http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1327622/#new
A new thread for the month. We came from here.
Everyone is welcome to have a chat and show your photos of broms (orchids ok too) you don't have to post regularly, although we encourage it!
Sue
Photo is of a new bromeliad I bought at the markets. It was labelled as Aechmea recurvata orange form, but its huge, and I would say is a recurvata hybrid?
This is Nevs reply, posted on the wrong thread. I saved you the trouble and copied it over nev. I hope you dont mind?
Nev says:
Hi everyone – Here we are at the end of yet another month and getting closer to the silly season once again. Happy Fathers Day to any of our Fathers, (even the lurkers) and I hope you all have an enjoyable day.
Just so no one gets confused, my comments for today start about the posts on the August thread and continue into this new September one.
Tash – It's a bit unusual to hear you have a bit of “free time”, where's the “billy lids”? (Cody - this is “Strine” for kids). Anyway what ever the reason, it's always good to hear from you; or anyone else for that matter.
It's very true what you say about some of the growers with the largest collections being more reluctant to donate plants than those with just a few plants. Like your Dad, my Dad always had a saying also and that was; “Them that's got it will always have it as they never give any away” in his case he meant money and not brom's though. Personally I've always enjoyed giving, more than receiving, and I think even donating a bit of spare time to a voluntary group makes you feel pretty good to know you are helping someone. Unlike the miserable thieving bas..rd who pinched a large brom out of my front garden the other night. If only they had said they liked it I would have willingly given them a spare pup, but no; they had to take the lot didn't they, and trampled on three others to get to it.
I've never done any good with the Ae. Chantinii types (with the exception of Echidna) as I always lose them to the cold weather. However I've always been told to grow them in bright light right up under the shade-cloth roof. Now from what you say, this might be where I'm going wrong because now that I think more about it, that's exposing them more to the cold as well as the light isn't it? Maybe if I grow them in a more shady and protected spot they might grow for me. That might be why Jean can grow them where she is, and that's much colder than my area. So maybe just one more try following your growing tip Tash. Do you happen to know what amount of light they grow in when they are in habitat? Maybe I should have found this out first instead of just rushing in.
On the topic of pups; how big are they when you remove them from the Mother plant Tash? I know the “Golden Rule” was always wait until they are one third the size of the Mother before removing them, but the longer I grow brom's for and the more pups I take, I find they make into much better plants (and quicker) if I leave them until they are about three quarters the size of the Mother and have roots of their own. This also follows advice from an old friend of mine, who is an I international judge with fifty years experience both here and in Europe and she says the reason for a lot of plants being smaller in size now than they once were, is because people get greedy and take pups off while they are too small so they can get many more pups.
She says it's better to get two decent pups than eight or so “stunted” ones, because with these (stunted ones) it will take about three generations and sometimes more before the plant eventually gets back to the correct size of the original plant. Of course you can pump the fertiliser into them but then as you say, you run the risk of lanky plants with thin droopy leaves. I don't know if what I've just said has anything to do with why you and your friend have found the second generation smaller than the first, but I think it's something worth considering, and it's easy to trial.
Tash, I never had you tagged as a “Scaredy Cat”, and frightened of a poor old Huntsman as well. They are just coming inside to warn you of impending rain and won't hurt you anyway. If you try and catch one it might give you a bit of a bite but it's not very venomous. If you want to get it out of the house, just get a millet broom and put it near the spider and it will crawl onto the millet, carry it outside and put it and the broom in the garden. If it continues to crawl over the millet end and up the handle, just wait until it's about three quarters of the way up the handle, and then just grab the other end of the broom so the spider is then crawling away from you. “Easy Peasy”.
You really cracked me up with your story about the Huntsman in the shower; Gee I wish I'd been another spider on the wall to witness your run through the house in the raw and all wet from the shower, slipping and sliding as you ran. You should have been on “Funniest Home Videos” I'll bet you would have had everyone rolling on the floor laughing.
I remember once seeing what looked like the fattest Huntsman I have ever seen on our lounge room ceiling cornice one night; but when I looked more closely it was a female carrying its egg sack beneath its body. Anyway I never thought any more about it as they usually go out on their own accord eventually without me having to evict them. When I got up the next morning there was the Mother Huntsman (much smaller in size) and surrounded by a hundred or so tiny huntsmen spiders, they seemed to be everywhere. When I came home from work that afternoon they had all vanished; I don't know where they went but had my suspicions were “someone”???? might have sprayed and killed them, anyway they were gone and so was the Mother.
I read (part 1) of an article about one of the N.Z. Growers “stabbing” a large Vriesea but he didn't use a screw driver, he did it with a length of thin hollow steel tubing which removed a core of tissue completely from the plant and left a clean hole right through just like it had been drilled out. There was to have been a part 2 follow up but either it wasn't written or I missed it so I don't know how successful this method was.
They say a picture paints a thousand words and your pic's of “screw drivering” a plant does just that, so thanks and well done Tash.
Sue – At last we get to see some of your pic's. What was the problem?
That Neo.'Pinstripe' is certainly a beautiful radial red; nice uniform colour and shape to boot; and as for Neo.'Princess Di', that's always a nice plant; I've seen it grown in good light, poor light and in between and it's still always very easy on the eyes. That Pic.4 is a nice garden shot and I really like the little Neo's in the trough; are they Fireballs?
I love your pic of the Python; you should re-write what's come to be called the “Don Burke Song” (Give me a Home Among the Gum Trees). You could change the words to “Give me a home among the brom plants; a rat or two and a bull frog too”. (That's the first line and I'll let you do the rest)
Sue, that's a fantastic job you and Bill have done with the Lysaght's Mini Orb, and the wooden dado mould really gives it a professional finish to set it all off. I'll bet back in the 1920's when the John Lysaght works first started rolling this product they never envisaged it being used for something like this; but then you and Bill weren't around then either were you?
That's a really good DIY explanatory set of instructions and pic's for the job you did and I'm sure if anyone wants to do a similar job, you will have saved them a lot of hassles and swearing; well done the pair of you.
Cody – Good to see you still looking in, areyaavenagoodweeken?
Sorry no pic's today as I haven't had time to take any but I'll take lots at our show next weekend to share with you all.
All the best, Nev.
I found the picture resizer I was looking for. It is 'Picture resizer for windows' and is available on a website http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fimageresizer.codeplex.com%2F&h=SAQHRvnPM
so easy. select the photo you want to resize, right click on it and choose 'rezise' from the drop down menu, then (in my case) open the dialogue box on the tool bar and choose small. It saves a copy to the same folder as the original photo, with the same name, but has (small) after it.
Where is everyone tonight!
Hi Everyone!
I hope all the Dads had a Fantastic Father’s Day!!!
What a busy weekend it has been for us and I am sure everyone else. Got stuck doing a fair bit of bookwork (again) but did manage to find some time to spend in the garden and with my broms but did not have any time to get started on any of the projects I want to get done around the garden and next weekend is going to be just as busy as we will have visitors over.
Hi Shirley like you I have a few flower spikes forming on my Vrieseas and the odd pup coming up on some without flower spikes which I am thrilled to bits about. Pleased to hear you liked my Vriesea ‘The Dreamtime’, it’s a real pretty one. I noticed EBay has a couple of more for sale again too. Nice pics you posted on 30/08, Pic 2 Neo’ ‘Buchaneer’ I really liked because of its nice wide leaves and pretty colour.
Hi Cody great to hear you and Alex have a long weekend together, what have you been getting up to so far?
Hi Nev thanks for the link, looks like the Neo’ NOID I suspected was ‘Gold Fever’ is exactly that as it has the exact same leaf tip and markings.
Nev he he yes you are too right that spider did get a bit of a fright with me flashing it in the face repeatedly with the flash on my camera the other night, it must have thought it was daylight because it took that many shots to get it half looking like a spider and not like a big white blob on the screen.
Hi Tash yeah some of the Vrieseas on EBay have been going for high prices but others are just not selling because prices are just too high. We were happy with our purchase of Vriesea ‘The Dreamtime’, I absolutely adore its wide leaves and its colour is great.
Tash TOO FUNNY!!! I nearly wet my pants laughing at your Huntsman story; you got it good (more than once). I also have a bathroom story where I went in to wash my hands in the bathroom, looked up at this little spider on the mirror, than saw another one on the wall, and then quite a few more on the walls and then looked up and the whole bathroom ceiling and walls were covered in baby Huntsmans. Then a thought came to all of a sudden, WHERE IS MOTHER and I turned around and there she was behind me as big as my hand. The babies were everywhere, all up the hallway into our entertainment area; there were thousands of them, anyway we had no choice but to bomb the house but we caught mum and let her go. We had no choice because there were just too many of them.
Tash WOW it’s like coring an apple that technique you use, I looked away for a second but it is so intriguing I had to take a closer look LOL.
Hi Sue great pics you posted on 31/08, luved Neo’ ‘Pinstripe’, the mini orb wall looks fantastic, you guys did such a great job, how nice does it look. Nice Python pic too!
Hi Jen sound like you have been real busy in the garden. Glad to hear your hubby had a laugh about the spider; wait till he hears Tash and my story about the Huntsmans. I was pretty impressed with the web that spider build the other night, and it was broken the next morning so it must of caught something juicy. Yeah I don’t mind spiders but prefer when they are not in our house he he.
Jean great pics of all your new broms and the shade house under construction, you have done really well.
Sue thanks heaps for the September thread which I am just about to jump into. Just saw the nice new brom you brought at the markets, very nice flower, not familiar with this one.
Hi to anyone else looking in or on the sick list.
Take Care and Happy Gardening!
Trish
Pic 1 - Vr' 'The Daintree x White Bands'
Pic 2 to 4 - Random back gardon shots
Hi all, Here I am a month behind already. I spent most of the week-end tidying up my yard. It will never be perfect and I know that. I did work on Saturday and got some done there . Back to it tomorrow and will reaccess how long I will have to work on Tuesday. And that is just to finish the customers job ASAP.
Sue when I load pics I use the reader on my printer and load on to my computer from there, then resize them then save resized pics and then delete originals. It is slow but it is what I know how to do. Nice pics. Pinstripe is booful and that is a neat nake too.
Trish when I am cleaning up my broms I get spiders in most of them and they often crawl over me. Feeels a bit funny but they are going looking for a safe place from where I have disturbed them. They are not going to do you any harm, unless they are poisonous.
As for the Quesnelia and Yes I could be interested in the Testudo as it is one that I have not got. I havea few that I could swap for it though. I have Testudo alba, Arvensis, Arvensis dark form, Mamorata quesneliana and Lieboniana which is a mini and spineless. I also have an Arvensis rubra but it is still too young to pup. Tim Plowman is possibly the most spectacular of the non-varigated ones needs to be bought as a small clump. If one gets a single plant it can take years to pup. It just sulks if it is alone.
Shirley I don’t think your first plant is Aztec Gold, mine has not flushed to give the orangey colour and it has been in full sun for 6 months. It is still yellow and green. The 3rd pic has the right colours. Buccaneer is a nice plant.
Tash Thanks for explaining how to stab a plant. I have previously seen pics of Chester Skotac doing this with Alc PITA. I have never tried it but I have some plants that I don’t like much so I might give it a try with 1 of those. Maybe N Magnificent Red which for me is not much of a plant. It has never coloured as I would have expected it to. How much cinnamon do you use, say on a normal Neo12” 30cm across. I have also heard of using a hot iron to do the same job, just using the heat to kill the growth centre of the plant.
I am still laughing at your spider story, I think you endangered yourself with that Baygon spray, it is a wonder that there was not another spider there the next day as if to say “he he you didn’t get me “
Jean now you have just made the best excuse for doing anything not real smart. You said that you slapped yourself, now you can expand on that and say that you slapped yourself silly. Smart one or as the younger generation would say, smart one ,dum one. I have to sort out my plants as well, at the moment they are all mixed up. Nice looking plants there and the shade house looks alright too.
Nev The idea of a lucky dip with plants seems a very good idea.
Have a good one
Ian
Hi all,
Nev, the aechmea in my first pic is definitely Aztec Gold. It is probably in too much sun. I have another in less sun and the variegation is more obvious, I’ll post a pic. The aechmea in the second pic is different and does not have the same upright vase shape. It has the same colouring and variegation but is more open and strappy, I’ll post another pic of it too for comparison. I have added neo Buchaneer to your wish list.
Tash, I did try ‘stabbing’ a couple of neos but it didn’t have the outcome I had hoped for … in fact, it made very little difference, perhaps I did it too early … might try again. How could you do it to neo Serendipity Girl … if you happen to get lots and lots of pups and find you have a spare, perhaps we can work out a swap.
Perhaps your Ae Aztec Gold is like the one in my second pic with the long narrow leaves. I will let you know when I have pups of Vr Speckles x Milky Way. Hope you enjoyed your day at the market.
Sue, your mini orb wall looks very professional … great job. Your neo Pin Stripe is a gorgeous colour … mine is green with pink markings, neo Princess Di is lovely too.
Jean, great pics of all your lovely new broms.
Sue, thanks for the new post.
Nev, it’s hard to believe anyone would have the audacity to come into your yard and pinch a large brom … what mongrels. I think mine are pretty safe with our dogs in the yard, especially Molly the dobermann.
Trish, I saw the vrieseas The Dreamtime and a couple of others I would have liked too but we went to The Olive Branch on Saturday and I spent about twice what I had budgeted for and would have liked to get so many more. I will post pics later in the week. Love your pics, as usual, Trish what is the red centred one on the left in pic 2 of your post of 1 Sept please.
Ian, has your Ae Aztec Gold flowered yet. Mine was yellow and green up until it flushed when starting to flower. I will post a pic of when it first started to colour.
Pic 1 – Ae Aztec Gold, pic 2 – Ae Aztec Gold (different), pic 3 – Ae Aztec Gold (again), pic 4 – Ae Purple Heart (which I have now moved to a shadier spot), pic 5 – neo Downs Autumn
Bye, Shirley
Pic 1 Scored well at Woolies, wasn't going to buy any this week but for $30.00 I couldn't resist
Pic 2 Ae manzanesiana seed pod
Pic 3 Ae manzanesiana
Pic 4 Neo Rosa Morado
Pic 5 Vr with damage, possibly during transit, sun thru the window.
Ian
Hi everyone – Back to the start of another week. I hope everyone had a nice weekend and the Fathers among us had a enjoyable Father's Day. We went for a family lunch over to my daughter and son-in-laws place where I was entertained by the antics of my youngest grandson. Later in the afternoon my eldest son, daughter-in-law and the other two grandsons came for a visit. All up I finished with a nice little “stash” of Bunnings Vouchers which no doubt I'll have no trouble spending.
Hi to anyone on the sick list or anyone who hasn't posted for a while, we are still thinking of you so how about dropping us a line or two to say hello.
Jean – These comments are from the last lot of your pic's in the previous August post. I think your little NOID in Pic.13 is Neo. pauciflora; and just looking at the leaves and the stolon on the plant in Pic.14 makes me think it too could be a Neo.pauciflora. The plant in your last picture I think is a species Vriesea called flammea (see the FCBS Photo Index under species) Not to be confused with a Vriesea a hybrid of the same name.
Sue – Thanks Sue for transferring my post to the correct thread, I should have read your instructions more carefully. I opened up the other thread this morning and nothing new? What's going on I wondered and then I realised that it wasn't intended to also be our Sept thread; should have read it properly first (silly old bugger).
Anyway I've found my way here now so time to get down to business. Sue I think your suspicions about your new plant being a hybrid may be correct as it looks very much like one I have which I won in a society raffle and was originally part of a small group of Ae. Caudata x Recurvata seedlings which originated from the Wollongong Botanical Gardens, (See Pic.1)
Trish – It seems like we all attract Huntsman Spiders. I can just imagine the puzzled look on your face as you looked at all the baby spiders and then suddenly wondered where the Mum was.
What is the light green Neo. in the bottom centre of Pic.2. I notice it has some faint lineation in the leaves like a radial red; does the centre colour up as well?
Ian – I'm interested in reading what you say about Neo.'Magnificent Red'; I have several of these and they all colour up beautifully. One little quirk I have found that it does have though, and that is, it likes to be allowed to clump up a bit and it likes it even better when it's just grown in the garden and left alone. I have found it does best for me under 75% green shade cloth and much nicer than it does beneath the 75% beige; I would have thought it would have been the other way around, but no; so I guess it's a case of “horses for courses”.
As for you saying you too have to sort out your plants, well I thought I had all my Neo's sorted and catalogued but with moving plants around for the show and the plants sales I seem to be almost back to where I'll have to start all over again......bugger!
Shirley – I've found Ae. 'Aztec Gold' to be quite variable depending on the degree of light it's grown under, more so than many other plants. The one in your third pic is identical to the colours we get in them down here, but then we don't have the intensity of the Queensland sun; maybe that's the difference or maybe the one in your first pic is either a more superior clone or even a sport itself; this could explain the different colour and I guess it is possible as we mustn't forget that 'Aztec Gold originated as a sport itself. To read the interesting story of how John Catlin developed it, go to: http://fcbs.org/articles/a_Aztec_Gold.htm
That's a great example of Ae.'Purple Heart' and your Neo.'Down's Autumn' is certainly a beautiful plant, but one I haven't seen around down here unfortunately.
Cody – Come on; be happy! Life's to short to be unhappy, remember what I said about thinking of all the good things in your life and then compare them with other people who have nothing. To start with you and Alex both have your good health so that's gotta be a big plus. Remember today will never come again so make the most of it while you can; lets see you both give a big smile to us all.
Ian - That's a great $30 worth of brom's you got from “Woolies”. The Woolies in our area don't sell plants any more and K-Mart only sells them in a couple of their stores and usually only ferns and no brom's any more either. Maybe it's something to do with freight costs as most of the big wholesale brom nurseries are up in Northern N.S.W. and Queensland.
I'll finish today with a few random pic's; first of all Pic.1, Ae. Caudata x Recurvata to compare with Sue's suspected Recurvata hybrid, Pic.2 “I'M A FATHER AGAIN!” - The baby Honey Eater has hatched out, the mother only laid one egg this year as opposed to two eggs in previous years. Pic 3 is a garden grown plant of Ae 'Pie' just starting to flower. Pic. 4 shows a beautiful but unfortunately worthless albino pup on a Neo Meyendorffii plant.(For those who don't know, shortly after that pup is removed from the Mother plant it will start to die [even with a healthy root system of its own]. The reason being is that it has no chlorophyll with which to manufacture food) Pic.5 is another of my hybrids just starting to colour Neo.'Mon Petite' x 'Tangerine'.
All the best, Nev.
Good morning everyone,
First of all, thanks heaps for the new thread Sue :) And can I just say.... awesome work finding that Resizer. I use to have one like that... but lost it along the way some where, was probably back with the XP version of windows, seems that all these newer versions of Windows and Microsoft, you lose things that were free and included beforehand. So I haven't had one for ages. And when I did have to resize for an email or something, I would usually have to upload to Pic Monkey, resize and save.... pain in the ass! So I downloaded the one you gave the link to, and it's a little ripper! Love it. Well done Sue :) Thanks.
Nev, yeah my chantinii's just grow in the shadier part of the garden, they still get some light, but I don't think they would even mind being in full shade. Where mine came from, they were growing under a massive tree all over and old combi van wreck. So they proabably didn't see much sun at all. Mine will grow in the sun, but they go more yellow and small, I'll try to get a pic to show you, where as the ones in the shadier spot, are green, good big shape without being strappy and such nice contrasting colour. And yeah I imagine in the garden would give more cold protection too for yours in winter, but that's only a guess :)
Thanks for the idea on the smaller growth possibly being due to the size of the pup when removed Nev. Myself I tend to take my pups around 1/3 to half the size of the mother plant, depending on the size of the mother and the shape of the pup, some I find can stay longer if they aren't crushing each other, and others I find need to come off eariler if they are crushing or deforming type thing. But I am not a fan of selling pups that are small. If I have taken off small pups, I grow them on until they are a good healthy size and well established. I generally wait until they have good roots. Some pups will never get roots on the mother I have found, like Neo Monstrosus, which I don't even bother removing pups unless someone wants one.
I think mine shrink... not sue to pup size, but just the amount of light. I can buy a full size brom, BIG brom, wide, like Jaws Too, and once it lives in our brom house for a while..... all the new leaves come out shorter and wider! LOL Just a result of light in my case I think. Which 9 times out of 10 is a good thing, but sometimes it can be a bit annoying. But usually it's a good thing.
As for the stabbing of punching, you can use any object that does the same thing, destroys the centre. For medium to big neos I find a fairly large screwdriver works well, smaller one for smaller neos and I know Chester uses Re bar for big Alc's. So the bigger the plant the bigger the tool ;)
Ohhh Nev.... that many huntsmen and you weren't freaked out???? nooooo noooo noooooo, I would STILL be beside myself with that many around the place...blahhhhhh.
Ohhh Trish.... that would of done my head in..... here I was saying the other day I think I would be ok with them now.... being older and hmm more mature..... pfftttttt.... forget what I said, ekkkkkkkkkkkkkk. Enough to make my skin crawl better yours and Nev's stories, yuk yuk yuk. Thank goodness we never see them where we are living now.
Yeah that Dreamtime Grex is lovely, I wouldn't mind one of them, meant to watch them last night... but forgot, opps. Jack will keep listing some more I imagine, so I'll keep an eye out :)
Ian, yes I probably gassed myself on the Baygon, nasty stuff that stuff. With the cinnamon afte stabbing, I dunno, about half a teaspoon? I brought 500gms from a health food shop and just have it in a Chinese container with a little plastic spoon, and I just scoop about half a teaspoon on there and tip in down the middle. Then I keep them under cover for about 24 hours and then back to where ever they were living. I talked to Chester about my cinnamon treatment and he said it would be better used on my breakfast, lol. He doesn't treat them with anything, he doesn't even tip them out to get the water out, just stabbed them. He says he lives in a good climate though so doesn't have to wait til warm weather etc. I would only stab in the warmer months for those living down south. Even I won't stab in winter up here. the plant does need to be old enough though, not point stabbing a young pup etc. You have to remember quite a few leaves come out of the centre when you do it, well they do for me. so make sure it is s decent size and losing quite a few leaves doesn't mean... no plant left.
Shirley, I wonder if you didn't stab them enough? When you say you saw no difference, do you mean they just kept growing or that no pups came and it died? If it kept growing, you didn't destroy the growing centre. Personally I'm not happy if part of the centre doesn't come out. As in.... the other day I stabbed one, and I then tugged on the little centre leaves, had to push my fingers right into the cup ti get hold of them... tugged.... nope... didn't budge. So I carefully and gently put the screwdriver back in, gave a little push and twisted again. Then I gave a little tug again... yes out it came. Then I was happy. Job done. I find it's always better to go little by little if you are unsure than just smash it in there and over do it. I don't think over doing it is fatal, never has been for me, but you lose way more of the centre, like once.... over half the plant came out!!! oppsss. Still had the desired effect and lived on etc, but i much rather prefer to have less come out, enough to wreck the centre, but only minimal type thing. Trial and error and only use non valuable plants to learn on, like I did. NOID's I didn't like and things like that.
Shirley my Aztec Gold is EXACTLY like your second pic, infact that could be mine in your pic, lol. I would LOVE to have one like your first pic. Mine has never looked like your first one. sigh.
I love Neo Down's Autumn, I am currently trying to find another one or two of them, hard to come by it seems.
Cody sorry to hear you and Alex aren't feeling well, I hope today is a far better day.
Ian good pick up at Woolies, you just never know what you'll find and where :)
Ok I had better go, hi to everyone else and anyone following along.
Pics??
I know, random vriesea shots :)
Cheers Tash
Ohhh wow..... so fast with small images.... I hope they aren't too small??? We'll see :)
Good morning.
Perfect size photos, Tash, and they load quickly for the viewer too!
After reading about stabbing, and seeing Shirleys Neo. 'Downs Autumn' and then looking at my struggling specimen, I am going to have a go with a screw driver. If I have success, I will send you a pup, Tash. I suspect the climate may be a little cool here for it? I have had it more than two years and it has done nothing, except survive.
Shirley, I like your two different A. 'Aztec Gold's too. Mine looks like your second one, and is quite stable. Is your one in the first photo stable too?
Nev, I thought that my new plant might be crossed with Caudata too. The shape of the plant, while like recurvata, is quite big, and it also resembles my half grown caudata seedlings. Anyway, the flower sucked me in totally, so I had to have it.
Ian, good score from Woolies. Its nice to know you can still find a bargain in a department store from time to time.
Trish, lovely photos and also a good buy with your new Vriesea. I think both you and Tash would be amazed if you saw the amount of huntsmen we get here. I have learned to live with them, although the ones I find in the house usually get a flick of the tea towel and splat with the jandal! The ones that live out in the broms can stay, as they are food for the frogs.
Cody, I hope both you and Alex feel better soon.
Hello to Jean, seems that Nev agrees with my IDs too, so between us I think we may have found names for a couple of your new babies.
Its a bit cool and overcast here today, so I might start my day inside with the housework, and wait to see if the sun will make an appearance.
Todays pics are my new Aechmea, shown with A. recurvata in front, for perspective on size, and photo two is an Aechmea I wondered, could it be apocalytica?
Sue
Hi Nev,thanks!!Love your pics!!Take care!!
Hi Tash,thanks!!Love your pics!!!Take care!!
Hi Sue,thanks!!Love your pic!!!Take care!!
I hope we feel better soon too.Alex has a cold and running a fever with it.I have a infection under a tooth in the back of my mouth.I woke up Friday morning with my left jaw swelled.
Ian,love your pics!!!Take care!!!
Hi to eveyone else!!!
Cody
Hi all, all I have done at home today was to spread out some of my broms just to increase airspace around each of them. I will take another pic of pic 4 in a couple of days just to show the difference.
Cody the flowers do fade some colours more than others and also depending on how long they were in the purchase point before you got it. Also how well it was looked after. Your plants still look healthy so you must be doing something right. Here is a hug a smile and a wave. Get well soon.
Sue I like that Ae recurvate with it's pineapple shape. It does look a biggish plant.
Tash, Thanks for the suggestion on how much cinnamon to use and the method. I have a few that I could try it on. When Chester uses reo bar it has lumps on the sides and maybe this grips on the centre to pull it out. He also seems to punch very deeply or maybe that was just trick photography. Maybe I could ask him.
Nev just maybe I will plant Neo Magnificent Red in a garden in shade and see what happens. I have a few other choices to stab. I am also interested in trying The Contraceptive Pill as a hormone treatment for an increased pup production. For me to get the pill is a bit of a problem but I can ask at our meeting on Sunday.
Enough for me tonight
Have a good one
Ian.
Pic 1 Bil Delight
Pic 2 Neo Camelot
Pic 3 Neo Rosa Morado
Pic 4 Gold
Pic 5 Neo Camelot with different setting on camera. Same plant
Hi Everyone!
Hi Ian pleased to see you back and busy as usual, I know how you feel. Yes I too have the odd spider climb over me in the garden when mucking around with my broms. Spiders that don’t bite don’t worry me and I usually just push them away with my hand, I used to just pick them up by hand and move them somewhere safe but for some reason now that I am older I don’t pick them up anymore, I suppose it’s because I am wiser or just don’t trust my eyes like I used to as I now wear glasses he he.
Ian that would be great if we could do a swap for one of my Quesnelia Testudo with one of the ones you mentioned. When I get a spare moment this week I will look up the one’s you listed to see what they look like as I have no ID and will let you know as well as I need to check on how many pups are on Testudo?
Ian nice scores from Wollies!!!
Hi Shirley can’t wait to see pics of your new broms. The brom in Pic 2 on 1 Sep (red centred one) is the Neo’ NOID I brought from our Sunday Market a couple of weeks ago for $10 with pup. I have no idea what it is? If anyone can help with identifying that would be great?
Shirley great pics you posted, I drooled over your Pic 5 of Neo’ ‘Downs Autumn’, what a pretty one that is and another one with nice wide leaves that I always like.
Hi Cody sorry to hear you and Alex are not feeling that good, hope you guys are on the mend soon and back to your normal happy go lucky selves. Take care gorgeous, keep your chin up and know we are here for you. Oh yes I have been flat out working again with friggin more bookwork plus working my fulltime job but I am chewing through it better than last time so I am thrilled to bits about that. Your Guz is doing well even with the flower finishing.
Hi Nev great to hear you had a fantastic Father’s Day with your family. Enjoy spending your vouchers at Bunnings. I always get vouchers from there for my Mum because she adores the place as much as I do and is really into her gardening and doing her own home renovation jobs as well so they really come in handy for her.
Nev yes I did have get a funny look on my face after finding thousands upon thousands of those little Huntsman spider everywhere, at the time they were too small to tell what sort of spider they were so hence why I was like “Where’s Mum” because it could have been anything really, just lucky for us it was a harmless Hunstsman he he.
Nev the light green Neo’ (bottom centre) of Pic 2 is Neo’ ? I will check tomorrow and let you know LOL. The centre is yet to colour for me but I will take a pic when it does.
Nev CONGRATULATIONS on being a Father Again to the Baby Honey Eater that’s wonderful news and thanks for sharing cute pic!!! Great brom pics you posted also. That’s the first albino pup I have seen, what a shame it dies even with a root system.
Hi Tash you would have needed a friggen lot of telephone books to take out all the spiders that were in our house but we would have been left with holes in all our walls and ceilings with that book throwing technique of yours he he.
Tash AMAZING Vriesea pics you posted, I had to wipe the drool off my chin.
Hi Sue thanks yeah pleased with my new Vriesea buy, now I just need more room to put them all as they are all growing and growing and some are pupping now. We too get lots of Huntsmans at home; nearly every brom has one living in it LOL. But I am sure you would get heaps and heaps where you are. Nice pic of your new Aechmea, what a pretty flower.
Hi to anyone else looking in or on the sick list.
Take Care and Happy Gardening!
Sorry no pics tonight as I am just being slack as it is getting way late for me.
Goodnight!
Trish
Hi to all!!!
Ian,glad to hear you took it easy yesterday.I am shocked myself because my plants have lived this long.The ones i had before didn't last long.That was because i watered them to much back then.Thanks!!!Thanks for the hug,smile and wave.I am sending you a hug,smile and waving back.Thanks Ian!!!! Love your pics!!!Take care!!!
Cody
hi! Glad to see everyones good! I love your white brom Nev.
1.Prinsler 2. Ringleader
Hi everyone – Hasn't the weather been great? Yesterday was just like early summer; real shorts and singlet weather and a real pleasure to be able to get out and enjoy working in the garden. As our show gets closer I seem to have more things I find I haven't yet got ready, soon it will be panic stations again just like it is every year, but then everything seems to turn out alright in the end. It's quite interesting, but last year I worked out it took us about three and a half hours to set up the show and the main display (that wasn't counting registering entries) and on the Sunday late afternoon it took exactly thirty three minutes to dismantle everything........ If only we could put it all together that quick.
Tash – Regarding the “stabbing of punching “ of plants to prompt them into pup production, I remembered there were a couple of pretty good discussions about this very subject on the old “Garden Web Bromeliad Forum” and another on the original “Bromeliad and Air Plant Forum” (now called the Bromeliad Forum). I'm about halfway through downloading and saving it all to a Word document which I'll send to you when it's finished. I'm sure you'll find it quite interesting to hear the views of other growers from countries other than Australia. (Anyone else who wants a copy, just give me a shout and I'll Email you one too).
You had me going there for a while when you spoke about that “Dreamtime” grex; it sent me off to the BCR madly looking for all of these great plants and all I could turn up was one; Neo.'Dreamtime. This of course was a plant from the “Aussie Dream” grex made by Bob Larnach See: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=4033#4033e'. and I just thought oh well, Tash's just had a touch too much sun and is “rambling”, and that's the reason I can't find any others. When I re-read what you had written and saw you had mentioned “Jack” I immediately realised it wasn't Neo's I should be looking for but Vrieseas. “WOW”! What a surprise, hasn't the old master turned out some beauties in this little lot? His babies just seem to be getting better and better.
I've only ever used the cinnamon treatment once, and that was on a container of little seedlings which had developed a type of fungus, it didn't work; but then neither did any of the other fungicides I tried so maybe that wasn't a fair trial. Has anyone else here used the cinnamon powder as a fungicide, and what sort of results did you get? Maybe this is another item I should be adding to my every growing list of “Cultural Tips”.
Just looking at the pic's of your beautiful Vrieseas and thought that your local pastry cook must be nearly be running out of “plastic pie delivery trays by now”. Down here the manufactures of the trays also went to the red colour to make them more obvious and lees likely to be "borrowed", but they, (like milk crates) still seem to keep walking into people's back yards to be used for another purpose.
Sue – I've now seen several Ae. Caudata x Recurvata plants belonging to various growers as well as the reverse cross of Ae Aechmea x Caudata and they all seem to have a similar form to yours and if I was a betting man I'd bet that's what yours is. The flowers on the ones I've seen seem to range from a pale mauve right through to pale apricot in colour.
As for the second plant of your pic's; from what I've seen of Ae. apocalyptica, the flowers appear more spaced out than those on your plant. Your plant looks more like one I have called Ae 'Wyee'; but even that has a question mark hanging over its name, (see Pic.1). This plant was grown in a low light area so take this into account when comparing it with yours which seems to have been grown in higher light.
Cody – Sorry you both are a bit unwell. Oh dear, a tooth problem; looks like a trip to the dentist is on the schedule for you because what you describe as “an infection under the tooth” will probably need antibiotics before it turns into an abscess, as these can get quite painful. It sometimes helps a bit to hold a cloth covered (just warm) hot water bottle against the side of your face for a bit of pain relief along with a couple of paracetamol tablets if you can take them. It won't fix the problem but might give you some relief. Paracetamol will also help to lower Alex's high temperature. It is a good drug, but like any, must be taken as directed.
With your “Guzzie”, although it has a little way to go yet, once the tips of the flowers start to die, remove the flower spike (we'll tell you how when the time comes). This will allow more nourishment from the Mother plant to feed the pups and they will really start to grow faster. I also notice your plant is sitting in a saucer; make sure it's not sitting in water as this can start rot. It's a good idea to put some gravel in the saucer so the plant sits on the gravel and not directly in the water. The pups look great and look bigger every time we see them, so keep up the good work.
Ian – You won't have a problem getting the contraceptive pill; just borrow a lady's handbag, sling it over your shoulder, put one hand on your hip and breeze into the doctor's surgery with an exaggerated hip swing, and say, “Hi sweetie (with a lisp if possible), I would just like some of those little 'pillie thingies' to stop me having babies". One of two things will happen, you'll get your prescription or get chucked out!
Ian, I thought you gave up fagging; what's the ash tray with the cigarette butt in the foreground of the pic. Have you fallen off the waggon? If so, just try again, you'll beat it in the end.
Your pic's 2 and 5 certainly prove that the camera really does lie; just like growing plants, what a difference a change in light makes; and what about Pic 4, how I'd like to have a “blank canvas” like that to work on.
Trish – Spiders are pretty much like any other venomous creature, all you have to do is to leave them alone and stay out of their way and they won't harm you. Just remember you always have the upper hand as you are many times larger than they are so you are in control. Just remember they are here for a reason (eating other insects which may harm your brom's) and should be allowed to do their thing. When they are in the house it's usually just a sign of a change in the weather or somewhere protected to hatch out their eggs in a safe environment. (I'll bet they don't go to your place again though Ha! Ha!). Once they have done what they are there for they usually move on and won't freak you out any more.
Breeindy – Hi – good to see you dropping in again They're two nice plants in your pic's Neo. 'Ring Leader' has always been a favourite of mine. Yes the albinos are beautiful looking plants, it's just a shame that they can't survive without being attached to Mum.
That's it for today and the pics are, firstly Ae.'Wyee'? for Sue to compare with her flower, Pic's.2,3 and 4 are pic's of some of my old mate's Dendrobiums I spoke about a while back and Pic.5 demonstrates what you do when you're really, really thirsty.
All the best, Nev.
Nev,thanks!!Yeah i went to my family doctor and he put me on antibiotics for it now.I was put on some for a week.I still have to go to the dentist when i can get in.
Thanks for letting me know about when to take the mother flower spike off.I always check the bowl for water.Love your pics!!! The one with the kid getting milk had me rolling on the floor laughing.Take care!!!
Good day everyone!!!
Good night as well!!!
Cody
Nev- when i cut an old flower from a orchid i dust cinnamon on the cut i dont know how they'd go without it though so its not really a trial. I feel it covers the cut and dries it out so no fungice or rot can get in? Lovely Dendrobiums Nev.
Dentist i hate them. My dentist loves me, ive spent thousands there. hehe! I got all my wisdoms ripped out and a few other back teeth. And im neally ready to go again for another root canal. Ive got a hole and every now and then i get pain but oviously not enough to get me back there...yet. Cant afford to pull anymore out or wont be able to chew. ha!
1. Fairytale
Hi all, another day of sorting and spacing plants. The bench is done now for some more areas.
I pulled my Ae Chiante Jean out of the full sun on Sunday, just before it burned. It is nearly yellow and almost pink on the underside and looks nothing like one grown in the shade. I will try to take a pic of it tomorrow.
Trish we will do a swap when things work that way. No hurry, I am here for a long time and hopefully a good time also
.Bree Nice plants , they are both on my wish list. Another wish that I can tell about is that I wish my wish list was not so long. I love dentists, they kept me broke for years and now I stay away from them. My teeth are in a glass in the bathroom. Sometimes I put them in my mouth.With no teeth in my mouth I have more room to put my foot in there.
Nev I think it would look a bit funny me wearing a dress and carrying a handbag and having a full beard. I just think that they might smell a rat. Good try, I could always ask the doctor anyway and he might have some other idea.
We have had wind most of the day and now it is wet wind, squally showers have just started.
Guilty as charged. I tried and did not succeed but am planning to try again soon. I want to try the Nicobate pre quit patches. Coles and Woolworths can sell them cheaper than the chemists can buy them, but don't stock them in this town.Just another way of controlling their sales. I am not sure what I am going to do about this as yet, but keep my mouth shut will not be happening. That young fella is getting it right. Natural and as healthy as possible. No time for pollutants in the full cream milk. Just what the Doctor ordered. Suckatitaday
I tried cinnamon in controlling rot in a Vr without success. I think it was too far gone when I started. I am still open to success in the future.
Cody. The time is 2.30 or put another way tooth hurty. Sorry about that, I well remember that pain and went for too long with it. I even tried toothache drops and injected it into cavities. Talk about insanity. I hope you don't get that silly. It is simply not worth it.
Here is a hug a smile and a wave.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Gold has changed already
Pic 2 Neo Miranda showing burnt leaves.
Pic 3 Til juncea seed explosion. I did catch some.
Anyone have trouble from wallabies with their Broms? They got at a Billbergia nutans (or so Bunnings claims it was). Pulled it out of the pot and chewed off most of the leaves and the new flower buds. Luckily I found it before the sun cooked it, laying on the ground out in the open. It was a small plant, but now very much smaller.
Hi everyone. I'm sick of fb again so will try to come back to DG more often. we are still busy helping everyone else. our own garden is suffering with pups everywhere begging us to take them off. even the seedlings are suffering from neglect but I guess it's weeding out the weak ones for us and thinning out the ones growing. Nev I've been taking pics of the seedlings I've received from you. they are all getting big now and looking great. I must post a pic of your neo thunderbird x self. I have a couple growing but one in particular has the most stunning glowing shiny red colour. others are more of a dull red colour without the gloss. I took a pup up to our son and out of a box of pups which one did he pull out first to see what it was? yep your thunderbird pup with the glossy colour.
Nev like you we are still having plants stolen from the yard. we are now forced to padlock the gate night and day. even if we just pop up to the shop we padlock now. too many plants disappearing. A couple weeks ago I had a foam box of pups collected for an order for someone in NQ. I also had 3 other foam boxes of pups to be potted. On Thursday I listed the plants for the order and prices and said I'd post Monday morning. Money was transferred over weekend and on Monday morning I went to pack the order only to find 3 pups missing. sometime from Thursday to Monday someone had come in and helped themselves. From other box I wouldn't have missed a few but from the order box it was obvious. When we open the gates and invite people in and tell them we are happy for them to call in if we are home we have to expect them to show up but we'd like a call first to organise a time to come. Anyway if they come now they'll be locked out.
Shirley I also have 2 clones of Aztec gold .... one is more of a recurvate shape and the other is more open and flat like yours. I like them both as they are so different. I think I got one from Nev and other from Jen. one is flowering right now and has that nice orange flush. Mine are growing together in the morning sun and both are same colours just different shapes.
Hi to everyone I haven't acknowledged individually. I have been reading posts about things on previous link so will have to find time to read back postings I think especially the stabbing from Tash and the spider LOL.
Time for bed now so I'll say goodnight and catch up again tomorrow night.
pic 1 is seedlings of neo aussie dream f2 showing some white patching. it's been suggested it could be from fertilizing. there's about 6-8 of them like this out of a whole tray.
Pic 2 is what most of our hot gossip f2 seedlings are like with that nice red centre but pic 3 is one looking like a variegated hot gossip. it is showing more colour as it grows. Jen was first to notice the variegation and I had to look very closely to see what she was seeing but now it is obvious.
pic 4 is one of yours Nev watsonia wonder. there's 3 in the batch with variegation so I'm excited to see them grow.
Night now. Wendy
Hi Everyone!
Quick thread as I am in a mad rush this morning.
Hi Cody yeah the weeks always real busy for us and it sometimes ends up creeping over into our weekend which leaves not a lot of time for kicking back and relaxing so we really have to organise ourselves best we can and not over book ourselves with visitors or going out too long. Sundays are a day of rest for us normally but of late they have been consumed with things we need to do which is a bit of a bugger, like this Sunday we have visitors all afternoon. Anyway I hope you and Alex feel better real soon xxoo.
Hi Bree nice pics, especially liked the centre colouring up on your Neo’ ‘Ring Leader’ and your Neo’ ‘Fairytale’ is lovely; I like its wide leaves.
Hi Nev yes hasn’t the weather been great!!! Wow Nev sounds like you are going to be real busy with the up and coming show, I am sure it will turn out fantastic especially with you being so heavily involved.
Nev thanks for the advice on spiders, I welcome them in our garden just don’t like them hatching all their thousands of little babies inside our house he he.
Nev nice pics of your friends Dendrobiums, they are truly beautiful. I had a good laugh at Pic 5, not something you see every day, must have been real thirsty as you say LOL.
Nev we use Cinnamon on Joe’s orchids when we cut old flowers off orchids like Bree does. I tried cinnamon treatment on a vriesea pup without success as it was too far gone by this stage. Recently I did the same with another vriesea used cinnamon then decided I needed to soak it in Mancazeb fungicide overnight, then I let it try out for a day and potted it up the next day and it is still alive and it’s leaves are sitting proud so hopefully it survives, time will tell.
Hi Ian great look forward to doing a swap with you with our Quesnelia’s at some stage, like you say no hurry. Nice pics Ian, Wow that seed pod did explode he he.
Hi Topicbreeze, the Wallabies can’t get to me broms here thankfully, I hope you don’t have any more issues with yours getting destroyed.
Hi Wendy fantastic to hear from you, sorry to hear you have had broms stolen, it makes me sick to the stomach how people can be in this world. Great pics also, seedlings are doing well.
Anyway I must head as have an early start this morning.
No pics again sorry, in a bit of a rush!
Hi to anyone else looking in or on the sick list.
Take Care and Happy Gardening!
Trish
Hi All – Well another new day and closer to our show and the mountain of work I haven't yet finished just seems to be getting higher. The lady who does our display came yesterday morning and selected some plants for her display. Fortunately all I have to do is tidy them up a bit and put them in boxes ready for her to pick up and that will be my little contribution.
Today I hope to get all of the sales plants boxed up and ready for transport and then see if I can find a couple of plants worth exhibiting. Every time I see one I think might be worth putting in, when I look closer I find a bit of cold damage on a leaf and it’s always in a place where you can't remove it without it being obvious.
Cody – Pleased to hear you've been to the doctor and got some antibiotics; at least that should hold things until you can get to the dentist. I don't think there's anything worse than a toothache or an earache, they just make you feel so miserable, and that’s why it's important to do something about them straight away.
Breeindy – Whenever we cut off flower spikes we used “Flowers of Sulphur” on the cut and that seemed to dry it up pretty quick and hold off any fungus problems. It a great product made from natural ingredients and has many uses. See some of the uses for it at the following site:
http://www.prlog.org/11821582-what-is-flowers-of-sulphur-sulfur-powder.html
It’s a long time since I grew orchids and no doubt things have changed a lot and probably so have the fungus treatments, but I know for a fact that this one worked for us.
I like your pic of Neo.'Fairy Tale’; it's a very popular Neo. down here, as it’s easy to grow and very easy on the eyes.
Ian – Gee Ian it sounds like you’ve almost cooked your Ae. ‘Chianti’; I’ve always grown mine in the shade even though I was once told by a bloke (who fancies himself as an expert) that they would never flower without plenty of light. Mine flower every year without fail so I guess I must have done something wrong Ha! Ha!
I like what you said about your teeth Ian, fortunately I still have all my own teeth (except four) which is a bit surprising because as a kid I hated the dentist as he had one of those old drills that was operated on a system similar to the old treadle sewing machines which he operated with his foot. The school dentist who came around annually had the same set-up and this convinced me that was how it was done. To get around the pain of the drill (no local anaesthetic in those days) which often got jammed due to the low speed, on four occasions when I needed a filling in a back tooth I told the dentist that Dad said not to fill it but pull it out. (This wasn’t uncommon in those times when money was very tight as extractions were ¼ the price of fillings). I got away with this on four different occasions until Mum “smelt a rat” and asked the dentist why my teeth couldn’t be filled and that was the end of the section for me and from then on it was fillings. (There are still four gaps between my back molars to support what I’m saying). Incidentally I heard on the news the other night that the incidence of tooth decay in children has risen dramatically over the past ten years and the culprit is, that kids are now drinking bottled water and not the fluoride treated water in our drinking water supplies
There’s still heaps of seed there on your Til. juncea Ian – I tried growing Tillie seed once but it’s far too slow for me and I don’t think I’d be around to see the results.
Tropicbreeze - I don’t seem to remember seeing you here before, so a big welcome to our little friendly forum and I hope you keep visiting and taking part in our discussions. The name “Tropicbreeze” seems to ring a bell with me and I get the feeling our paths have crossed before. Did you ever post on the old Garden Web Bromeliad Forums or the Bromeliad and Air Plant Forum? The name somehow seems familiar.
Anyway to answer your question, from what I’ve learned from various posts on different brom forums, Wallabies, Kangaroos, Deer, Cows, Goats, Sheep, Possums, Bush Rats and even dogs have all been known to eat brom’s. It is thought that the smell of the decaying matter in the centre of the plant attracts some of these animals and the others are just attracted by the green leaves. All I can suggest is that you keep your plants somewhere (wallaby proof). As for the one they ate; put it somewhere safe and if not too far gone it will possible throw a few pups as Bill. Nutans is one of the more resilient brom’s and a great survivor. I’ve even seen a large clump near a disused farmhouse where the cows have eaten and trampled them, and the following year they were all growing again from new pups, so don’t write it off just yet.
Wendy – I felt sure you’d deserted us for Face Book as you haven’t posted for so long, I hope you and Johnny are both well and everything is growing well for you.
Unfortunately, unlike you I can’t lock the front gates as we don’t have any. When I first moved here, a group of us decided to do away with our front fences as it made the yards look less closed in and gave the impression of space. It’s just during the last few years that we seem to be getting more and more “riff raff” since all of the new subdivisions opened up. Unfortunately I’ve got to the age where I’m not going to put up a fence after forty years without one, so the plants just have to take their chances.
I’m pleased to hear you got a nice one out of the Thunderbird crosses, they have been a bit variable but mostly in those red shades with the glistening centres.
Was the Neo.’Watsonia’ crossed with another plant or itself? That’s not a registered name by the way, it’s just a name a friend called it when we thought we might register it somewhere down the track, (still might in fact). Watsonia was from a crossing I made using my Neo.’Painted Lady’ (variegated sport) as the pollen parent and it’s interesting to see it’s passed on the variegation to a couple of its babies. You will possibly find though that they are painfully slow growing as a lot of the others were.
Trish – Work, work, work; I’ll bet the thought of early retirement has often crossed your mind.
With your treatment using the Cinnamon on the Vriesea pup you’ll never know now whether it was the Cinnamon or the Mancazeb fungicide that cured (or dare I say killed) your pup. Often when you mix two different forms of fungicides or insecticides together you finish up with a product that’s toxic to plants; just like some medications must never be taken with others. All I can say is “good luck” I hope it works for you. On the “upside”, you may have just discovered a successful new treatment formula for rot in brom’s.
To finish with today are just a few plants now coming into colour in the garden -Pic.1 is Ae.Recurvata var. Recurvata, Pic.2 is Ae.'Recurvata Benrathii 'Inky', Pic.3 is Orthophytum Saxicola, Pic.4 is x Neophytum 'Ralph Davis' just starting to colour and Pic.5 is Ae. Recurvata Benrathii (dark form)
All the best, Nev.
Hi Everyone,
oh no... I am getting worried, everyone is running around stabbing their broms, lol. Sorry broms... it's not my fault!!! ha ha.
Thanks for the offer Sue, I have put up a "wanted" add on FB for Down's Autumn... but no luck what so ever so far. I knew it wasn't common, but I didn't think it was this uncommon, seeesshhhh. LOL.
Don't even go there about the huntsmen's at your place Sue, lol, I have had enough of the huntsmen memories, lol. Mind you I remember as a kid, my brother and I riding bikes in PNGand him coming out of the bushes on his push bike that we just rode through with this huge bird spider wrapped around his head. Ewwwwwww. Not that biggest body really, but the longest legs.
Ian I have talked via messages with Chester on the whole 'punching' process and he says he is not specific with it, as it, so long as the centre is destroyed the job is done. He said he just hammers the re bar in, sometimes it's only far enough to wreck the centre, but he said other times the bar has gone right through the centre of the plant and out into the pot or ground. He said either way, he's never lost one to rot, although sometimes it hasn't been successful, talking about alc's specifically that some just don't pup. For example things like Silver Plum don't pup after flowering, nor do the hair pup, nor do they pup if you punch them. So some of his new variegates have been like that, have not pupped no matter what he did. But yes like you say some he really sinks that re bar into.
It will be interesting to see what you find out about this contraceptive pill, but alas I can't help with obtaining it either. Plus there are lots of different sorts ??? Interesting though.
Trish I was laughing literally out loud about your phone book comment and the possibility of holes in the walls with all them baby huntsmen, seriously.... I think I would of just sat bolted and say outside refusing to re-enter the premises... and sleep... ha... I don't think I would of slept for a week worrying where they went. It's funny we have so many geckos up here in the north inside our houses, they are normal, walk on the ceilings etc, and we think nothing of them. I had a friend come up from Canberra years ago who was just petrified of them, she was so freaked out, had never seen them before and was just paranoid they would fall on her in her sleep. Funny how what's normal to someone is completely scary to someone else.
Thanks about the info you have found on the "punching" Nev, I have looked into it quite a lot, but will still be interested to see what you find as well :) Yes Jack's Vr The Dreamtime Grex is amazing!!!! He really is such an amazing hybridizer and we are lucky to have him here in Aus.
The cinnamon thing was one of them things that came from Jack, he swears by it. I use both, Mancozeb and cinnamon, but for different things. I use mancozeb often on the wound left on the mother plant from a pup removal, particularly on Vrieseas where part of the mother is often taken, and I use cinnamon if I find any cup rot type scenarios and have found it worked everytime, unless it was too far gone and then nothing works. Like the other month, I was flushing all the cups in the brom house and noticed the centre of a vriesea float..ohhh ohhhh. Stopped the hose and rushed the Vr straight out and away from everything, tipped it out, pulled out the lose leaves and put it under cover to dry on it's side(slightly downhill) an hour or two later I checked it, dry, stood it back up and tipped half teaspoon or so of cinnamon into it. It's now over in the old mum's brom house starting to pup. I mean of course it's not going to fix a missing centre, but always seems to fix the rot that's going on. I had some funny rotton type leaves the other day on the outside of one, so I painted some mancozeb onto it with a small paint brush and it worked well. Other people say cinnamon is useless, myself, I find it works.
I can sympathize with all the tooth ache stories too, I have just finnished having just under $3000 or dental work done, finished on Friday just gone, but still have some aches going on, not sure what they are. I had to have two root canals done and a couple of other fillings too. A couple of them were quite deep and he warned that they may not settle and then may require root canal as well! Seeesshhh. Here's hoping the settle. all in all, so much better than they were. I remember before I went I was literally eating pain killers and crying at night as the pain was so bad. I hate dentists and avoid going, but had to in the end, and should of just gone straight away. I just can't understand why it's not part of Medicare!
Ian I hope you can find the patches at a good price, perhaps online? Or someone can buy them from Woolies and send them to you?? Good on you for trying, I am not a smoker, but I understand that nicotine is so addictive, so just giving up and throwing them away is far far harder than it seems. So I am all for whatever helps make the process easier to get to your goal :)
Hi Tropicbreeze, we don't have wallabies in our yard, so can't help there, I hope they leave yours alone though.
Nice to see you back Wendy, but not happy to hear of the theft you are having, not good at all. Nice seedling pics and isn't that cool about the variegated ones :)
Well it's another awfully wet windy day here, so I hope someone down south has the nice sunny weather today :) I hope our seedlings are coping with it all.
Here is a pic of a Neo we got the other day, I put it on FB to ask about the ID, thanks for the comment Nev. I am just not sure about the pic in the BCR. Ours is called Neo 'A Perfect Score' and if you read the info in the BCR, it states that there were two plants of 'A Perfect Ten' grown on by Pat Coutts, given to her by the hybridizer, but that obviously once the hybridizer gave the BCR a photo of 'A Perfect Ten' that it was realised that one of Pat's ones, was significantly different to the hybridizers photo of A Perfect Ten, so it was given it's own name ... A Perfect Score.
I am wondering, like Nev said on FB, if mine is in fact 'A Perfect Ten' not Score. Anyway here is the photo, Cheers Tash
Hi to all!!
Hi Bree,i still have my wisdom teeth.I hope i never have to have a root canal.Oh i am sure your mouth does hurt if you had one of them.Love your pic!!!Take care!!!
Ian,you have me on the floor rolling when you said you keep your teeth in your glass,instead of being in your mouth.At lease you don't have to worry about another tooth ache.My Doctor also give me something for pain.The only way i will take them is if i can't stand the pain no more.Thanks for the hug,smile and wave.I am sending you a hug,smile and waving back too.Love your pics!!!Take care!!!Have a good one as well!!!
Cody
Hi Wendy,Love your pics!!Take care!!
Hi Trish,wow that is alot.I hope you are able to find time to get some rest soon.Thanks Trish,i hope we will too.Alex is feeling better.He didn't have not fever so he went to school today.Thanks!!!!Take care!!!xxoo
Nev,thanks i am too.My ear was hurting because of the infection and you talk about hurting.Love your pics!!!Take care!!!
Cody
This message was edited Sep 3, 2013 9:34 PM
Hi Everyone!
Its windy here today!!!
Hi Nev I hope you managed to get all the sale plants boxed up for the show, I am sure you have had a very exhausting day today but would have enjoyed it never the less because like all of us you are passionate about broms and the way you grow them so I am sure the show will be a big success.
Nev the ID of the brom you asked about the other day in I think it was my Pic 2 was Neo ‘Sweet Dreams’. Nev nice pics of your broms coming into flower, your pics got mixed up but never the less they are lovely, I particularly liked Ae. ‘Inky’ because it is just that little bit different.
Nev thanks we will have to try that ‘Flower of Sulphur’ when we cut off flower spikes. I have printed off the link article you kindly provided to read as well as so Joe can have a read of it when he gets home tonight.
Nev too right about increased tooth decay in kids because they drink bottled water instead of fluoride treated water in our drinking water supplies. A good majority of our friends with kids only give them bottled water but we have converted some the other way because of this and even the adults are now drinking it with them, as well as saving money for the household both dental and water bottle buying.
Nev yes early retirement has always crossed our minds as well as winning the lotto he he but it isn’t going to happen anytime soon unfortunately. Lucky that Joe and I work really good as a team and if I am busy doing bookwork after I come home from my day job he gets dinner on, feeds the dogs and might do load of washing etc. I try only to do 1hr every evening depending on how I feel but it really chews into your evening when you go to bed early to get up early every day, hence why I crave for the weekends to come along because by then we both really need time out to spend time together and with our broms/orchids.
Nev the Vriesea that lived was the one that I used both Cinnamon and Mancozeb fungicide on. The one that died was the one I just used Cinnamon only on.
Hi Tropicbreeze sorry I forgot to welcome you when I wrote to you and everyone else this morning, I was in a bit of a rush to get to work. Anyway a Big Welcome to you and hope to see you posting on this forum again, it’s a great group of friendly people here to get to know and who are more than happy to help with any questions you may have.
Hi Tash too funny who else is stabbing their broms aside from you, I must have missed that post LOL.
Tash pleased to hear you got a good laugh about the telephone throwing technique of yours with spiders. I totally laughed back at you about what you said about Geckos and your friend who visited from Canberra being petrified of them that they would fall on her when she slept. They can fall on you when you are sleeping because it happened to my friend who was up visiting from Victoria (now lives in Brisbane) and she nearly herself with fright and screamed so loud and could not understand how we don’t mind them being in the house LOL. Like you say we are totally used to them being around and the odd one or two being indoors. We have one that luv’s to live in our living room and it looks like it watches TV because it always faces that way in the same spot over a picture frame.
Tash great to read what you had to say about Cinnamon and Mancozeb as I have only had a couple of cases of rot in my Vriesea’s, usually with pups that have just come in the mail that I have only had say a week that get hit with rot. I have not experienced this with a mature Vriesea as of yet (cross my fingers).
Tash we too are experiencing strong winds and there is crap getting blown into our garden from the big paperbark trees in the wetlands behind us, aside from a few pots getting blown over. A couple of my big broms in the pool area got smashed with a large dry palm seed pod branch that fell, but it is only leaf damage so they should come back hopefully in a couple of months.
Tash nice Neo’ NOID pic you posted, I have no idea what its name is but it is gorgeous, good luck with finding out.
Hi Ian good luck with finding a cheaper alternative for your nicotine patches, I have a friend who is trying to quit so I will have to ask her how she is going about it as I am sure she was using nicotine patches and would look at all avenues to cut costs down, I just hope she has not taken up smoking again as I know she was finding it hard to quit the last time I saw her.
Hi Cody great to hear Alex is feeling much better and is back at school, hope you are on the mend too. Getting closer to the weekend which we are pleased about as a sleep in would be nice for a change instead of always rushing around. Oh I just remembered we have to Vote this weekend so it won’t be much of a sleep in for us on Saturday, maybe Sunday? Take Care.
Anyway time to put the kettle on.
Hi to anyone else looking in or on the sick list.
Take Care and Happy Gardening!
Trish
Pic1 to 5 – Random garden pics
Hi to all!!!
Hi Trish,yeah he still has a stuffy nose on and off,but he is better to go to school.Thanks!! I hope you will be able to get your day to sleep in soon.Sounds like you could use it.Alex went back to sleep on te couch after he ate his cereal.Love your pics!!!Take care!!!
Cody
Hi everyone,
geeez, miss a day or two and you get sooo far behind in the posts.
Ian, you scored well at Woolies. I checked our local store out and they had similar guzzies and flowering vrieseas but still priced at $12.98 each. I don’t have a single guzmania in flower this year. What a shame your vriesea got so burned, at least the middle leaves aren’t too bad.
Nev, lucky you with your stash of Bunnings vouchers, we never seem to leave there without spending a small fortune.
Nev, you mention you used Flowers of Sulphur … I have tried to buy it but haven’t found any place that stocks it.
Trish, I am always attracted to the broms with nice, wide leaves, both neos and vrieseas. Love the pics of your gardens.
Tropicbreeze, welcome to the forum … hope the wallabies don’t get any more of your broms.
Sue, I have found the Ae Aztec Gold in the first pic to be stable. Good luck with your neo Downs Autumn.
Tash, love your vriesea pics. I will add an Ae Aztec Gold pup to your wish list.
Cody, hope both you and Alex are feeling better now.
Bree, love your neo Fairy tale.
Wendy, it’s great to see you back posting. Hope you and Johnny and the rest of the family are well. Your seedlings look good, I especially like the one in the second pic, neo hot gossip f2.
Pic 1 – neo de Rolf, pic 2 – neo Dyn-o-mite, pic 3 – neo Marble Throat, pic 4 – neo Goldilocks
Bye for now, Shirley
Hi everyone – I think the time is right to ask what's become of some of our past regulars, Jen and Colleen in particular. There are others but the old memory fails me when I try to think of their names. I know Colleen had hurt her back and there was another lady with multiple medical problems and another who was going to be re-located with the new Govt. public housing scheme. Does anyone know if they are OK or are they on the sick list. If they are on the sick list, get well soon so we can look forward to seeing you back here posting again.
Tash – Gee I think it would be great to have Geckos in the house; and just imagine them walking across the ceiling; free entertainment.
I only tried the stabbing thing once and must have done it at the wrong time of the year because the plant rotted and didn't produce any pups either. Fortunately it was a plant I had heap of and it didn't matter. Now that I know a bit more about it I might try it again once the show is out of the way as I have a couple of plants which just sit there doing nothing and have done for some time so it will be a case of "shape up or ship out"!
Tash I emailed you that info on stabbing and it was sent by two different methods. When I saved it to PDF there was a facility on the screen where you could send it to an email address which I used. Not being very trustworthy of things I'm not familiar with, I emailed it the usual way also so if you could let me know which way you got it I'll know what to do in the future.
Cody – Don't worry too much about Root Canal Therapy if you ever have to require it; I've had it a few times now and it's no big deal really. I think on the four occasions I had it I only had to have a local injection the once. It's just the noise of the tiny file going backwards and forwards that's a little off putting, but apart from that, the worse bit is the bill you have to pay when it's finished, but then my medical fund pays for it anyway. We did have a Govt. scheme where people with chronic illnesses could go on a system called a “Plan”. This had to be approved first by your GP to verify you had a chronic illness and from there on it was all free, but of course our Govt. soon decided it cost too much and stopped it didn't they? They said the plan was being “revised” and not cancelled, and would be re-introduced for children with chronic illnesses within six months and “maybe” two years later, for adults. (Thanks Julia, we're still waiting for it to start)
Trish – Windy heh? Don't talk to me about wind after it blew all the plants of one of my benches last month. I had earmarked a few plants for the show and had them on a separate bench in an area with the beige shade cloth so I could maintain their colour and of course just when it was all going well, along came the westerlies and blew them off the bench. Why is it when you get a broken leaf in situations like this, it's always in an area where you can't remove the leaf without making it obvious? “Murphy's Law” I guess.
Trish, if the Vriesea pups that have been hit with rot were ones you bought in and you only had them for a week, I think it's a pretty safe bet to say the rot was already in them when you got them. It may not have been evident, but rot does take time to progress and I don't think it could happen that quickly if it was caused by your conditions. Buyer Beware!
I like the garden shots of your brom's, especially the plant lower right in pic 3 and again at lower left in pic 4; what's it's name?
Shirley – We've also had a batch of these Vrieseas and Guzzies come into our local Bunnings they're similar size to what Ian posted but they're not $12.98, they're $24.98. How's that for a profit margin?
Re. the Flowers of Sulphur, I'm talking about fifty years ago; we used to buy it at the chemists in those days and I remember it wasn't expensive though. These days I think you would have a lot more places you could get it, even on line.
I just Googled it and found it on eBay for $3.77 per 100gm. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Flowers-of-Sulphur-100g-/370091717124
They're great pic's you've posted, I especially like that clone of Neo 'Marble Throat', it's a beauty. Neo.'Goldilocks' is a bit of a surprise as I never knew it was a form of Neo. cruenta and was grown from seed ?wild collected. It's certainly a beautiful “squeaky clean” plant. Read about its history at: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=4648#4648
Time to go again and today there's a few more random pic's I took in the garden the other day. Pic.1 is Ae.'Shelldancer', Pic.2 is a Skotak hybrid with no name. Pic.3 is another of my own hybrids flowering for the first time Neo.'Gold Fever' x 'Barbarian'. Pic.4 is one of the smaller types,. Neo.'Stairway' and to finish I have chosen the brilliant yellow flowers of that old reliable species, Aechmea caudata.
All the best Nev.
Hi Nev,i just hope it never comes down to a root canal.When i go to the dentist i have to pay that i can't really afford.I don't have dental Ins.I am going to the dentist Friday morning to see what is going on.If it comes down to it i will just get them to yank the tooth out.Tell you the truth,i wish i had false teeth.It beats having tooth aches anyday.Love your pics!!!Take care!!!
Alex is blessed,he has Ins.through this dad and he is on Medicaid through me.He goes to the Dentist every six months for checkups.He doesn't like it either,because he had to have baby teeth pulled.
Cody
This message was edited Sep 4, 2013 5:57 PM
This message was edited Sep 4, 2013 6:22 PM
Hello everyone. I have been only able to access DG a few times over the last few days.
Something happened to make the computer slow to load then it wouldnt let me into DG or eBay.
Kept saying the page wouldnt load.
Now it seems to be going okay except that I cannot get in to DG in the usual way.
I have to go in through the back door , so to speak. I just cannot access the home page.
Typical of computers. They please themselves about what they will let you do..
Its raining today so I am not getting anything done outside.
It has been a lovely week up to now.
I finished the new shade area for the broms and it does look nice.
I am slowly moving broms around to see what likes more light and what prefers less.
I counted the broms as I was moving them.
I am shocked to say there are 330 of them. Where did they all come from ....lol
I am sitting here feeling annoyed as I have my annual dose of September hayfever/cold type thingy.
I never get colds as such but every September I get a few days of a croaky throat followed by a few days of my nose running . Silly nose, runs only on one side then changes over.
At least I know it will all be gone over the weekend. . Happens every year and hubby thinks its funny.
Now when he gets a real cold, thats different .. Ladies , you all know what I mean, Sorry Nev & Ian, but its true.... man colds are awful, especially for the ladies who have to look after the poor men.
I have read all the posts but wont reply individually as I forget half of what I read.
I have a few pics of the new brom area. They are a bit dull as its raining .
I am hoping to see a lot more color as the weather warms.
The morning sun shines in from where I am standing to take pics, so they can enjoy that and are under the beige shadecloth for the rest of the day.
pics 1..2..&3 are of the new area.
pic 4 is the bottom corner which is quite shady and I am wondering what to put here.
pic 5 is the last of my orchids to flower. This one was the first I ever bought back in about 1998. It was in flower then and has never flowered since, Now it has 2 lovely spikes of flowers.
It is Yamba 'Nancy Shaw' x 'Tangerine Aileene'
Jean.
Hi Everyone,
well it's blowing here again today but not as much wet stuff, I actually went back out and turned the irrigation back on this morning, it's came on, did it's first water for the day, then 10 mins afterwards... it rained! Pfftttt. oh well, now it's sunshine again???? Seems it can't make its mind up today.
You must be getting the same strong winds as us Trish, really windy here still today. Love your garden pics. Oh and don't ask about the stabbing of broms... I think Sue, Nev, Ian... anyone else.. are all now contemplating it.... not my fault. LOL
Thanks Shirley for adding me to the list for an Aztec gold of yours, it's really nice. I love your photos too, De Rolf always looks good I find, and our Goldilocks is looking really good at the moment too, as is our Jaline, and Dyn-O-Mite is only a reasonably new one for us, but it's such a nice one, can't wait for it to clump.
Nev, thanks heaps for that email, I only got the email you sent, not the other one, so i'm glad you didn't just trust the Adobe option of sending it to me. It was an interesting read, thank you.
cody you might have to get into the dentist, when I went in, he told me... if you tap the side of your tooth and it doesn't hurt, it's not too bad, if you tap the wall of the tooth, like just with your finger nail, and it's rather painful, as mine was, then it's an absese and needs attention, also means it's in the root which means extraction or root canal. The worst thing about having mine done, was not the constant trips to the dentist (as each root canal here is four separate visits) but the bill! I had 2 root canals done, I think 4 fillings on other teeth while has was at it and a scale and clean, and I just added it up, $3695!!! Lucky he let me pay it off and each visit was about a month apart, but bugger me.... the cost is just a joke.
I hope it's cheaper in the US and either way you get some much needed relief very soon.
Nev what a shame about the wind knocking your broms off the bench and damaging them, murphy's law alright, gee that fella has a bit to answer for.
oh man... just a had one of them....ohhhh nooo you didn't moments.... lost my post! I clicked on Jean's photos (all five) and then click the header part to come back and my post was gone, thank goodness for that back button, back, back, back, back, back, back.... ahhhh there was my post. Phewwwwwwww.
Jean love the new area and as for the shady bit... do things like Werauhia sanguinolenta grow in your climate? Ours love the shade (can never find a nice shady enough spot for it) and gets big to fill quite a big area. Not sure if I rememeber hearing if doesn't like the cold though??? Someone will know. Either that or some of the darker Aechmeas that like less light?
Well, I had better go, this is twice I nearly lost my post, nearly closed the browser earlier, as I have about 15 tabs open and am always between different thing, I was sitting in another tab with this half written, lucky I only minimised it and didn't close it. LOL
I can't find any interesting photos today, sorry about that, I am sure you have seen them all. We are getting some new stuff next week, yipeeeeeeeeeeee, can't wait to see what actually comes up :)
Hello to everyone I have missed and anyone just reading along :) Cheers Tash
