Bromeliads for novices & addicts, October 2012

Welcome to a new thread for October. we came from here :http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1277963/#post_9296809

Hi everyone.
Just a quick post tonight as we had a very busy day as jen said. non stop for hours at a time then a brief break to make a cuppa but rarely finish it before the next rush. I think today was the busiest ever. thank god we have jen to help. I know I've said it before but I do mean it.

gee we'll have some space again for a while. the shelves out front are now almost empty. hope we'll empty some more tables tomorrow so we don't have to put them all away at end of the day tomorrow.

Shirley I saved Jen's red dragon for you but didn't get a chance to grab any biancas for you just in case you wanted one. first customers through grabbed the vriseas first. It's lucky I was quick enough to grab the one for you. Johnny says he has some others for you when you get here. I'll have some seeds for you to try also Shirley. I hope we can all swap seedlings eventually. We certainly have plenty of them to choose from.

Must be off to bed now to prepare for a big day again tomorrow. didn't get much sleep last night with neighbours over the road fighting till almost 4am. every time I dozed off they would yell again or slam a door or sounded like throwing things at walls. anyway it was dozing them waking with a fright to doze again. so ready to fall asleep now. gee 10pm. earliest to bed for awhile.

Oh and Max is fine now. a bit sleepy at times today but then he would rush out to meet new customers and hang around begging Jen for biscuits which he can't have till his gums heal up.

night all
wendy

Hi all, missed a day or two and do I have some catching up to do, so many posts.

Trish, unfortunately, I cannot show you pics of my vriesea flowers as unlike you, I cannot claim to be very patient. You see, I read somewhere a while back that if you are not planning to use the plant for seed production, cutting of the flower stalk early on allows the plant to redirect its’ energy and produce more pups, sooner, so I have been doing just that.

I am still a novice at this and certainly not to the stage where I can cross pollinate and collect seed and all that so I would like pups, the sooner the better. So, as soon as the flower stalk rises above the height of the leaves I cut it off, rather mean aren’t I and like I said, not all that patient. I do plan to buy some vriesea seed though and Nev sent me some too so I’ll see how I go with them.

Ian, love your Til Ioantha

Nev, hope your knee is not giving you too much trouble. Love those Vr Gruberi pics.

Jen, I tend to check on my seed containers and seedlings pretty regularly too … you know, just to make sure they’re doing OK!! It does sound like I missed a good sale at Wendys, just couldn’t make it over there this time but hope to catch up with Wendy and Johnny in a couple of weeks.

Wendy, thanks for the new thread. Glad to hear Max is doing well and I hope Johnny is feeling a bit better. I know how chronic pain tends to make people rather stroppy and I feel for him. So pleased to hear that your sale is going so well and thanks for holding on to Jen’s Vr Red Dragon. We’ll catch up with you in a couple of weeks.

Bye for now, Shirley

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1277963/#new
your link didn't work for me Wendy (the one to take you where we came from) so I thought I'd try, but not sure if it will work from the tablet? Here goes.

that worked.
Good on you for starting the new thread, Wendy. Especially since you have a big day and must be stuffed! I don't know why your link back didn't work, but its not the important one. The one to get us here works fine! I'm glad your sales are going well.
jen, I'm glad you had a good visit down this way, and went home with some nice babies.
Nev, I usually just water he broms from the top, with the watering can, and try to get the soil too, but I don't rinse the fertiliser out, as it is a very weak mix. I haven't noticed any discolouration in the leaves.
Shirley! I hope you are talking about the foliage Vriesea flowers! Even so, I am loathe to cut off any flower, as I am at the point where slower pup production means I don't need to find room, pots and soil!
Yesterday I whizzed up to the garden expo, to be there at 9am. I got first pick at Jan and Johns broms and bought Billbergia 'Ralph Graham French' and a Vriesea Hummel hybrid. I think it was called Sun spot? It has a forming flower spike and a pup, so I am keen to see what it turns out like. Of course I couldn't go home without an orchid either. I will take some photos later this morning.
well, computer is typing very slow, so will try again later.
Sue

Hi everyone – I spent quite a productive day today dividing and re-potting Nidulariums which were long over due to be done. I've also just finished planting five lots of Neoregelia seed from my own crosses which hopefully will produce something worthwhile.

Jen – It;s just as well you didn't make it down to our place this time as everything's a bit of a mess and I'd be pretty ashamed for anyone to see it in its present state, but I'm slowly making progress and eventually I'll get it sorted out, so maybe next time you're down this way it will be more presentable.

Those pic's of the Bill seedlings I've been putting up occasionally are plants that Rick Cairns did and not my work as I've only just managed to get my first lot of seed. I will be breaking a few of them up this year though so I'll let you know what's available for swapping. Your Thunderbird seedling looks very much like the mother and it also has that brilliant coloured centre with a sort of iridescence about it that can't be captured in a pic. They aren't much on shape, but there are some nice clean colours coming out of that cross. I really like that Neo 'Freddie' so can you put my name on the label for when you have a spare pup available to swap.

Keeevin0 – I think you're the first person we've had drop in to say hello from India. Do you grow bromeliads over there and what sort do you have?

Ian – We've been lucky as we had about twelve hours of light non-stop drizzling rain yesterday which turned into storms and heavier rain last night, so everything had a good watering. If you want to get good colour in your Bill's, give them as much light as they will tolerate and a fertiliser which is very low in nitrogen and very high in potash. I'll post a couple of pic's of Bill Hallelujah one with high nitrogen and low potash and the other with low nitrogen and high potash, the difference is amazing.

Wendy – Thanks for kicking off the new thread, its great to have people like you, Sue and Tash around who can do this sort of thing. Congratulations on a successful sale, you must have all been totally done in by the end of the day.

Bad luck that poor old Max has to miss out on his biscuits, but he doesn't need an infected tooth socket at this stage of the game, there'll be plenty of time for biscuits when his mouth is healed up.

Shirley – What you say about the Vriesea flower spike is pretty true, while ever it's on the mother plant it's using up valuable energy and food which can be better utilised in the production of pups. As well as that, the fact that you have removed the flowers and the plant can no longer produce any seed , the pup production often starts quicker as the plant knows that's the only way left to reproduce itself. I tried this once with Vr. Angela, I cut the spike off one plant and left it on a second plant. The plant with the spike left on didn't produce any pups until after the seed had ripened and the capsules had opened a good six months after the other plant had started pupping.

As for checking your seed containers, I don' see how it does any harm as long as they don't dry out and in that case you just give them a light misting to rectify the problem, I do it often and always have.

Sue – Thanks for the info on the method of fertilising you use. I've always done it that way as well; it's just that you hear of so many different ways people do it, it's always good to make sure you're doing it right.

Do you remember when I sent you the Ae. Weilbachii plants and I said that I'd had a Weilbachii “April Showers” with unusual leaf markings, but I couldn't find the pic to show you? Well the good news is that I've finally found it and I'll post it here for all to see.

That's about it for now and the Pic's are: 1 Billbergia Hallelujah grown with high Potash/low Nitrogen. Pic 2 is a division from the same plant grown in the same location but this time fed a high Nitrogen/low Potash diet. Pic 3 is the Ae Weilbachii “April Showers” with the unusual leaf colour I mentioned above. Pic 4 is a group of Allan Ladd's Bill. Pyramidalis hybrids from which I was fortunate enough to be able to get two. The dark underside of the leaves makes an unusual contrast with the flowers. Pic 5 is another hybrid of Allans which I was also lucky enough to obtain, its Canistropsis seidelii x Canistropsis Billbergiodes 'Plum'

All the best, Nev.

Hi all. Another dry day, gotta be good for working in the garden. I am starting to break up some of my plants and try to identify some more. Yesterday I watered most of my plants and did the mowing, today was more relaxing. I had a visitor from a local member and we went for a look through my garden, she threatened to give me some more seed and some seedling pots, ah well we will find out whether she is serious or not. The pots i certainly will be able to use. We also talked about Fly spec and fertilisers. She uses Ammonia bleach and Metho to kill flyspec scale and only uses condys chrystals mixed in water as her fertiliser on all her plants. Between her and her husband they pot up daily, orchids, ferns broms caladiums and anthuriums. I will see her garden in the next few weeks. I buy off her regularly and she has been growing broms for 30 years. She could just be able to teach me a thing or 2 and if so i could pass it on/ A lot of the information she has in her head cannot be put into words.
The thumb mark on nudicaulis is 1 thing that I learned today.
Have a good one.
Ian
Pic 1 Pitcairnia wendlandii
Pic 2 Pit Smithorium
Pic 3 Pit Augustifolia
Pic 4 Pit NOID
Pic 5 Pit Spicata

Hi everyone.
Welcme Kev another new member. lovely to hear from new people.
Nev I love those Alan Ladd hybrids you were lucky enough to get hold of. I really love the pyramidalis hybrid. that is very different to the usual one isn't it? I also love the different colours in your 2 different hallelujahs. I did have a couple of extra pots of hallelujahs this week but after the weekend we are now down to 3 pots of parent plants again. can't pot them up quick enough to sell so hopefully my seedlings (all 8 hahaha) will produce something nice that will be as popular.

Sue thanks for the fxed link. I think I forgot to hit enter after pasting the http address.that's why it wouldn't work.

Shirley I look forward to seeing you again. if you come on a day when we are closed we can sit and have a cuppa and a good chat. better than when you came last time. just as well you didn't come this weekend. OMG we've never worked so hard. Today I didn't even get a sip of a cuppa from first thing this morning till we had closed and come upstairs. I did have a brief sit down with a can of coke this afternoon but it was very brief. we are completely out of alcantareas even our own pups grown from grass pups collected.

I'm so tired I think I'm off t bed right now. can't stay awake any longer.

Night all.
Wendy

Hi everyone – When I was sorting out the Nidulariums for re-potting yesterday I found a very large plant which was a NOID. I divided it into five plants and I noticed on the largest one of the five that it has a flower just starting down in the centre, so who knows, I may just be able to get it identified either on this forum or the other two I visit daily.

Ian – Sounds like your visitor could be a very knowledgeable lady and one from whom you can pick up a lot of good tips. Why don't you try and get her interested in our little forum here as I'm sure she'd be well appreciated and we could all share our knowledge and pic's and learn from each other.

It's interesting what she told you about using metho and ammonia to kill scale. Did she by any chance give you the recipe for the mixture. I know that if you get straight metho on a cotton bud and wipe it over scale or mealy bug, it will (in most instances) kill them; but it is an impossible job if you have a large infestation. I also know that ammonia can be used instead of vinegar in the recipe for Rob Smythe's “Canola White Oil Spray”, but this is the first time I've heard of them being used together and like the rest of us, I'd be very interested to learn more about the quantities as any remedy with a low toxicity is good to know about.

Once again we have another Condy's Crystal user. It's strange, but until Mike first mentioned it on this forum, I had never heard of it being used as a fertiliser and this surprises me a bit as I visit various bromeliad forums daily and read a fair bit about bromeliad culture and never before have I read of it being used as a fertiliser and then within about six months we have three people mentioned on this forum alone who are regular users; Mike, yourself and the lady who has just visited you.

You mentioned the “The thumb mark on Ae. Nudicaulis”. This is one of the the main identifying features of this plant, but it also appears on some (not all) Ae. Recurvatas as well. A while back I grew what I believed to be some Ae Nudicaulis seed. I was told (by the “experts”) that Ae. Naudicaulis Aequalis was an habitual “selfer”(When a flower is pollinated by its own pollen or by pollen from another flower of the same plant) and only ever produced seed from it's own self pollination. As I hadn't pollinated it, I believed this to be the case as every flower developed into a seed capsule and so I harvested some of the seed. Because I like this particular plant, the idea of being able to easily multiply my stock was appealing so I went ahead and sowed the seed which grew at a rapid rate. I noticed as the seedlings grew, that the “thumb print” was missing which then started me thinking that it may not have been a “selfing” after all. It wasn't until the first of the plants finally flowered that they were obviously not Ae. Nudicaulis as the upright inflorescence had the bracts of the Nudicaulis but the flowers of an Ae. Gamosepala albeit in different colours. I was quite disappointed in the outcome, but because the flower colour varied, these plants proved to be popular and sold readily on the sales table at our meetings so my seed raising wasn't a complete failure. I ended up keeping just the one as a future conversation piece and because I liked the particular colour, but it just goes to show; you can't always believe “the experts”.

Wendy – I have to agree with you about the Bill. Pyramidalis hybrids, they are quite spectacular, however as with most nice things there is a problem (for me anyway) as these plants are pretty cold sensitive and don't tolerate our winters very well at all and unfortunately the leaves mark very easily.

It's interesting when you say you like the different colours of the Hallelujah. The plant which had been heavily fed was put in the show mainly out of my own curiosity as I liked the different colours as well; however it only got a second place as the judges decided it wasn't a true example (colour wise) of that particular hybrid. It was very surprising though, the amount of questions I was asked about it and most who saw it liked it just as much as the usual coloured plants. I think that Hallelujah is one of the all time great Bill's, and it will be a while yet before it's knocked off is perch.

That's it for today and now a few pic's to finish with, Pic 1 is a mixed group of Bill's, Pic 2 is Bill. 'Medowie Gift', Pic 3 is Bill. 'Pink Champagne', Pic 4 is Guz. 'Hilda' and Pic 5 is Guz 'Sunny Time'.

All the best, Nev.

Good morning you lot.
I've got a problem with my camera, and the cord doesn't seem to fit properly anymore, so I cant transfer the photos I took yesterday. There will be a way around it, I'll just have to figure it out.
I don't think Kev, from India was a serious addition to our thread. I'm pretty sure it was a scam of some sort. just don't go clicking on the link he posted. You never know what you'll get yourself into.
Nev, that A. 'April SHowers' is unsual eh? Did it keep that colour/marking? I like your Alan Ladd hybrids, and one of the pics i was going to post was Billbergia 'Dark Ladd'. I will find a way! The B. pyramidalis hybrid looks to be the same as one Ross has at Pinegrovem which had thrown a vaiegated sport, very stable, and was in flower while we were there. I've attached the pic as photo one.
Wow, I just put my SD card in the tablet, and all the pics are there, so I can show you B. 'Dark Ladd' too!
Ian, I am interested in any recipes for pest management also. I found Rob Smythes oil recipe has worked treat, and haven't found anything much in the way of fly speck scale recently, But I am finding soft brown scale on old mums, and figure it could be caused by their lack of energy and vigour, after producing pups, and maybe its time to bury them? Has anyone else had this problem? I have given them a spray with some nasty stuff, and then given them a light feed, but just wonder, is it worth it?
Wendy, how wonderful that your sales went so well. You will need a holiday after all that! Did having the sale create much room, or is it still hard to see whats gone?
Anyway, I better get myself up and adam, but first, the photos (I have already walked the dogs,but am lazing on the bed)
photo one is Billbergia 'Alan Ladd'
Photo two is B. 'Dark Ladd' a B. 'Domingos Martinez' hybrid
Photo three is Vriesea 'Hummels Sun Spot'
Photo four is the new Orchid, Dendrobium aphyllum
Photo five are Tillandsia leiboldiana seedlings, self sown on a log in the brom house.
Sue

on further inspection Nev, I think the flower colour is different on the Alan Ladd billbergia, so probably not the same cross.
I'll add another pic....cause i can.

doh, fingers too fast!
photo one is Billbergia 'Alan Ladd' without flash
photo two is with flash
photo three is a close up of the flower. (lots of pollen)
sue

Hi Everyone, hope you are all well, just writing to say I'm still here and still read most posts, I must confess I do miss a few when I get behind (blush). But generally I still read along, just don't get a chance to reply.
Great work Wendy on the new thread, yaaaaaaaa :)
Pic 1 is our Aech zebrina flower
Pic 2 is our Hippy flowers (can't remember how to spell the whole word, lol, I just call them hippy's)
Pic 3 is our little pup/seedling brom house (new addition we whipped out the other weekend for extra space)
Pic 4 is our brom house with a veranda of shadecloth you might say. Decided to cover those broms with cloth for this summer as some of them are new additions, either from shady locations or down south. Maybe won't need the protection next summer.
Love all the photos as usual, I will try to do a proper post soon,
Cheers Tash

Hi Everyone!

Quick thread tonight given it’s the start of a busy week for me. Just finished typing and realised my thread not so quick after all, too many things to chat about and I luv a good chat lol.

Hi Shirley, I have not thought about cutting off my vriesea flowers when they first come up, I suppose it is because of my interest in seeing what the flower spike would turn out like. At the moment I am only getting 1 x pup off the one’s flowering, but cutting the flower spike off early next time would this increase my chances of getting possibly more pups off the one plant? I suppose it depends how quickly I want the pups to come. I would hate to just get one pup off a plant and then the mother plant dies, but I have heard this is not always the case depending on how well you look after the plant. So far I have only discovered to vriesea plants with one pup on each whilst the mother plant is in flower, I am pretty pleased that I got to see them both (flower & pup).

Hi Wendy, so pleased to hear how successful the plant sale went, hopefully this has freed up a bit of room for you. It is amazing how many people come out of the woodwork looking for good quality bromeliads, I know when I go to brom sales I get in early because people landscaping usually come in and buy the lot, I have had a few race in after me disappointed they have missed out on buying the lot, or the best of what’s to pick from.

Hi Ian, thanks’ for the great tip with Condy’s Crystals, am will go and get some from the chemist on the weekend and give it a go.

With our Orchids, whether pests are present or not (such as mealy bugs, aphids and scale), one important point is to follow up the first application with another about a fortnight later. A solution of 50/50 methylated spirit and water should be used as a fine spray with a hand sprayer, or it may be painted on with a small brush. I use this also for my bromeliads (when I feel necessary) to target mealy bug’s and scale.

Hi Nev, luved all you pics, that’s a beautiful mixed group of Bills, such healthy plants and great colors as always.

Hi Sue, luved all your brom pic’s and the one of your new Den. Orchid is beautiful. I showed it to hubby as these are his passion.

Hi Tash, great shade houses and shade house with verandah, how great does it feel knowing your babies are going to be safe and happy over summer. I have one other area I want to shade in our back yard but this possibly will not happen until next year as I am yet to start landscaping the area so until then are moving my precious bom’s out the way as I need to, the suns not too bad there yet but the hotter it gets the more I will have to move out of harm’s way.
I have finally attached a pic of my vriesea seedling trays yet to germinate; nothing exciting happing yet, my fingers and toes are still crossed.

Hope everyone else is well that may be looking in.

I have to remember to check my D-Mail every once in awhile, I am terrible like that with my own personal emails always forget to check if I have mail.

Speak soon everyone and happy gardening!

Trish :-)

Pic 1 – Vriesea seedling trays x 2 yet to germinate
Pic 2 – Vr. Fosteriana x Angela – Jacks Angel Grex
Pic 3 – Vr. Lucky Len
Pic 4 – Neo’ Grace Good Girl
Pic 5 – Neo’ Takamura Concentrica Silverdust

Hi all, another dry and windy day. It is surprising just how much the wind dries out the plants
Nev my visitor will be selling plants on Sunday at our local markets and I will see her then. She probibly will be at our monthly meeting in the afternoon. If I remember correctly she mixes metho and ammonia 50/50 and either sprays or uses a paint brush. I will check this out also.
I did a short course at an Ag Colledge in 81 and was taught that Nitrogen feeds leaves that suck the other nutrients out of the soil, Phosphorus feeds the roots to give stability of the plant and also help with feeding and Potassium feeds the fruits, nuts and seeds.. I have always leaned heavily on the fruits and seeds as a food source and have fertilised accordingly. I have also used Epsom salts especially around citrus trees. Being a magnesium fertiliser and only required in minor doses it would probibly not do much good with Broms, I used it about a year ago mixed with potassium and it didn't seem to hurt anything. I don't know if it helped because I did not have the correct light levels. It seems that there needs to be a balance between light and fertiliser and moisture.
I will have to have another look at my Nudicaulis as I seem to have several different ones, at least 4 varigated, some with stripes and 1 or 2 with spots and dots.

Sue, I can relate to scale on old plants, maybe sick plants also. I have been finding mushroom scale on some of my broms, all have flowered and seem to be giving up living, yet most are producing at least 1 pup. I have tried successfully painting the scale with an artists paint brush. Vinegar will also remove the white gunk from between the leaves. Not really between but where leaves touch and moisture runs down. Brown vinegar and salt will kill sensitive weed, a pest around here. I think that plants are a bit like people, when they are healthy they can fight off bugs more easily. In agriculture it is the sicker plant that starts of catching and then spreading disease.

Sorry folks Pic 1 N Macho
Ian

Hi all, how hot was it in Brissie yesterday and it’s only early October. The hot westerly wind made it very dusty and unpleasant. Today was much better, it even looked like rain but that didn’t happen, everything is so dry.

Sue, yes I was talking about cutting the flower spike off my foliage vrieseas. I can’t wait to remove my first vriesea pups and hopefully there will be lots of them. Not sure where I’ll put them as the shadehouse is quite squeezy now and I think the extension might be a way off yet. I love your bill Alan Ladd, it’s really spectacular, one more for the wish list.

Trish, love the vrieseas in your pics and your neo Grace Good Girl, it looks very similar to one I got recently named neo Red River ...very nice. As for the vrieseas, I have only one with pups at present, vr Erotica and it has two so far. I only cut the flower spike off maybe 3 weeks ago so time will tell.

How often would you spray with the 50/50 metho and water solution, Trish. I guess it doesn’t harm the broms or you wouldn’t be using it but I am always a bit wary of damaging the foliage with sprays. Do you rinse out the cups afterwards.

I read somewhere of something that kills mozzie larvae in brom cups but I can’t remember what it was. I usually give the cups a good flush out about once a week during summer, not sure how effective it is. Does anyone know of a more effective mozzie treatment.

Nev, lucky you to get good rain. Those are very nice Bills in your pics, so much colour. How is your knee, I hope it is not restricting your bromming too much.

Tash, good to hear from you. Hope all is going well in your neck of the woods. Do you have a problem with mosquitos, I hear there are some pretty mean ones that far north.

Wendy, glad your sale went so well, wish we could have made it over there. Anyway, we’ll see you soon.

Ian, neo Macho is one of my favourites. I love the teeth and the colour.

Hi to everyone else.

Pic is neo Red River pup, bye for now.

Shirley

hi again to everyone.

Trish when we started out growing we were told that the flower takes a lot of the energy from the plant so if we had no intention of harvesting the seed we would be much better off to cut the flower off and let the plant have the energy to stay looking good and produce pups. At first we did this religiously and the plants certainly remain looking good so much longer without the flower spike. However once we got hooked on crossing pollen and collecting seed we now leave the spike on unless there are several of the same plant all coming into flower at same time. Then we pick the best of them and leave the flower on and take the others off.

Nev I love you collection of billbergias. lots of colour there. I snipped a few more of my clumping billbergias today. When I get multiple tubes I snip between them so they all throw pups. I'm greedy and need big clumps before I'm happy. it helps also when someone wants a pup and I can just scoop out a tube with its own root ball. I wish I knew how to make the hallelujas multiply quickly cause I never seem to have any spares potted up. they go as fast as I get them growing. Collected some more seed today off my sanderiana. another 2 pods. that will make 5 trays of seed but I crossed so many pods and because my toothpicks fell out I have to treat each pod as a different cross just in case it was a crossed one. hopefully when they grow it will be obvious which pods was which cross and which ones are F2. otherwise there will be a lot of sanderiana hybrids hahaha.

Sue thanks for the tip about those little bugs in he seedling trays eating the roots. I checked today when watering and a few trays do have the little bugs in them. I always wondered why some seedlings were tightly holding on in the mix and standing upright while others just lay on top with no roots. now I know why. I discovered one tray today of guz lingulatas. I had potted up quite a few larger ones and they are growing nicely but what was left in the tray with little bugs have now been chewed off and we have bladey grass lying on top of the ground. I'm going to pot up any others infested to get them away from the little bug..gers

Well I tried the condys crystals today. I had previously bought a good sized container of condys crystals from the produce and shared pill bottles of it with friends including Jen but I hadn't tried it. Today I took a tiny little pinch and put it into my coke bottle thinking I could add a tiny bit more if I needed to. BUT it went dark purple. It was such a tiny little bit of powder too. So there I was diving in the bin before the garbo truck came so I could rescue another coke bottle. I then poured about half inch of purple liquid in and topped up with water to make a lightly pink tinted mix. I then sprayed all the seedlings and billbergias. I didn't even use up all the bottle of purple mix so my container is going to last me forever. Now I'll sit back and watch them all grow.

we did nothing today after we put away all the unsold broms. late yesterday after the incredible wind came up we just carried the full tables back into the garage area under the house and folded up the empty tables to free up the carport for the cars before a big branch fell on them. we met Johnny's sisters at the shopping centre for lunch then and when we got home we just spent an hour or so watering all the broms. that was the extent of our energy.

Tash we have the same hippy flowering down the back. lovely splash of colour aren't they????

Oh just found out that our first practice grandson is going to be a daddy. If his mum had stayed with our Darren we'd be looking forward to being GREAT GRANDPARENTS. omg I'm not old enough for that surely. Anyway we were so glad that Tyson still feels like we are important enough to hear the news from him. He is going to have a little girl and he is so thrilled. We are still very good friend with his grandparents so we have kept in touch with him over the years. Now this old girl will have to go to bed early again after that shocking bit of news.

Hi to anyone I didn't mention. lovely to read all the posts again instead of checking just one or two.

Pic 1 & 2 is an ae NOID. it has been suggested its disticantha???? will have to look that one up but if someone can confrm it will save me looking.
3. is a lovely ae called electra or rajah. we have both but they look identical. we have quite a few lovely big plants but so far this year no sign of the gorgeous infloresence. soon maybe?
4. is our ae freckles just starting to flower in time for our sale. unfortunately it didn't help us get rid of any pups. maybe it needed to be a bit more advanced.
5. is ae nigre which was popular on the weekend. could have sold more if I had them but they are all pupping so soon I will have a lot more. Think I still have 3 or 4 left.

Anyway. time for bed now.
Night all.

good morning all, so much is going on!
Tash, the seedling house looks great. Although i see quite a few broms in there already! I hope it does the trick and makes it easier for you to get the little babies through summer. The veranda idea looks great too. Does the Adenium need shade up there? It looks a mass of flowers. Your hippy looks great. i have about three varieties, and I'm sure one is the same. I hve a mass of the blood red ones in front of the laundry tub now, so I can't even see the dishes!
The Chantinii flower is awesome, one of my favourites. speaking of Chantiniii, i just tied one in the tree yesterday, as it has two budding pups coming, and the old mum was looking tatty fter winter, so I put it where my other, dark chantinii is, and went well over winter, so they can keep each other company.
Trish, you have some lovely collectable vrieseas there! very nice. thanks for the tips on the metho spray. I might give it a go on the old Mums in a couple of weeks, as it would have to be kinder to the environment than the spray i have been using.
ian, I am not familiar with mushroom scale or sensitive weed. Any chance of a photo? Different pests for different climates eh? I like your Neo. 'Macho'
Shirley, I find that removing the first pup off a Vriesea can induce the plant to produce more. I originally had one pup on V. heiroglyphica, and after removal, it produced two more. I guess its a case of what do you want? In my case, more pups means more pots, needing more space e.t.c. All good if I can sell them, but starting to plant them out now, to form clumps. then i can cut off a pup if required.
Red River. I bought one called Neo. 'Running Red River' and it seems to be the same as 'Red River'. I notice only 'Red River' is in the BSI photo index, so maybe the name was shortened for registration. Anyway, its a lovely plant.
Wendy, GGM! congratulations! Sorry to hear you have those fungus gnats too. They are a pain. I have got so many that I have to pot up. i suppose I should be doing that instead of this! I am interested to see the flower on your A. 'Freckles' as mine has never flowered. Also, Is A. 'Nigre' a nudicaulis type?
Anyway, better go have breaky and get my day in order. I've started washing the windows, which is a thankless task, but I do like to see out! Sorry to hear you Qlders had those gusty winds yesterday. We had a drop of rain overnight, but just one! At least it freshens the morning up.
Everyone cross your fingers and plead with mother nature for some nice warm, calm weather and some light, overnight showers. maybe she'll listen to us? We could trade her some bromeliads?
Sue
Neo. 'Chirippo' (one of jans)

Good morning everyone – It's been raining here all night, not heavy but good continuous drizzle just what we want; rain that will soak in and not run off and be lost down the drains to the ocean.

Sue – I also had my suspicions about Kev from India that's why I only asked him/her to tell us what sort of brom's they grew in India. I see the post has been removed so you're probably right about it being a scam of some sort. Speaking of Indians, I had a call the other night which showed up on the LCD as “overseas”, I had to answer it as our son is overseas and when they answered it was obviously a woman who said in a very strong female Indian accent that her name was Kevin and she was calling from Melbourne! Will these people stop at nothing as they try interrupt our dinner each night?.

About the Ae. April Showers, yes it did keep that colouring however it did what every Aechmea Weilbachii I've ever grown did, and suffered badly from leaf tip die back. I've tried growing these plants in every conceivable situation and still I have this problem, so I divided that particular plant and gave half each to two brom growing friends of mine so that at least it would have better chance of being grown on properly and established and perhaps down the track even being registered as a separate cultivar.

I also have Bill Dark Ladd which I got from Ross when I first got the Pyramidalis crosses, and I eagerly await the day when mine will put up a sport like the one you were fortunate to get (I wish!). When I first saw it before it was registered it was obviously going to be way way out of my budget so I just forgot all about it. When it was registered, I did post a couple of pic's here just to show everyone what it was like however it was just a “pipe dream” that I would ever own one. If you ever get a pup that I can afford please don't forget where I live (if I'm still alive by then). The story all about it plus a few pictures can be found here: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=BILLBERGIA&id=10528#10528

I love your pic today of Neo. 'Chirippo'. it's magnificent!

I too get a type of light brown/white soft scale around the base of old “mums” especially ones that have been growing overcrowded in the garden and haven't been “dead leafed” for some time. I just hit them with a mix of 5ml of washing up detergent mixed with 10L of water and that seems to kill them, I give the whole plant a good hosing the following day and they all seem to just drop of.

I like your little orchid, it's very similar to one I used to grow which was an Indian species called Dendrobium periardii which has since been changed to Dendrobium aphyllum (see pic). Unfortunately like all Indian Dendrobiums, although the flowers are beautiful, they were also very short lived compared to other orchids.

Tash – Nice to hear from you again and to see you are still keeping busy extending your bromeliad collection into “town houses”. It's probably an “all time first” having a brom house with a verandah, but then necessity is the mother of invention. Brom growing just seems to be an ever increasing hobby where we get rid of plants of “lesser quality” to make more space, only to have it filled with higher quality plants shortly after, and so the search for more space goes on.

Are they the same Hippeastrums that you bought for your daughter and showed us a couple of years back? They certainly make quite a statement don't they?

Trish – It's you this time who have given us yet another “safe” treatment for scale and mealy bug. This is one I've never tried although when I grew orchids we would use a cotton bud dipped in straight metholated spirits the kill the occasional Mealy Bug and that seemed to work OK but I've never tried it on scale. It's amazing how in the course of conversation on these forums, little tips on various treatments are learned.

Re. the pups on Vrieseas, I have found that vrieseas with patterned foliage usually don't pup until after they flower, but like everything, there are exceptions to all rules and I have one Red Chestnut in particular that produces its majority of pups before it flowers. Generally speaking with good quality plants that I want to produce more of, I always treat my old mother plants very well and give them a double dose of fertiliser as well as a single “prill” in each of the lower leaf axils. I have found this definitely increases pup production; and remember when you have a mother plant with about four or more pups, they are a drain on the mother so a bit of foliar fertiliser as well helps balance things out and keeps mum healthy as well as the pups.

Trish, your seedling trays look very organised and it looks like you're on the right track. There's just one question I would ask; is that a marble or Terrazzo surface they are sitting on, if so this could slow down germination as it may be a bit cool. If this is the case I would put a layer of polystyrene (you only need about 1/2” or thicker) under the containers to insulate.

Ian – Thanks for the offer of following up the recipe for the metho and ammonia mix, it's all extra knowledge we can share. While you're talking to that lady, see if she would like to join our little forum. Re the N.P.K., an old nurseryman explained it to me years ago as “Up down and all around” (N) Nitrogen is UP i.e is for the leaf growth, (P) Phosphorous is DOWN i.e. for the root growth and (K) is for everything else such as flowers and fruit; very easy to remember. Or, Shoots, Roots and Fruits. N=Shoots, P=Roots, K=Fruits.

Ian, what do you call Mushroom Scale, do you have a pic? Also is that what you call sensitive weed growing in the pot in your Macho in the pic? How much salt to how much vinegar do you mix and is it also harmful to brom's if you get it on them?

Shirley – You say you are always worried about damaging the foliage with sprays. I think it can safely be said that damage to plants from spray occur in two main ways:

Firstly, the spray is not mixed in the correct proportions and is often applied too strong, so always read and follow the instructions, especially the SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS.

Secondly, the plant is sprayed either in the sun or is then put out in the sun to dry. The combination of the chemical in the water, the wet leaves and the hot sun scalds the leaves. So only ever spray plants in the shade or if they are in the garden, do them late in the afternoon when the sun is off them.

As for your question about mosquitoes, I think the article on the following site should answer all of your questions: http://fcbs.org/articles/mosquito.htm

Wendy – Or should I say “great grandma”, the plant in your first pic is Ae. Distichantha but which one as there are four listed? Actually when I turn my head on the side “ouch” and look more carefully at the second pic it is the large form Ae. Distichantha.

The two most common ones grown down here are a large form and a small form. The large form is Ae. Distichantha which grows to a height of about 36”- 40” down here and has an extremely vicious spike on the leaf tips. The other one is Ae. Distichantha var. Galziovii which looks just like a miniature of the first one being only about 10” high. The flowers of both look identical except for the size. There is also a beautiful white flowered form called Ae. Distichantha albiflora and the fourth one is called Ae. Distichantha Schlumbergeri which has a more red inflorescence with mauve flowers. (See pic's and article in the FCBS Photo Index)

Well that's about it from me today and now for a few pic's to finish with. Pic 1 is Dendrobium periardii for Sue to compare with her new Dendrobium. (It isn't my plant, just one I found on the internet) Pic 2,3 and 4 are for Trish and show firstly one of my Vr. Red Chestnuts coming into flower which will soon be cut off. The next two pic's show what's left of an old mother which produced five pups in ones and twos before she flowered (That's one of them in pic 2) and following flowering and the treatment I outlined above, went on to produce first five pups (all at once) and finally as she is now starting to die she has another thee pups (at the same time).That's a total of thirteen in all, by no means a record but not too bad either. Pic.5 just has Vr Fosteriana (white clone) on the name tag.

All the best, Nev.

Hi everyone. thought I'd pop in early tonight instead of waiting till I'm ready for bed.

I think you'll all find that the pic posted of billbergia ALAN LADD is the one owned by Ross Little and not purchased by anyone on this forum. I doubt if any of us could afford the price Ross wants for a pup of this plant. Nev, I too was lucky enought to get a DARK LADD (pic 1) out of Ross. But one I really wanted besides b. ALAN LADD was one called b.MAURIE'S LADD. (see pic 2).

Nev thanks for the tip on shoots, roots, & fruits. I think I'll remember that now when looking at the NPK ratio on fertilisers. although I just rechecked and i had roots & shoots round the wrong way so 'up down and around' might be a better reminder. I'll also file away the metho & ammonia hint for future. at the moment the big pest we have here is the caterpillas hatching which will be butterflies one day if they stay off our broms. the flowering vriseas and guzmanias seem to be their main target and they can make a mess of a nice plant. I hate having to squish them or feed them to the nepenthes but we can't have them destroying our plants.

Pic 3 & 4 I just had to share with you. I usually grow neo golden chalice in a full sun and get very deep yellow plants with a lot of red patches ont very tall thin tubes. Last week I discovered this pot of it growing out th front under the shadecloth and was amazed to see it was golden chalice. this shows a much shorter fatter nicer shape but not nearly as much yellow colour and hardly any red patches. pity we can't get the shape like this with the colour of the sun grown one. but if I had to choose which one I prefer I think it would have to be the shade grown one. I tried to get rid of 2 pots of the sun grown one on the weekend but couldn't get anyone interested. I think this one would have been easier to sell.

Wendy

we had previously put a batch of our painted delight F2 seedlings out on the top shelf of the sales area just to get them to colour up to see what they would do. when searching for plants to put out for sale last week we stumbled onto them. some of them we let stay out for sale but a few I just had to put away to keep. I've attached pd27 and pd47 for you to see. there was another one that looked a bit like painted delight with the patches of dark colour but looked to be getting a pink or purple flush in the centre. We left it out for sale but it didn't go. I think with bit more colour it would have been snatched up. I have to say that the pic of pd 27 doesn't really show the true look of the plant. it is certainly looking like a keeper wort registering. pd 47 is a nice deep colour but the shape is a bit long and thin leaves. I'd be interested in any feedback.

Night all
Wendy

Hi all, What a collection of good piccies shown by all, some more appealing than others but each to their own. Just to follow up on Nudicaulis types. i found that I have 7 different ones, obviously they cannot all be correctly named. I am wondering what other quick ID marks there are for me to learn about. I am aware of the indented colours of concentricas and now the thumb prints and I bet there are a lot more.
Mushroon scale is a soft bodied scale similar to what Nev andsomeone else described. It could be just a local name, I will have to search for it at the moment because I clean it up as soon as I find it. I have been told it is not really harmful but it doesn't look nice. Sensitive weed is one of the prayer plants and it is so dry up here at the moment I will have to really search for some to photograph.With luck someone close by is watering their lawn.
Vinegar and salt will kill any plant it is put on. When I mix it I dissolve as much salt as the vinegar will absorb and then paint it on.
The weed in with N Macho is an Oxali with pink flowers, i like the flowers.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Nudicaulis vae 4 varieties
Pic 2 nudicaulis Zebrina
Pic 3 Nudicaulis red form

Hi everyone, just a quick post tonight as it’s getting late.

Nothing exciting happening here … still no rain and lots of sticks and leaves making a real mess.

Lots of lovely pics from everyone as always.

My pics tonight are two neo NOIDs. If anyone can identify them, that would be great.

That’s it for me tonight, catch up tomorrow.

Shirley

Hi everyone – Looks like another nice day today with everything nice and fresh after the overnight rain again. I don't know what's in the rain that “peps” everything up, but I wish I could capture it along with the water and store it for future garden use.

Wendy – It looks like I misunderstood Sue when I thought she had scored a plant of Bill. 'Alan Ladd'. I must admit I had wondered why she hadn't told us she had a big win on the Lotto which allowed her to pay for it, but there I go assuming once again, and we all know what happens when you assume!

Wendy what do you do to get the pictures to come up sideways and why do you do it? It's a bit hard on us “oldies” with arthritic necks to try and view them.

As for caterpillars, I've never had a problem with them since I occasionally started using “Clensel” as an insecticide and I think the smell of the citronella in it must act as a deterrent.

Do you have a picture (an upright one) of 'Golden Chalice' when grown in the sun? I have a smallish plant called Neo. 'Candelabra' which is a good basket specimen and is usually a pale lime colour but colours more yellow when given very good light.

You asked for feedback about the Neo.'Painted Delight' seedlings and like you say, PD27 could be a “keeper” (if it gets a bit more colour) but I think PD 47 has missed the boat as now that it's flowering, it's as good as it's going to get and doesn't have the shape to make it something special; although if you grow it on, who knows what the next generation of pups could produce..

Ian – In your quest for identifying features of various plants, you may also add those of Ae 'Mirlo' which as well as having a natural shine to the leaves also has small random raised areas of the leaf tissue as well.

Thanks for the info on the vinegar and salt mixture it seems to work on the same principle as a weedicide that's marketed by “Richgrow” and is basically a mixture of salt and phosphoric acid and in your mix the vinegar has been substituted for the phosphoric acid.

As for the Ae Nudicaulis, I have quite a few (I've never counted how many) different ones also. There is one in particular which I'm eagerly waiting to see flower and that's Ae. Nudicaulis 'Giant' which is a plant which can grow to three feet tall. Unfortunately this makes it top heavy and steps must be taken to prevent it from continually falling over..

Shirley - I don't know what it is with you, but you seem to have the "happy knack" of picking up the best looking NOIDS I have ever seen. I'm sorry, but I can't help you with the names but I would definitely say that plant 2 has one of the marbled varieties in it's heritage, perhaps Marble Snow, Marble Pink or Marble Throat and if you do a search of the hybrids from these as parents using the BCR you may find a name. Those two Neo's in your pic's are beautiful, keep up the good work.

Time to finish with a few more pic's, firstly Ae Mirlo showing the high shine on the leaf in Pic 1 and Pic 2 (which should have had the dust washed off before I took the pic but didn't) but shows the random raised areas on the leaves. Pic.3 One of my Ae Recurvata hybrids, Pic. 4 Ae. Nudicaulis Aequalis and Pic 5 another of the Bill 'Hallelujah' seedlings.

All the best, Nev.

1st one looks like Lila.

Hi Everyone

Quick thread tonight, a quicker one than the other night.

Hi Shirley, great NOIDS, they are beautiful. I agree with Bree your first pic looks like Lila, I will have to check the pup I purchased which I thought was Lila and get back to you?

Shirley, in answer to your question regarding flushing brom centres out with fresh water once I have sprayed 50/50 metho' and water solution on my broms, yes I do normally flush the centres out but not the leaves, but at times I forget and this has had no ill effect on any of my broms, just ensure the brom get's to dry somewhere very shady and at all costs avoid any sun getting the the brom until its leaves have had a chance to dry off properly. I think the solution also repels the mozzies, but I also heard flushing brom centres out too often takes away the natural secretion that the brom makes that helps repel the mozzies anyway, I tend to only flush my brom centres out fortnightly for this reason and when I spray the brom's with the solution mentioned about I try to avoid getting too much in the centre as it is not necessary. The other option I take most of the time is to only spray when I need, like instances when I see a pest on a brom or in an overhanging tree I treat the tree with this solution as they shade my broms.

Hi Nev, thanks for the tip with my vriesea seedling trays, yes you are correct some of them are sitting on tiles (about half of them) and the other half on concrete slabs either side of an old bbq that we do not use, the old bbq plate I have covered with tiles to give myself a bit of a work bench in our entertainment area. I have covered the tiles with a layer of polysyrene.

Everyone, thanks for your wonderful advice about vriesea flower spikes, I decided to cut a couple off some of the ones in the entertainment area that had been there for a while, now mum can get busy and hopefully pup some :-)

I went out and brought Condy Crystals today to give this a go - yeah, can't wait to try on weekend.

Anyway better get going, catch up with you all next time, luved everyones pics - awesome as usual.

Happy Gardening!

Hope you don't mind a couple of orchid pics thrown in lol and of course broms to keep us bromaholics happy lol.

Pic 1: Phrap. Perseus Highclare
Pic 2: Paph. Rothschildianum x St Swithin
Pic 3: Vr. Angela
Pic 4: Neo. Lorena
Pic 5: Mixed Vrieseas and some very small pups purchased a couple of months ago

Hi everyone, thanks Bree and Trish for the suggestions on what the NOID in my first pic might be. Nev, thanks for the compliments on the two neos.

It’s getting late, even later further south … I wish we had daylight saving here in Brissie.

Anyway, I’ll post a couple of pics and head off to bed.

Pic 1 is neo Chlorostricta f2 x pic 2 is neo Hot Blooded ? pic 3 is neo Chubby

Bye for now, Shirley

Awsome Paph. Rothschildianum x St Swithin. Heres my Lila... looking a bit chatty though. hehe!

this is the picture the seller had when i bought it.

Hi everyone,

Well another nice day here today following more light showers last night. Although we haven't had rain for a while until these last few days of light drizzle and still there are people "whinging". What does it take to satisfy some people? Maybe we should arrange for it to just rain of a night and be fine the following day, but I'll bet it still wouldn't suit some.

Trish – Regarding the topic of whether we should flush out the vases in brom's or not, I've heard numerous arguments both for and against this practice; but when we look at what Mother Nature does, it's all for a purpose. When the dew, mists or rain fall on the brom's in their natural habitat in trees or rock faces (and most of them do grow in these locations in the wild) it naturally accumulates in the vase. Over time it mixes with bird and small animal droppings, dead insects as well as leaves and twigs which fall from above. As they break down they make a “soup” (for want of a better word) which acts as a continuous dose of a weak organic liquid fertiliser. The only time these vases get flushed out is when there is abnormally heavy or prolonged rain which fills the vases to such an extent that the sheer weight of the water in the vases will cause the plant to actually tip sideways while still attached to the host tree or cliff and empty itself out. Once the weight of the water is no longer pulling the plant over, it again takes on its normal posture and the process is started all over again. Personally I think we have a lot to learn from Mother Nature and by emulating her we can eliminate many of the cultural problems we are often confronted with and in this case we find the flushing out of the vases doesn't need to be done on such a regular basis as is commonly believed.

As for your pic's, well you really will have to stop putting up pic's of orchids or you'll turn me back into an orchidaholic once more. I think the Paph. Rothschildianum x St Swithin is an amazing plant and looks most surreal.

Shirley – I like the plants in the pic's you posted, especially your Neo 'Hot Blooded' which is another of the many beautiful hybrids bred by Alan Freeman; and if it ever wants a holiday please don't hesitate to send it down here as I'm sure we can accommodate it.

Breeindy – That's nice colour you and Shirley are getting in your Neo 'Lila', unfortunately I can never seem to get that much colour in them down here as the red only spreads about half way to the leaf tips, but then that's the price I pay for living in a cooler area. That picture you posted that the seller put up on E bay looks very much to me as though it's been digitally enhanced and I know there is one seller on there who does this to every pic they post, I'd better not say their name in case I finish up in gaol. But it is something to be aware of as some sellers will stop at nothing to sell their plants. In fact I've just spent a few minutes on Ebay and already have found two pic's that are “suss”, see pic's 1 and 2.

Well that's it for today, I've had my little “whinge” so I'll finish firstly with the 2 pic's I spoke of above and Pic 3 which is Billbergia Dorothy Berg, and finally Pic's 4 demonstrates just how unstable my clone of Bill. 'Ralph Graham French' (on the right of Bill.Dorothy Berg) really is while the pups in pic. 5 really confirm it.

All the best, Nev.

Hi all another windy day but overcast. Went through some more plants and found some mushroom scale in a crowded pot of N Sakura / pink marbled throat. I broke it up and treated the scale. I repotted it and will fertilise in a week or two. I use liquid fert and like to let plants settle before fertilising. I also had to water my seedlings again
Pic 1 is a sweet little number Ae cherry fizz.
Pic 2 N sakura/pink marbled throat by it's name tag
Pic 3 Noid hexagonal flower, not sure it is a pure Neo
Pic 4 Bil Carioca X Euphamie seedling
Pic 5 Mushroom scale on Sakura
Have a good one
Ian

Hi everyone.
Missed calling in here last night. I tried everything to make it rain..... left washing on the line overnight, watered all the broms so we didn't need the rain, finally today I opened a new packet of gum that I bought on the spure of the moment last night and it wasn't until I was doing that and thought "that's right it's raining now and the rest will sweat and have to be dumped". that's when I realised it worked ... made it rain hahaha. we had about 20ml today

Shirley in relation to those 2 NOIDs .... the first you've had id of neo lila and the 2nd I'm pretty sure is neo strawberry which we have. perhaps you got it from here????

Nev when I'm taking a pic of a tall thin plant I turn the camera sideways to get a full screen shot. When I upload I rotate the pic in my database but when I post one of these pics the computer rotates them back again. sorry about the kinked neck.
Pic 1 2 are pics of one of your seedlings Nev. The label says emevichal however doesn't say what genera and I can't find it in the FCBS or BCR. can you please give me more details?
Pic 3 is another one of our concentrica seedlings I discovered on the weekend when someone wanted to buy it. the pic doesn't show how smokey black the plant is. it is stunning. I'll try to capture the black again tomorrow.
Pic 4 is one of our painted delight seedlings PD3 taken yesterday but a pup of Pic 5 PD3 taken Oct 2011 (unless I named 2 plants with same number) but I'm sure this is one of the first pups taken off. It does look very different to the mother if it is.

Nev I love your billbergia pics. the variegated ones are my all time favourites. I also agree with you that the colours in those first 2 pics are a bit rich and probably enhanced. I think I know which seller they come from. I'm sure I've purchased a plant from them and I'm equally sure it has never looked like the one I purchased.

Ian we'd love to see your seedling Bil Carioca X Euphamie when it colours up a bit more.

Shirley the colour in that neo hot blooded is a beauty like Nev said.

Nev was there any neos I have promised to send to you and not done yet? I have a packet of stamps to send to you and thought I might as well send a plant with them if there was anything I owed you. Did I send you an Alan Freeman hybrid neo called Narelle's Joy? it is a variegated one. If I did (or if you got one from me Shirley) we are getting it registered but with a name change. it will be called 'Freeman's Joy' as Aizelwoods have now registered neo hybrids called 'Narelle's Gift' and 'Narelle Joy' ...... hence the name change.

Trish, Ian, Bree, Shirley, Karen and Sue........ I hope you all got some of that rain today. we checked the weather channel and at one stage the whole of Qld practically was covered by one solid block of colours, so I think the rain was pretty widespread. Anyway as Nev said we are never satisfied and we certainly do need more to fill the tanks. we've had enough to be called a watering for the broms and the ground but not enough run off yet for the tanks. not holding my breath for more though but we can always hope. Anyway we are moving our youngest son from Dayboro to Wellington Point on Saturday and every time we have moved him so far it has rained so I'm sure it will live up to tradition and we'll get some more Saturday afternoon.

Ready for bed now so I'll post some more pics tomorrow night.

Wendy

Hi all, some very happy gardens here at the moment following a bit of rain, not much mind you, but enough to revive some rather stressed shrubs and trees.

Bree, thanks for your pic of your neo Lila, it’s a lovely plant.

Nev, Wendy, my neo Hot Blooded has coloured up beautifully. I’ll post a pic of it taken just after I got it for a comparison … in fact, I’ll bore you all with a ‘before’ and ‘after’. I’ll even make it a ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’ it got its’ lovely colour.

Wendy, that gum really seems to work for you … perhaps you should have started chewing a few weeks back. Re the 2 NOIDs I posted, I actually got the first one from you, the second one I got from the Olive Branch from the $5.00 shed at their last open day. I am surprised you are not going to be there this Saturday … or are you going there first. Anyway, it’s supposed to be fine on the weekend so you should get your son moved without rain, hope so anyway.

I think I might head off to bed too. Pics 1, 2 and 3 are neo Hot Blooded.

Bye for now, Shirley

Hi again, the first photo above was taken on 06.06.12, the last one about a month ago, around 3 months in good light.

hi everyone. just popped back to see if anyone can id this aechmea. we took a lovely big pup off this today but the tag was faded and unreadable. hoping Jen or someone else may be able to suggest a name so I can put a new label in to both mum and pup.

Ta
Wendy

good morning.
Its not Hohenelia 'Nifty Nev' is it Wendy?
I had to catch up over two sessions! So much to read.
Firstly, Ian, I believe that your mushroom scale is the same soft brown scale as here. I am going to give the 50/50 water and metho a go next time, and see how it works.
Trish, that 2nd orchid is a beauty. Your little pups look healthy too.
Shirley, that Marble hybrid is gorgeous, and having just recently been looking at one called strawberry, I think Wendy could be right.
Nev, no, Billbergia 'Alan Ladd' is not mine, as Wendy said. Ross does have a few coming on, and they are very stable, so they will become available, but will be pricey for awhile.
I find the Aechmea weilbachiis to be cold tender here too. They seem to do bettter in the ground, and under cover of foliage.
looks like I bought an orchid I already have. I have one called Dendrobium periardii , and bought the new one because it had similar flowers but a different name! Whoops. My original hasn't flowered this year, and last year something ate the buds before they opened.
Anyway, not much to report here. I am hoping we had enough rain to put some water in the tanks.
Hello to everyone looking in. Have a happy friday.
Sue

The 1st 4 Nev sent me and are growing beautiful thanks Nev!
Oh No! (what are the raised bits on it..too dry?), Citation, Cheery Day, Break of Day, my treasure chest which i love at the moment.

A few NOID pups, Sunset and Aztec(one of my favourites).