wasn’t going to do that weekend while they were away was nobody’s business. I had a list of jobs all planned and do you know I didn’t really get anything done as I missed the sound of arguing kids and the dog barking with them so much that it all seemed unnatural and I just couldn’t get motivated.

About the Neo. Meyendorffii ‘Red Striata’; sorry, but I only have the one plant and as I told another friend who enquired, I paid much more for it than I should have only to find that I have great difficulty growing it here. It’s extremely slow, won’t put up pups and in other words is a real “mongrel” and will probably turn out to be one of those rare Neo’s that just puts up one pup and then dies and you never seem to get ahead with it. I was told it’s a New Zealand hybrid and that’s why I bought it as the New Zealanders are breeding some great plants, however it seems I got the “lemon”, either that or as I’m beginning to suspect, it’s not the plant in the photo I was sent, as my plant hasn’t got anywhere near the colour that’s shown in that pic. (Which was from the bloke who sold me the plant). That’s the trouble you get when buying plants from pictures, and although I’m always warning everyone else, it seems like I didn’t heed my own warning.

Karen – I can’t help you much with advice about racinaea fraseri as I only have a pup which I bought just last year and at this stage have no experience with it whatsoever. I have sent an email to the chap I bought it from and hopefully he’ll get back to me with some answers to your questions.

Jen – Good to see you back on here again. I remember Sue saying they were going on a trip around Australia but I don’t know when they were leaving. I also remember her having a big “dummy spit” about DG which kept eating her posts before she got to complete them; and she said then that she was going to spend more time on Face Book which is a pity as she is a good mate and very knowledgeable about brom’s and will be missed very much here.

I like your pic’s, especially the Aechmea Fantasy, do you know anything about its history? Looking at the banding I suspect it has Ae. Chantinii in the parentage but I can’t find it on the BCR or the FCBS sites so it’s unregistered and could be a recent hybrid or an old one, who knows? As for this new photo “thing”, I reckon it’s great but it’s a pity it’s limited to only five pic’s, because if you have to start a new post to show more, it breaks the continuity of the series.

Tash – Good to see you posting again also, and that advice from Jack that you passed on is well worth taking notice of. That Neo ‘On Target’ that you posted the pic of, I thought I got a pup a while back (from Aaron I think), but I looked for it yesterday and couldn’t find it, so maybe it was just a fantasy from my dreams. One can but hope!

MyaC – Another option would be to mount some of your brom’s on trees if you have any. A lot of people forget that many brom species originated on trees and man only put them pots for his own convenience. There are a few important rules to remember when mounting brom’s on trees; Rule one is to make sure the tree isn’t of the type that drops its bark. Rule two is to make sure the plants are securely attached and can’t move. If they can move, they won’t put down any roots. Rule three is to make sure the base of the brom is in direct contact with the bark on the tree. Some people advocate putting a bit of potting mix or sphagnum moss between the brom and the tree, this isn’t a good idea as the brom will preferentially send roots into the mix or the moss and not onto the bark where you want them, and because of this they take much longer to attach and establish themselves. Many different genera are suitable for tree mounting, but I find ones that work well are Neoregelias, Billbergias and Aechmeas.

Judging by your pic’s, the wallabies soon found where you hid the brom’s, so you have to come up with a better solution. Often the smell of the water in the centre attracts some dogs, but I don’t know about Wallabies. I know of one brom friends who had a problem with Bush Rats eating the seed capsules in her Neoregelias, but I think mounting them on a tree would be a good place for you to start.

Shirley – Yes, probably a good idea to give falling off a ladder a miss. There’s always that old saying that I try to follow which says, “Slow and steady wins the race”. Well I’ve found I rarely win the race but I usually “finish” the race so I guess that’s not too bad either for an old fart like me. That looks like a young Neo. Raphael in your pic also. If it is, it will colour up much more if you gradually increase the light it’s receiving.

Wendy – Yes the seed arrived today and it’s gratefully accepted. I’ll add your name to the list for saundersii seedlings but like I said, I won’t send them until the mail gets back to normal after Easter. Did the bits and pieces Jen took up to you arrive in OK condition? I must say I was pretty confused as I thought you, Jen and Tash all lived near each other and never though Tash lived so far away from you. Never mind Tash, it’s filed in the old brain for future reference. It was great though to be able to use Jen as a courier as it would have cost a fortune to send the larger plants through the post. Wendy I think we’ll have get Johnny to tie that camera of yours around your neck so you know where it is, otherwise we’ll never get to see your pic’s. Gee you only sowed the seed a week ago and already you have germination, that’s fast; although I don’t expect it to be that fast down here as we don’t have that Queensland sunshine to hurry thing along.

Breeindy – Isn’t it always the way, the plants we like are either in short supply, are far too expensive or are “dogs” to grow. Never mind there are always new ones coming along, that’s the beauty of hybrids.
Your plant does look like a “Guzzie” and possibly a Guzmania lingulata or lingulata hybrid, but it’s hard to say with the pic being so small and DG having printed all the copyright info over the top of it, so I’ll reserve my judgement.

That’s about it for now so have a happy and safe Easter to everyone.

All the best, Nev.

I'll finish with a few pic's of mounted broms Pi. 1 is Aechmea Fasciata mounted in the fork of a Pepper Corn tree, Pic. 2 are some plants of Aechmea Foster's Favourite mounted on an hardwood old pole out of the bush, Pic. 3 is an Aechmea Orlandiana mounted on a branch off a Paper bark Tree, when using this type of branch, cut the bark right back to bare wood where you mount your plant otherwise the roots just go into the bark and don't attach properly. Pic No. 4 is Aechmea Recurvata mounted in a Pepper Corn tree and pic No. 5 is of Neoregelia Cruenta 'Broad Leaf'

Nev , just wondering would they go on coconut tress, I have lots of those, otherwise most of my trees are Paper barks, all in flower at present and the smell is overpowering but the butterflies are here by the hundreds .Thanks for your advice and your tree's look AMAZING also what do you use to tie them down?

well lost my post again. that'll teach me to try 3 pics. will stick to 1 from now on.

Nev pic is of the noetigii seeds taken today showing growth in less than 2 weeks. Now what else did I say in first post????

Colleen unlike you and Jen who will have a long weekend of peace without the kids, I will have the girls overnight Saturday so Easter Bunny will have to come here. Now if only I can keep Johnny out of the easter eggs till then. I had to replace them today after he had a chocolate craving last night and ate 2 rabbits. Hidden this time in the wardrobe so I hope they don't melt.

Myac my hubby climbs as high up the tree as the ladder will allow and uses U nails to attach broms to the tree branches. I've attached a pic of the tree closest to the back verandah. we have mini neos, tillandsias, vriseas and aechmeas in trees. Everyone comments about how the colours make the tree look so good. So give it a go. If you can attach them to the coconut tree I'm sure it will work so well and the result will be so rewarding for you.

Tash I'm sure we all have our tales of disasters and losses. For us it was when we first started collecting seriously and had started paying bigger $$$ for some and wanted to display them the best way we could. Johnny developed some paths and raised gardens and then covered the lot with shadecloth structure. Unfortunately it was made of timber and looked so good. All went well for about 3 or 4 months and they looked so so good then we got weeks of heavy rain. When our plnts started dying we didn't know what was wrong till a seasoned grower asked the question "what did you build the shade structure out of?" That was how we learned about copper poisoning from treated timber. We cleaned them all out and tried to save them but lost quite a few of the more expensive ones. We probably felt like giving up and I'm sure we didn't pay big $$$ for any more till we were sure we weren't going to kill them. Of course we removed the timber and replaced with pipe but kept the coppers logs for uprights. Just remember that you won't make that mistake again so it's OK to keep collecting.

and lastly, Emily had a sleepover with us the other night and Pa went fishing so we had a lovely day of peace to do whatever we liked. Of course Emily wanted to do craft and I didn't have anything here to make. Lucky I spied a couple of terracota pots that were in a bag of pots dropped off to us a couple weeks ago. Anyway I was planning on simply glueing some coloured stones on the pot but emily poured through the craft box and came up with googly eyes and pipe cleaners for whiskers, felt for teeth (I insisted on using the scissors to cut out the teeth) and she decided she would make an easter bunny pot. All I could think was how can we make ears but Emily decided more pipe cleaners would work. She then chose the plant to put into it and insisted on a mini little faith. Now I only have one left as it had only just given me the one pup so far. hope nothing happens to it now. Anyway by the time we put it into a box to take to Nanna Kathy who was arriving from Adelaide next day, the thing had coloured stone earings and a patch of coloured stones on one cheek. Didn't see those going on. She has a mind of her own and knows what she wants. You should try taking her shopping which I did that afternoon. In no time I am peeling a $50 out of my purse but she did pick things for Rylee too.

Anyway I must get to bed now as we have a family BBQ tomorrow, followed by sleepovers for the girls so I'm going to need my sleep.

Wendy

nev this is the other aechmea I collected seed from for you. Can anyone identify it?

Wendy

Hi everyone,

Well hee it is, Good Friday once again, isn’t the year going fast? I suppose next week will see all of the Christmas advertising begin once again as we head toward the “silly season”

Myac – I’m not familiar with Coconut Palms (I assume this is what you mean; or is there another plant called a “Coconut Tree”)? In any case, if it is a Coconut Palm I can only assume it’s like any other palm with rough bark that doesn’t drop. I’ve grown brom’s on the Cocos Palms at my daughters place and they seem to grow fine. The only thing I’ve found is that if you are attaching them with staples which I think is the same thing that Wendy knows as “U” nails, (even the long ones), they tend not to hold very well in palms as the timber is too spongy and you are better tying your plants on. Believe it or not, the best thing to use is old “Panty Hose” as they are nylon and won’t rot, they are very strong and they will stretch to ensure a tight attachment. Once the plants are attached the Panty Hose can be concealed by draping a bit of “Old Man’s Whiskers” over them which will soon grow and cover them in no time at all. (See the 3rd pic in my post yesterday which shows the Old Man’s Whiskers just a couple of days after mounting and Pic 2 which was 12 months after mounting). You are better to drape on several small pieces as they will grow much faster than one big clump . When fixing to a tree with solid wood beneath the bark such as the Pepper Corn tree as in my other two pictures, I just nailed them on with galvanised “Spring Head” roofing nails. These were driven through the hard rhizome at the base of the plant and into the tree and it doesn’t seem to cause any harm to either the tree or the plant. I have also mounted them on “Paper Bark” trees, but you need to remove a bit of bark at the point of contact so that the roots can make contact with the actual solid wood beneath. If you just mount them over the soft "paper bark", once your plant gets a bit of size, the paper bark won’t support the weight and they just fall off, (bark and all). The other thing to remember is that mounted plants require more water than those in pots as they dry out much quicker due to the greater exposure to circulating air.

Wendy – Those seeds are powering away and I imagine you’ll be able to show us flowering plants in about six months at this rate, they really are looking good. I see you are still using the plastic containers we talked about a long time back when you were trialling different methods. Some with holes in the sides, some with holes in the bottom, some with no holes at all and with and without lids. What method did you finally settle on as being the best for your conditions, and what mix are you now using?

It seems like little Emily has inherited the creative skills from you and Johnny as she always seems to be making something different each time she comes to your place and certainly seems to know what she wants to make and how she’s going to achieve it, while all the time poor Johnny has been evicted and sent off fishing (what a terrible punishment for the poor bloke, I’ll bet he has difficulty coping with all the stress Ha! Ha!) As for shopping, well we have the same trouble with our two year old grandson who loves to go shopping with Mummy and Nanny and every time they get to the checkout they find “extras” in the trolley that he has grabbed on the way past the shelves.

Wendy, that ?Aechmea is certainly a most attractive plant and I’m sorry I can’t help with a definite ID, but I would suggest there is also the possibility it could be a Portea as well. However, if you have no objections, I could post it on some of the other forums I visit and hopefully get it identified for you. I think it would look better though if I cropped out the DG writing at the top of the pic., so if you have no objections let me know and I’ll follow it up.

I’ll finish now with a few random pic’s, Pic. 1 is Neo 'Volcano', Pic. 2 is Neo. 'Ice White River', Pic. 3 is Nidularium Innocentii 'Orange', Pic.4 is Neo. 'Red Imp' and Pic. 5 is Neo. 'Sunrise'

See you all again tomorrow,

All the best, Nev

Just popping in to say good morning to all. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Easter weekend. Go easy with the chocolate. Any leftovers can be sent my way :).

Karen

Good morning all. Hope you're enjoying your Easter break. Had to have a chuckle, Nev about your story of your weekend alone. I had great plans for potting up, depupping etc and so far I've done just about nothing. Got up late, read a book, played on the computer, drank coffee but just can't seem to get motivated without the family around. Never mind, there's always tomorrow .... I especially enjoy your photos now because I can walk around your garden in my head. Posted a photo of your Bill. sanderiana hybrid on FB and it got lots of nice comments. Think you let a good one get away but Sue, Wendy and I have all got a bit so you can always get some back if you change your mind. You certainly can grow Aechmeas. My recurvatas and even fasciatas never look that good. Bought Fantasy at Olive's and said it was only new but I don't know anything about it's breeding.
Love Emily's bunny pot Wendy. She's very artistic and you're very patient. You can always hide the Easter eggs around here to keep them away from Johnny. I promise not to eat too many.
MyaC, looks like Nev and Wendy have given you some good ideas about growing broms in trees. I'll post one of my favourite photos from Kerry Tate. I love it for the birds but the broms growing in it are amazing. I put mine in palm trees with stockings and they seem to stick okay, especially Tillandsias. Catch you tomorrow unless I'm on a roll in the garden. Jen 1. Kerry Tate's garden 2. Neo Cee Bee 3. Neo Lorena

Hi all, a very quick hello

having computer problems, big time … keeps crashing … VERY frustrating. Gotta be quick before it dies again … 'cos it wont restart for several hours ... I fear it might be terminal.

We have a laptop, but it's a vintage model and it’s a bit dodgy too, so I may not be around much for the next couple of weeks.

Happy bromming ….
Shirley

Nev you can post any of my pics anywhere you like if it gets me a name for it. I don't think it is a portea. we have several of them and it doesn't match any that we have had before. Also the porteas seem to have much plumper seeds and these are very small ones but I must admit I haven't harvested seed from all of them yet. I also harvested seed from heltonii yesterday but I want to make sure they are viable before offering them so I have put down some and once they shoot I will let you know if I have any more. I may have harvested them early. all the berries were white but there were about half dozen that had gone a grey colour but not black. I tried one and got nice brown seed so took the chance that it was ready.

Jen I love cee bee. shape and colour is spectacular. We have jay bee which also has perfect shape. wonder if they come from same grex. that's good naming if so ..... aye bee, bee bee, cee bee, dee bee etc etc. have to remember that when naming one of our grex. Oh seeing you will be potting tomorrow LOL Johnny said you can come and get your ae macrochlamys. We took 2 pups off today, and 2 mexicana, 4 blanchetiana, and lots of neo pups. We couldnt' get dirty as we had scrubbed our hands clean for family BBQ and couldn't play in dirt LOL. Johnny did some watering after taking the big pups off and I continued pupping some of the good stuff from the front display area.

I was talking to the girls today and Emily said nanna Cathy loved her bunny pot. Emily showed her how to water it. I could just imagine the lesson she would have got. LOL. The girls will be here at lunch time tomorrow and we'll have them until Sunday afternoon so we'll see what fun we have with them this time. wonder what Emily will make this time???? Jen you said I must have a lot of patience with Emily but I know you also have boundless amounts of patience also (hence the teacher in you). I let Jen practice with my girls last week and we took them to the shopping centre where we had a bite while waiting for mum. Jen fussed over them and wiped faces and hands over and over again while we ate hot dogs and ice creams. You can imagine how much Rylee dribbled them being 1yo but Jen was there with her paper towels. You'll make a wonderful grandma Jen and you can practice some more any time you want. LOL.

I'll make you all jealous now but I had to go shopping the other day for new jeans. I've had to use belts for a while now to keep my denims up but when I walked past the mirror on the wardrobe door and saw how baggy they were I knew it was time to shop for a smaller size so I was ever so pleased to walk in and see signs saying 50% off all pants. I only had 1 long pair and 1 short in size 12 but now I have 4 more to wear and all for under $50. I've now started adding more food and have been eating potato, pumpkin, peas and all those things I had to give up while on the diet. I even had a toasted cheese sandwich the other day, and with the girls here I've had lollies, chips, biscuits, toast and lots more fruit than normal so when I weighed in this week I couldn't believe I was another 1.2k down and 3cm less. not bad for no longer dieting. how to turn it off now. goal was 70kg and i'm now down to 68.3. Next challenge is to eliminate the extra skin so they've put me on vitamin C and rose hip oil which apparently gives you collagen which tightens skin. Thought you'd all like to know about the collagen info and now back to broms. hahaha

may not get on to computer tomorrow night as Rylee will be in this room. So if I'm not on it will only be for one night. Might get the chance to use the laptop though if I remember to turn the modem on before she goes to bed.

Night all
Wendy

Pic is macrochlamys for Jen

Hi everyone – I hope you’re all having an enjoyable Easter break and all of your brom’s are jumping out of their pots.

Jen – I saw a series of pic’s of Kerry Tate’s garden a few years back now, I think it was when we were all members of the (original) Garden Web Forums. It was truly amazing and she had so many different types of brom’s mounted on trees it’s a wonder that the branches could support them.

It was only a couple of years later that she broke the devastating news that she had been hit with a “black frost” which had pretty well wiped out everything; however not to be deterred, she started rebuilding her garden again and some of the damaged plants eventually put up pups and I believe it’s now back to what it once was. Just to see the pic’s of those burnt, brown looking plants was realy heart breaking.

I like your pic’s, especially the Neo Cee Bee; I can’t see where it’s registered, is it just a new hybrid? Whatever it is, it’s very eye catching.

Wendy – I’ll post your pic this morning and see what the other forums can turn up in the way of an ID for you.

When you mention that you have a Neo Jay Bee, it's interesting what you say about the name and it does sound like they could be from the same grex. Where did they come from? Are they local hybrids or are they plants that perhaps Olive might have imported, any ideas? Wherever they come from, if they all have the shape and colour of Jen’s they’ll be well worth having.

Glad to see you’ve reached your target weight and passed it; I must get the diet off you as nothing I’ve tried works and not being able to walk very far any more doesn’t help either. It’s good to see you enjoying yourself and eating all those things again which you’ve listed . I just have one question though, what did you eat when you were on the diet, just the cardboard boxes?

That’s a nice coloured Ae macrochlamys; I notice that they are quite variable in colour, and range from that nice soft colour of yours right through to a red form. It’s also interesting to see that even though it is a species, it was called 'Purple Globe' in 1980's in Los Angeles; looks like someone got their wires crossed.

I’ll finish now with firstly, three pic’s of Hallelujah. This is what happens when a plant needs dividing and you don’t get around to doing it. Also it’s been grown beneath 75% beige shade cloth and NOT fed. Pic No. 4 is a piece of the same plant grown under the same conditions except it had minimal feeding. I think this proves what Nitrogen does to the colour, even the small amount in a LOW Nitrogen fertilizer. Pic No. 5 is of a beautiful plant of Deuterocohnia Brevifolia which was shown by one of our Brom Society members at the 2009 show and cleaned up all the prizes.

All the best, Nev

Hi everyone. We are having perfect weather here for Easter. Hope everyone is. After the weathers we've experienced this year, we all deserve a break, especially those who've had damaging weather.

The pics everyone has put up are mouth watering. If I was given the opportunity to select just one for myself, I really wouldn't be able to pick just one, there are such stunners here.

Nev, Hallelujah is a magnificent plant that despite all the newbies coming along, never loses its appeal. Mine had 5 plants on it, but no new pups, so I gulped and divided it up into two larger pots. And they still look stunning! Maybe soon they'll throw even more pups and I'll have two stacked pots instead of one. I expect they will lose colour again this year over the sunless winter months. A shame but can't be helped. I don't think they got their full colour back this summer due to the constant cloud cover we had this year.

Wendy, you are getting such a magnificent collection now. It is a treat to walk around your gardens. Next time I will bring paper and pencil and get my official wish list. At the moment, its forgotten as soon as I leave.

Shirley, hope you get that computer up and going properly soon. They are such a pain when they play up. And can get expensive to fix. Bit like cars.

Hi everyone else. Hope you are all having a great weekend.

Karen

Some broms in the front garden. They have to contend with large quantities of fallen leaves and sticks and bark, though we clean up often enough. It always looks messy, but they seem to love it.

Wow! Love that Deuterocohnia. Wonder how old it is to have reached that size. It's on my wish list. Nev, Neo Cee Bee was named after Cheryl Basics and I bought it from her. Think she said it was bred by Margaret Paterson but I could be wrong. Ema is on the FB site so she would know. Don't think it was part of any alphabetical series.
Looking forward to getting a pup of macroclamys Wendy. It looks great. Better in real life. I can wipe sticky fingers okay but I don't think Emily is very keen on me yet. I'm just not her real Grandma.
Can't stay and chat because I'm all motivated today. Have even taken the dog for a walk. Watch out pups. Here I come! Catch you all later. Jen
1. Neo Ashanti 2. Neo Dreamtime 3. Neo Picollo

Hi everyone. Well we had the windiest day yesterday and I've just spent all morning straightening up the poor little brom seedlings that got tossed over on their bench. The whole bench ended up under the pine tree and a whole lot of other plants were tipped over too. What a mess. All done now and I gave them some Seasol so hopefully they will okay. Nev the boys are not going camping til next weekend, so we're off to the markets tomorrow to see what they have that needs a new home. lol I got given a few tils all named. By the time they got here they were looking quite frazzled but seemed to have picked up now and hopefully they will be okay here. Tash I hope you have got your problems under control now. I hope I never have to deal with anything like that. I asked Jack Koning how much one of his white Vr. would sell for and nearly fell off my chair when he replied, $500. Boy was it nice though. Well here's a pic of the tils that I received looking quite nice on their little log and in the top of a palm stump. Have a great day. Colleen

Love the Tilliies in the log Colleen. Very creative.

happy easter everyone. I get to be easter bunny shortly and hide some eggs around the house tonight for the girls to find. we had a great day today with them. we went to the Coles shopping centre to see the animal nursery in the centre. Rylee had fund cuddling baby goats and one latched onto her ear several times. she just laughed. she cuddled baby pigs, chickens, lambs, and others. the girls then discovered the wiggles big red car. after a couple of rides Pa pointed out the Hi5 merry-go-round. many rides later (I think we spent $12) we left with a promise of ice cream. We walked down to the harbour and walked along the boardwalk to the ice creamery. Jen I needed you to help wipe the girls. what a mess Rylee was. BUT we had a good day. Rylee was too pumped to have a sleep when we got home so she couldn't wait for tea to cook so i had to make her something and bath her so she could go down to sleep early. hope she won't wake up too early.

Nev I love those domes of little Deuterocohnia Brevifolia. I'm still planning to get a few of those one day. I love the halelujahs too. I collected seed from our's today. Never knew how to find seed in bills before and I've been crossing flowers on a few but this is the first time I found obvious seeds growing. all the flowers were dead looking except for 4 plump purple ones so I thought they had to be seed ripening inside them. I've been watching them each day and today I thought they were starting to shrivel so I took the chance to try one and yes nice dark seed. I'm going to sow them just to see what comes out of them.

Karen even when we have an overflowing pot of bills we try to make sure they are snipped in between so there are only 2 joined together. this forces them to all throw pups instead of just the end one. John Catlan showed Johnny how to do it for the tim plowman and said it worked for all bills. they like to be with onother one so leave 2 joined and snip the next away. If you're game give it a go. you might multiply your clump pretty quickly.

Colleen I love your tillys. Hope you find something nice at the markets and give them a new home. I look forward to seeing the pics. Wish we were going to the markets in the morning too but don't think the girls would enjoy it too much.

I've been pupping madly last few days before it starts cooling down. Took 2 more pups off the xneomea strawberry (see pic attached) and a few more special plants like little africa x strawberry, mandarin miss and gold fantasy. Boy gold fantasy can spit out some pups. can't see why I had to pay so much for it seeing it is a prolific pupper. It helps that I seem to have 2 mature plants producing pups now so the numbers are growing quickly. it's still hot days up here but nights are starting to cool down. Perfect weather really and I hope all the easter campers are enjoying the sunshine.

Better be off to bed soon. Probably going to have an early morning.

Wendy

Hi everyone, just a real quickie to say I hope you are all having a great Easter. I wrote a huge post on Friday morning and then got called away and left it on screen, and yup.... lost it.
so..... I am not even going to try right now.
I hope you are all well and the Easter bunny was a good fella to you all this morning,
Tash

Hi everyone – Well here it is, Sunday morning and another fine day. We had a couple of showers overnight, but they seem to have gone and the day looks like being another fine one.

Karen – Bill. Hallelujah has been around for a while now and still takes some beating for colour and ease of growth. I have seen quite a few seedlings which have been bred using Bill. Hallelujah as a parent but none of the ones I have seen come even close to being as good as Hallelujah itself.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the leaves falling into your brom’s; in the wild this has been happening for thousands of years and it doesn’t seem to have done them any harm. If however you are concerned about the cups getting full of debris simple for appearance sake, this can easily be removed with long stainless steel forceps which we get through our local Brom Society for about $12 per pair. I think you would probably find something similar in “Kitchen Shops” that sell all of the various kitchen essentials.

Jen – Thanks for filling us in on the history of Cee Bee, it’s always interesting to know bit about the background of these plants.

I hope your motivation stayed with you yesterday and you got lot done because I didn’t as I had to attend our monthly Bromeliad Society meeting. I thought there wouldn’t be many members there due to it being Easter, but it turned out to be a very big meeting and a good time was had by all.

Everyone seems to find the Deuterocohnia Brevifolia very attractive, but personally I just look at them more as being prickly little buggers. I’ll post a pic of an even larger specimen if I can find it. It’s enormous and is in a container almost two feet across, what a show.

That’s a great kaleidoscope of colour in the three pic’s you’ve posted Jen, I think they look great!

Colleen – I wouldn’t worry too much about your little seedlings, they’re pretty resilient and I’m sure they’ll respond well to your treatment. That’s quite a little windfall with the Till’s and I’m sure they’ll pick up quickly under you tender care. I especially like the little bulbous type which is second from the left on your mounting; although I’m not a Tilly grower I’ve always found these somehow quite unusual and attractive.

After your shock quote from Jack, I must explain that you have to realise that these plants are unique. They are not tissue cultured in their millions like so many others are and for the most part are “one offs” hence the high price. They are the result of years of research and breeding by him and at last he has the special “goodies” he can sell for whatever he wants to charge. With plants of this quality and limited availability the market dictates the price and the thing is that it’s an investment; and if you buy one, it’s usually (in the case of a seedling) you who are the only one who has it. Looking at it from a breeding point of view, you also have a unique parent as well, which puts you in the “box seat” to produce some high class seedlings in the future. I’d have no hesitation in buying some at those prices as I know their value, but unfortunately I don’t have a spare $500 to spend.

Wendy – It sounds like the granddaughters were high on sugar and you had to wait until it was all used up.

Congratulations on getting the Bill. seed; did you pollinate it or was it done by “Mother Nature” (insects or sun birds)? Everyone says how easy they are but I never seem to have any success with hybrids. I’ve tried many times and the pods always just either go yellow or drop off with nothing inside or the grass hoppers eat through the inflorescence.

Your plants of Neo Little Africa x Strawberry, Mandarin Miss and Gold Fantasy all sound very interesting is there any chance of some pic’s to share with us?

Your xNeomea ‘Strawberry’ is a very nice plant and for those of you who don’t know, is from a cross between a Neoregelia and an Aechmea. In this case according to the FCBS is thought to be a cross between Neoregelia carolinae (?) and Aechmea recurvata var. benrathii (?). It’s an interesting plant well worth growing however I don’t seems to do very well with it down here and it seems to suffer when the cold weather arrives and only ever makes just one pup before the cold weather destroys the mother plant, so I can never get in front, “production wise”.

That’s it for today and now a few pic’s; the first one is not my pic but should be credited to the owner and grower who is Ross Little of Pine Grove Bromeliad Nursery at Wardell N.S.W. I have posted this pic in the past but I’ll post it again mainly for Jen and Wendy who especially seem to like these prickly little plants.

All the best, Nev

love that xneomea wendy and as always ....yours Nev!
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!
Fairytale?

Hi everyone – Yesterday proved to be pretty productive for me as I spent the morning finding places to put plants which had been potted up the previous week and then we went to my daughter and son-in law's place for lunch with the family and as usual the rest of the day was spent chatting and being amused by the antics of the grand children.

Breeindy – That’s a very attractive Neoregelia in your pic, but it looks a lot different to what we grow as Fairy Tale down here. The Fairy Tale as we know it has more of a mauve centre than the deep pink one as shown in your pic.

There are quite a few hybrids of Fairy Tale with that colour centre and I’m wondering if your plant has had part of the hybrid formula name faded on the label which made it look like Fairy Tale – Just a thought, but this doesn’t detract from the fact that it is a very nice looking brom all the same and after all, what’s in a name? As a quite famous brom grower once said, “Never trust the name on the name tag”!

Not much to write about today so I’ll finish as usual with a few pic’s but first let me add the names of four of the pic’s I posted yesterday and which I omitted to name. Pic. 2 Neo. ‘Golden King’, Pic. 3 Neo. ‘Roy’s Rogue’, Pic. 4 Neo. ‘Grey Nurse’ and Pic. 5 Neo. ‘Inferno’

The first of today’s pic’s is what we grow down here as Neo Fairy Tale, I post it just as a comparison with the Neo Fairy Tale in Breeindy’s pic. Does anyone know which of these two plants is the correct Neo. Fairy Tale?

Pic No. 2 is Neo 'Royal Cordovan', Pic. 3 Neo Princeps 'Rainbow' (special form), Pic 4 Neo. 'Rosy Morn' and Pic 5 Neo. 'Prince of Darkness'??

All the best, Nev