Bromeliads for Novices and Addicts - November 2013

Welcome to Bromeliads for Novices and Addicts November thread. New members are most welcome to join this small, friendly group and share their photos and experinces with us and learn so much from other like minded bromeliad enthusiasts.

My pic for this month is Vriesea Jungle Carpet

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1336220/#9699989

Shirley

Bravo, Shirley.
Its easy when you have done it before.
We will have to teach Nev..lol

going back outside to enjoy the sun.
Jean.

Hi everyone. 1. a noid that just keeps getting nicer with age. 2. Break of Day, a small one from Nev that has awsome colour. 3.Gladiator

Hi Everyone!

Shirley thanks heaps for starting this November thread. What a beautiful pic you added of your Vriesea 'Jungle Carpet', it's a real stunner.

Everyone, just a quick drop in tonight as we have been out most of the day and then had to go out for dinner. I did manage to sneak in a little brom time, potting up some broms and raked up some leaves so that was nice and Joe mowed the lawn so the garden looks reasonably neat and tidy. Tomorrow we have friends turning up mid morning to spend the day with us so that will be nice as we have not seen them for a very long time, I can't wait to see the expression on their face when they see all my broms he he.

Hi Nev / Shirley, you both asked about a couple of broms in some of my pics from last month, one was Neo' 'Von Cos' like Shirley guessed (good guess Shirl') and the pale looking Neo' was 'Georges Prince'.

Nev thanks for the great advice on what to possibly do with my seedlings for when I take the lids off some of the trays, I am looking forward to giving this a go given now that so many of my vriesea seedlings are touching the lids. I was not too sure if this was the right time of year to do so and it was great to hear that it is a good time of year to try this method.

Hi Jean sounds like you are keeping busy in the garden as usual and really enjoying every minute, enjoy the sunshine. The Vriesea pics you posted last month look fantastic and have great colour coming out in them.

Hi Bree your Pic 2 NOID is lovely and not one I have seen before? Great colours also in all your other broms too.

Anyway I better head off as early wakeup tomorrow as few things to do in the garden before our friends arrive that I just need to get done this weekend.

Hi to everyone else looking in or on the sick list.

Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi everyone,

Nev, glad to hear you got to spend some quality time with your broms, dividing and repotting most of the day. Where to put them … perhaps you will have to join Ian looking for a bigger place. We have the space here but not the necessary protection for them from the midday sun, though we have a couple of projects started but on hold at the moment.

Nev, I look forward to getting one of your neo Break of Day pups though I recall mine having similar colour when I got it. I have put your name against the plants you asked for in your post of Oct 31. Hope your monthly Bromeliad Society meeting went well.

Nev, how many years was it from sowing the Vr Hieroglyphica seeds to the development of the flower spike. Hope you get at least a couple of nice pups from it.

Jean, pleased you finally got a nice day, hope you get a few more. Nice vrieseas, especially Vr Blush, so pretty, and Vr Snows of Mauna Kea x Red Chestnut, great colour in your White Chestnut and Gulz too.

Bree, glad you’re still around … looking forward to seeing new pics of your broms.

Jean, I copied instructions for starting a new thread that Sue posted a while ago and always end up having to refer back to them and I still always seem to stuff it up at least once.

Trish, gee that’s a nice looking neo Georges Prince, it’s one I see quite often on eBay but one I’ve never bought but then I’ve never seen one looking as good as yours. Love the large variegated neo on the bottom right of your pic 5 too.

I took a few group shots today of the broms in both of the brom houses and also in the garden and will post some of those. I’ll probably post ‘em for the next few days.

Bye for now, Shirley

Hi everyone - Looks like a nice day today so a good day for watering, not too hot and not too cold. We had a very constructive meeting yesterday and planned for 2014 wich hopefully will be the biggest year for us yet.

I'll start off with the end of October's post by saying good day to Breeindy, it's good to see you still drop in and haven't forgotten us. They're three great pic's you've posted on the Nov. thread; I like your Neo.'Gladiator', it's very similar to one I have called 'Small World', it's just a small plant about the size of 'Break of Day'; small but nice. That's a great looking NOID in your first pic also, please keep me in mind when you have pups from it you want to swap.

Jean - You say about weeds, I doesn't seem to matter what you do they always find a way of growing. Someone once defined a weed as "any plant which is growing where it's not supposed to grow" (or words to that effect). Basically what's a weed to some is a sought after plant for others. As an example, I have a friend in America who says they pay for plants of Oxalis over there, yet here they are a curse.

Your little Ae. Nudicaulis could be 'Mary Hyde' or it could just be one of many variegated plants of Ae. Nudicaulis. I have three different ones from a quite small one up to one which is about 18" high and all just came with the name Ae. nudicaulis variegata. There are literally dozens of different Ae nudicaulis clones around; my largest one (about 30") came with the name Ae. nudicaulis 'Giant' but there is no registration for this.

Shirley - Thanks for starting a new thread for us, it won't take us so long to scroll through the posts now (for a while anyway). That Vr.'Jungle Carpet' is a nice plant to start the new thread with, great colour.

From the time I sowed my Vr. hieroglyphica seed to flowering was 13 years. This seems a lot and is a lot longer than the experts would take to grow them to flowering size but let me add it was only the first or second batch of brom seed I had ever sown and I was still "feeling my way". Also the plant I have was the "runt"of the litter as I had sold all of the others before I realised I hadn't kept one for myself. So there you have it; the worst possible case scenario and any of you growing hieroglyphica seed I'm sure could grow them much quicker than that.

I don't remember seeing Sue's instructions for starting a new web, they must have slipped under the radar. Could you please copy them and D-Mail them to me?

Nice group shots once again, great colour, and even my plants are finally starting to show a bit of colour although nothing like you folks can get up there where it's warmer.

Trish - I'm a little surprised when you say that plant we asked about is Neo. 'George's Prince' as mine is quite a bit darker in colour than yours (or has yours still got a bit of colouring up to do yet?) I have made a few crosses with mine and some are just starting to colour up now so I'll post some pic's soon.

Great colourful garden pic's once again, keep up the good work.

That's it for today and again I've been lazy and not taken any new pic's so once again we have to "re-live my past" with some old file pic's. Pic's 1 and 2 are Neo.'Amazing Grace' (Dark Form) and (Light Form), Pic.3 is Neo. 'Citation' (USA) Pic.4 I an early crossing from my 'Painted Lady' (sport) and Pic.5 is Neo. carcharodon x concentrica,

All the best, Nev.

Nev- my Gladiator isnt a small plant, its still only a pup and already pretty big. Yes you sent me small world also, it and Break of Day would be some of my smallest broms.
Chirripo

Hello everyone.
Its cloudy here this morning with a little misty rain. Talk about a contrast to yesterdays warm sunshine.
It may improve later.
I am happy because I managed to get all the weeds with the Roundup.
Now I can watch as they die, then see all the green places I missed...lol

My greenhouse cover is finished except for me now putting some retic hose along the top inside with sprays. This will be better for watering during the hot weather as I can turn them on for a little mist on very hot days.
I have the same thing in the fern house and the plants really appreciate it.
Saves dragging a hose around too.
I use my trusty watering can for any winter watering and a small sprayer for fertlising.

Breeindy, your neo Break of Day is lovely. I must chase up mine and see how its going.

Trish, enjoy your visitors.
I cant imagine your garden ever looking untidy. You put so much work into it.
If I ever win Lotto, I am going to come and visit everyones beautiful gardens.
I love the pale pinkish brom in your first of yesterdays pics. I am sure it is one I admired before.
What is the lovely dark one in the 3rd pic. The contrast with the others is so lovely.
I am not knowledgeable enough to be able to know which brom is which as yet. I doubt I ever will be.

Shirley, your pics are so beautiful and I sit here perusing them closely. What are the two pinks on the bottom left of your yesterdays pic 3 ?
Also what are the 3 lovelies at the back of pic 4 , especially the orange toned one ?
I like the contrast of the white gravel under your brom pots.

I have a question regarding my now finished long greenhouse . The clear plastic tarps dont come all the way to the ground which leaves a nice gap of about 10" around the back half where the old plastic cover had completely disintegrated from the embedded mesh.
The front half still has the old plastic/mesh cover so no air movement in there, but the end door is open.
Will the air movement from the open door and the gaps in the back half be enough for the broms.?.
They have survived in the closed greenhouse for a few years now , so I am hoping they will be okay. . I will have those sprays up inside the roof for the summer.

The sun is coming out again here, so I am off to fertilise the rest of the broms before the rain decides to return.
Hello to Ian, Sue and anyone else.

Like Nev, I have to add a couple of old pics . I must get new ones.

pic 1... this bill has very large bright buds , a noid from a local market

pic 2.. a noid neo also from the market

pic 3 ...another noid which just had the name regulioides stuck in it at the same market

Enjoy your gardens and take care.

Jean.

Hi all I am having whoops and whoops of fun here. We had some rain on Friday morning and I got wet before going to work and dried out at work. The rain was welcome and we finished the job on hand.I have spent most of my free time working with my broms. I am removing all dead leaves as there is evidence of rot forming in the lower leaves. This could be because I have been overwatering a bit during the last few weeks. Otherwise they look good. I missed a chance to cross Maya with Razzberry Ripple as the flowers closed too early for me. I will keep looking on weekends, something may turn up.
As for looking for real estate this is on the cards as this town is unaffordable unless one is on miners income, which I am not. A relocation may be probable in the next year or two.
Bree Nice plants, I especially like your NOID in Pic 1 and Break of Day is stunning too.
Trish Nice plants.
Shirley nice plants.
Nev you show nice plants too.
Jean I like your plants too.
My concentration level is not as it ought to be.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Ae pubescens with tiny pink flowers
Pic 2 Neo Spectabilis variegated self growing seedlings.
Pic 3 Bil Halleujah yesterday.
Pic 4 Ae Chiante Jean flowering.
Pic 5 Salvaged seedlings still going strong.

Hi Everyone!

We spent a nice day with our friends that we had not seen in a long while and I sent them home with 3 x boxes of broms which they were wrapped about as they do not have much colour in their garden as they grow mainly palm trees for a bit of shade. I am happy also as it freed up some spots here and there in our garden making room for more broms that I have been looking at moving into better light to hopefully achieve better colour in them.

Hi Shirley thanks for your kind comments about my Neo’ ‘Georges Prince’, I have this one growing out in the back bromeliad garden bed under 70% shade cloth curtain and it is clearly loving it there. I know it is not the true colour to achieve in ‘Georges Price’ but I prefer it better when it gets this overall ‘soft lilac’ colour.

Shirley, from my thread 2/11 the large variegated bromeliad you asked about (bottom right hand corner of Pic 5) is Neo’ ‘Tim’.

Shirley your group broms shots are breathtakingly gorgeous. What is the Neo’ brom top right apricot Neo’ in Pic 4 thanks, I really like this one?

Hi Nev pleased to hear you had a constructive monthly bromeliad society meeting and planned ahead for 2014.

Nev like I explain to Shirley above, my Neo’ Georges Prince’ is growing outdoors under 70% shade cloth. I am sure it would colour up way more to its true colour if I moved it into a lot more light but I prefer the ‘soft lilac’ colour it is at the moment so will probably leave it in that possie for now. It would be great to see pics of your one’s colouring up when you get a chance.

Nev those are fantastic pics of your broms. Pic 4 from your early crossing of ‘Painted Lady’ (sport) really caught my eye as its intense deep orange colour is so beautiful.

Hi Bree, hope your well - nice Chirripo!

Hi Jean pleased to hear you managed to neutralise the weeds in your garden, we too have a few to tackle in our front yard but I keep forgetting to do so every weekend because I am too busy with the broms in the back yard he he and there are only prickly broms in the front yard.

Jean thanks we enjoyed the visitors but now I feel exhausted as we normally try to unwind on Sundays but today was just full on from morning till dark but I am happy because I still got a bit done around the garden this morning because I woke up early enough to do so.

Jean thanks a great idea if you win the Lotto to visit everyone’s beautiful gardens, I will try to win the Lotto too (but not at the same time as you) so we can go together if you like LOL.

Jean thanks regarding your kind comments about our garden, I try to work really hard in it to keep it reasonably tidy by working in it most weekends and it helps waking up early during the week and spending an hour each morning in it, so at least by the weekend I have put about 5hrs into it and got a head start on tackling the bigger projects that need doing around the garden on the weekends.

Jean the dark Neo’ you asked about in Pic 3 is Neo’ ‘Black Out’ I luv this one. Jean I too sometimes forget what some of my broms are called but I am sure over time their names will be imprinted on my forehead because they will become that familiar and part of the family. Jean great pics, I luved that Bill’ in your pic one with the bright red flower, what a pretty one that is.

Hi to anyone else looking in or on the sick list.

Take Care and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi everyone,

Nev, WOW 13 years, that’s a long time to wait for a vriesea to mature. As I am still ‘feeling my way’ especially with vriesea seed, it could be a very long time before mine flower … gee, I wish I had started 20 years ago.

Jean, the brom you asked about on the extreme left in pic 3 is the Aechmea NOID which I purchased as a billbergia and which both you and Nev would love. I haven’t had a chance to organise another visit to the lady’s garden yet but I will get to it … soon I hope. The one next to it is neo Red Sand. In pic 4 at the back from the left are neos Strictly Princeps, Ring Leader and Apricot Nectar which has only recently started to get some nice dark colour.

I’m not sure about whether there will be sufficient air movement in your greenhouse, I’m sure someone else (probably Nev) will be able to answer your question.

Ian, sounds like you are feeling a little better, that’s good. Gosh, I go to so much trouble to germinate seed and care for seedlings and yours are self sowing, way to go.

Trish, love that neo Tim. Could you please add Tim to my wish list for a pup, one day in the distant future when you have a spare, thanks. The neo you asked about in pic 4 is one of the same ones Jean liked, neo Apricot Nectar.

Well, that's it for me, more group pics.

Bye, Shirley

Hi everyone - Well that weekend went quick didn't it? Now the weekly cycle starts all over and soon it will be the weekend again. I spent most of the day yesterday watering until we had some unexpected visitors which stopped everything for a couple of hours (unfortunately they weren't even brom growers either).

Breeindy - I guess with your Gladiator pic beside the Break of Day you fooled me into thinking they were of similar size; I guess I shouldn't assume should I?

I like the one in your pic today; I haven't seen that before so I had to look it up and found that it's another Skotak hybrid. Interestingly, this one has a double dose of concentrica in its breeding along with that old favourite carolinae.
Read all about it at: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=3603#3603

Jean - To answer your question about sufficient air movement for your brom's I think you have to work out what's the best solution yourself as only you know your weather and climatic conditions. Reading what you have written in past posts you seem to get a lot of cold weather and considerable rain which is very different to what I get here and even more different to that experienced by our friends further north.

I think we should never lose sight of the fact that the original species of most of the genera we now grow, originally grew on trees and would have had abundant air movement especially around the roots. Some grew in very exposed locations while others grew under the protection of tree branches which brings us to a bit of an equation which we have to decipher for our various collections. The equation is: As a general rule, they like good air movement, but not strong winds which will cause damage, they don't particularly like the excessive cold, nor do they like to be continually wet and nor do they like extreme heat.

Reading what you have written it seems like you have adequate ventilation for your conditions although I don't remember if you get very hot summers or not. If this is the case, perhaps an extra opening vent high up on the end opposite the end where you have your door (or even another door in that end) would allow you to get better air flow through during hot weather. I guess the bottom line is to "watch your plants" and they will tell you if they aren't happy with certain indicators such as burnt leaf tips, droopy leaves, bleaching, spotting etc.etc.

Ian - It's good to see you more cheerful than the last time you posted; nothing like a nice drop of rain to improve everything, ourselves included.

I wouldn't worry too much about missing the chance to cross Maya with Razzberry Ripple; there'll be other opportunities with other plants. When this happens to me I just convince myself that the cross I missed doing wouldn't have been very good anyway, that way it's less painful.

You say, "Nev you show nice plants too", well I must confess I should have looked more carefully at the pic's I posted yesterday as the colour of the plant in Pic. 4, the 'Painted Lady' (sport) crossing isn't that colour. It's more of a pale apricot colour; I guess it's a combination of a not very good photographer and of the camera lying that's made it appear that colour. I know it's possible to digitally enhance pictures but what's the purpose as you're only fooling yourself, unless of course you want to sell on sites like Ebay and make your plants out to be something they're not (and I know of one seller in particular who has been doing this for years and still people fall for it)

Nice pic's Ian and I must say your Chianti var. Jean has a much larger flower head than I can ever get on my plants, but then judging by the foliage, your plant is getting more light than mine as my foliage is darker. Unfortunately it seems like I can't grow in low light and get nice coloured foliage and great flower heads as well...... Bugger!

Trish - Don't get me wrong when you read my comments yesterday about your George's Prince'; I think the colour you have achieved is more attractive that what is accepted as the norm. I'm going to try a pup from my plant in lower light and see if I can achieve the same colour as I like it so much better than my plant's present colour.

You commented on the pic of the 'Painted Lady' (sport) crossing, what can I say except that things aren't always as they seem; read my comment to Ian above.

That's a fantastic shot of your Neo. 'Blackout' you posted on the 2nd. I don't have that plant myself but I was given some seed of a cross of Neo. 'Blackout' x 'Mandela' and now the seedlings are approaching maturity I getting a bit excited at the prospects. When I originally checked out 'Blackout' on the BCR I found it wasn't registered, but I did find another called Neo. 'Black Onyx' which is very similar and I'm now wondering if they are one and the same. Have a look at the pic at the site below and see what you think. Remember also that the pic's on this sites aren't always the best as far as accuracy goes:
http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=3199#3199

You've posted a wonderful array of colour again today and I have to ask the name of the little dark one with the red centre in pic's 4 and 5. It makes a great contrast plant.

Shirley - Don't be "put off" by what I wrote about the hieroglyphica seedlings; you must take quite a few other factors into consideration.

Initially I grew them on top of ordinary potting mix in a terra cotta pot which dried out very quickly and consequently they were often on the verge of de-hydration.

Three or four times (I just forget now) the cat knocked them off the bench and some were lost and the remainder had to be re-potted again and again and again.

They weren't protected from heavy rain and on several occasions they were washed right out of the pot.

Several times I really lost interest and didn't water them when they should have been watered leaving them in a very dry state sometimes for a couple of weeks.

Given all of the disasters they went through I'm surprised any survived at all, but it did teach me one important thing and that is they are very resilient and forgiving plants and you can treat them rough and they will still survive.

I think to get a more accurate time frame it would be better if you send Tash a D-Mail as she grows many more than my occasional attempt and besides she has friends who also grow them as well as Jack who grows them professionally and could tell much more accurately how long t takes from seed to flower.

More wonderful examples of well grown plants you've posted again today, what else can I say or do except "droooooooooooooool".

All the best, Nev.

Hi everyone, I must admit I didn’t read the end of last month’s thread, and I feel bad for it, but I have only limited time, so best I read the current and actually reply rather than read it all and be out of time to reply. So if someone addressed me or asked me something…. I have probably missed it… sorry.
Shirley great work on the new thread and love that Jungle Carpet.
Bree great photos, that Break Of Day is stunning. I don’t even know where mine is, it flowered and the mother is in the old mothers area, barely recognisable, but now I am hoping I have kept a pup?? I found another neo the other day I really like and realized I hadn’t kept a pup, lucky the mum had two nice big ones on it, so I kept them both for myself. I will have to go looking for Break Of Day later in the brom house to make sure I have kept one.
Trish and Shirley, great photos as always, gee all the photos are so nice, it’s nice to see how the colours are leaping out.
Jean, that’s great you have finished the long greenhouse, well done. Someone will be able to advise you on the air flow, it is different in different climates as I know of people down south who have fully closed brom houses and they are fine, up here it would mean certain death. Hopefully you got all the weeds, they are annoying aren’t they? I am always nervous when hubby drags out the round up, he doesn’t use it near the brom luckily, only behind the building etc.
Great photos Ian, I dream of the day we can buy a place and have space for the broms, I hope you can find something more suitable and affordable. We like living in the tropics, except I hate how hot summer is and the cyclone season, so may even end up leaving the tropics one day, as it’s also very expensive up here and buying a property feels like it will never be in our reach while living here. But who knows what will happen, why buying/owning a house has to be so expensive is just stupid. The great Aussie dream of home ownership is fast getting out of reach for many.
Nev, great photos as always. The good ol’ Vriesea seed is a slow process. I think I will have similar stories to you with our first seed attempts, neglected, dried out, not fed, left to die, saved, tipped out by kids, etc etc. We are getting better! Some of our first seed attempts, wow, I still had some of the first attempts that were still barely 5mm tall after 3 or more years, needless to say, a lot of things have been recently thrown in the bin. It’s great to learn and I will always appreciate the seed we were given that we killed, stewed, dehydrated…killed. As I learned many things from it all.
We have experimented a lot, maybe too much, but finally have what seems to be working. Plus the installation on irrigation in the seedling area has been the biggest help of all, as too often, we would be busy or caught out and things would dry out. Now that doesn’t happen often. The only thing we need to get a better program happening with is the fertiliser side of things.
As we all know seeds from each genera all grow at different rates, but just lately we have been doing some Aechmea and Hohenbergia seeds and it’s amazing how fast they move if you feed them and repot them. Very shocked and surprised. Vriesea seedlings I gather from what I am learning benefit from lots and lots of foliar feeding, regularly and more regularly than most people probably think. We are slack in the foliar fert department and need to up our game and get onto it.
I think some of the big hybridisers get them from seed to flower in about 3-4 years… I think.
Now another question…. I am keeping records to see if I can work it out, but someone will probably already know. If you get a pup off a seedling, while the seedling is still relatively young, (any genera) which will reach maturity and flower the soonest? Typically a pup can reach maturity in a couple of years, even faster with some genera, whereas a seedling may take years and years. I have a few pups that have come off seedling mothers, so trying to keep an eye on which mature first.
Well I just went out side and did a fert spray while it was on my mind and had to hose the shade cloth and broms as a dirty rotten bat must of flown over last night and left his business all over the cloth and right through onto a heap of broms! not sure if it would of hurt them, but seeing what it does to the paint on a car.... I thought it best to hose it all off.
ok photos, this is a two yr and 3 mth old seedling, grown from seed from Sue and probably my best results from vriesea seed so far. As in they are the biggest and the best looked after. I lost most of these to grass hoppers last year, only a few survived and this is the biggest. The smallest is probably 1/2 the size of this one. The tag is 125mm, so that's how tall it is.
Second photo is our Chirripo (I find it confusing with two different pics in the BCR) and personally think mine looks more like Lorena, yet it came from a reliable source. Will chase this up actually as it's bugged me many times.... time for an answer ;)
Third pic is Neo Apricot Nectar in flower, too young, but oh well
Four is Neo On Target
and Five, is one of Nev's babies! Wasn't variegated when Nev sent them up and was the only one to go variegated. Very slow to grow and have nearly lost it a few times but coming along nicely, still fairly small, a lot of growing to do yet.

Ok gotta go, hello to everyone :)

oh just a PS from my earlier post, my Neo Chirripo is in fact Neo Lorena. So I'm glad I have that solved, I wasn't worried either way, as I think it's fantastic, just wanted to get the right name on it :)

that Neo Lorena is awesome.

Hi all, another fine day and back to work again, what there is of it. We hope to get some more in in a couple of weeks. It will be our regular maintenance work on the Sugar Locos. Build up and machining of wheels. I know that I have fallen into a negative attitude lately and need to do something about it. Maybe I ought to seek the roses and smell them instead of the carrion flowers. I did nothing with my broms today.
Tash my favourite of your pics today would have to be Neo On Target. I think it is one I posted here some time ago as a NOID and it now appears that it could be what I have just hanging around in midday and afternoon sun and not looked after very well. I don't know where I got it from and it has not pupped in 2 years. Nor has it flowered. Maybe with a bit of tlc it will do better. Land is cheaper up North than around here, but this is a mining town and area.
Nev Neo Blackout has concentrica in its breeding and has those stripes in the outer leaves. I have no idea of where it came from but it is popular up here. Black Onyx is a different plant altogether having full black colouring on its outer leaves. I have both of these plants and both are getting reasonable sun. As for my hybridising I will just have to become a week-end warrior and hope for the best. I will have many opportunities when I retire from full working hours.
Shirley, I just like to show off occasionally. Actually I took some seeds from this plant and must have spilled some in the centre and they have grown. I think that I will leave them where they are out of interest and a talking point at one of our brom meetings. Most of my seedlings are raised similar to how Nev raises his and need a lot of care just like babies.
Trish it is funny how one forgets the name of a plant here and there and when looking at the name tag one wonders how they could forget that one, especially when one has lots of plants to remember Some of the growers here keep their plants alphabetically, but that is more for sales access and locating a particular plant. Mine are random and very mixed with Neos beside Vresias and next to Aechmeas and Nidulariums with a few others scattered around. Some are in the right light position and others are not. This is something that I have to work with. Nice pics.
Well it is time for bed .
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Ae Aztec Gold
Pic 2 Ae Fred
Pic 3 Ae leuddemannia
Pic 4 Ae J C Superstar
Pic 5 Ae Smithorium

Hi Everyone!

I got interrupted last night so I never got to post below that I had typed:

Just got back from our nice evening walk and now I am that relaxed I am nearly ready for bed, does not take much to tucker me out these days and even more so as the days warm up.

Hi Shirley pleased to hear you love Neo. ‘Tim’. I have popped your name down for a pup that’s if you don’t mind the wait though as I already have a couple of landscapers chasing this one and naturally I am wanting to keep a couple of pups for myself to build up stock levels as it is a fantastic one to use as a feature plant in the garden. It appears to be nearly fully mature so I am hoping (fingers crossed) that it pups for me soon and by the looks of its size and strength it should hopefully produce a good amount of pups, so I will let you know as soon as I have one available.

Shirley thanks for letting me know what that beautiful apricot looking brom was in you pic Neo. ‘Apricot Nectar’, could you also please put my name down for a pup whenever you happen to have a spare.

Shirley I luv it when you post those group pics of your broms as the colours just take my breath away, they are all so stunningly beautiful.

Hi Nev I have two plants of Neo’ ‘Georges Prince’ (possibly 3 he he) and just found that I much preferred the ‘soft lilac’ look compared to what it should look like as I found it to be a fantastic contrast when placed amongst my other colourful or dark broms. I have also done the exact same with Neo’ ‘Two Tone’ and grow it the same way as I do ‘Georges Prince’. I would luv to see a pic of how you go experimenting with your pup of ‘Georges Prince’ and hope you can achieve the exact same result. ‘Georges Price’ is always one that stops me in my tracks when I am walking around with my early cup of tea in the morning, I just can’t get enough of it.

Nev thanks pleased to hear you like my pics of Neo. ‘Black Out’ and thanks for providing the BCR link on Neo. ‘Black Onyx’. The difference that I can see between the two broms is that ‘Black Onyx’ has more of a ‘deep dark chocolate’ overall colour with yellow/green undertones, yet my ‘Black Out’ is mainly black all over with green undertones. So to me they look like two different plants? I have mine growing under 70% shade cloth. Nev I would luv to see pics of your Neo. ‘Black Out x Mandela’ when they approach maturity as I am sure the combination of those two plants put together will be awesome.

Nev the brom you asked about in Pic 4 and Pic 5 with the red centre is Neo. ‘Sam Smith’ fully mature and in flower, how is your pup going? I did notice my ‘Sam Smith’ to be a slow grower and slow to pup but the wait was very well worth it as this one is still a firm favourite of mine in the garden and I just can’t get enough of it and every time I see one for sale at the right price I can’t help but buy it. It definitely makes a great contrast plant in our garden.

Hi Tash great to hear from you as I always luv reading what you have been up to as it is both interesting and inspiring and wonderful to be able to chat with everyone and hear how their broms are doing and how they are growing them.

Tash I enjoyed reading what you had to say about growing vrieseas from seed and the trial and error process you have gone through to get to where you are now. Back in October 2012 I started the adventure of growing vrieseas from seed and then soon after neoregelias and I am really enjoying the challenge that it presents as there appears to be many elements involved in growing them successfully and I am enjoying the challenge immensely. I must have about 30 trays of seedlings growing aside from about 5 trays of seed that must have been old seed that did not germinate. I too have found that they need a lot of foliar feeding, especially the vrieseas so now feed them every week as opposed to only once a month and they are loving the extra attention.

Tash I luved all you’re pics especially Neo. ‘Lorena’, what a stunner, her leaves are so much wider than my one, mine still has a little growing to do so I hope she fattens up some more. Oh and that Neo. ‘On Target’ of yours is awesome.

Hi Bree hope your well?

Hi Ian pleased to hear you are back at work and feeling better in yourself. Ian like you wouldn’t it be great to have more time with our broms but at least we have the weekends to look forward to. Ian I too like all my broms mixed up so they are not too regimented on where I have them, I like to experiment with light if I have more of one of the same brom to see which way I prefer growing it, so I suppose my brom gardens are a bit like a canvas, I keep moving them around until I am happy with their colour and the canvas is forever changing which keeps things interesting but does make it harder when looking for a particular brom he he.
Anyway must head as got to get ready for work – blah!

Hi to anyone else looking in or on the sick list.

Take Care and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi everyone,
Well the story with Neo Lorena, is that I got hold of the seller and he confirmed it is Lorena which was sitting right beside his Chirripo and he must of just labelled the pup wrongly. So it's all good, I don't mind, just wanted to get my records straight on that one.
Ian, I love that Ae Aztec Gold, mine is a poor excuse of a thing and I must get a good chunky clone of it one day.
I have Neo Blackout too and wondered why it isn't in the BCR as so many people have it. That was the same with Neo On Target, another one that gets around faily commonly up here and all over QLD by the sounds but was not registered. I asked some questions on it to try and work out where it originated and as a result Geoff added it into the BCR since it was so well known. I see today that also Neo Jaffa, (Neo spectabilis Variegated) is now also actually registered, so I'll have to take the Neo spectabilis variegated AKA Jaffa tag out of mine, or amend it at least lol.
Trish it sounds like you are doing well with the seedlings, great work. Far better than me when I started that's for sure. We sow alot of ours without lids now, or if we do use the lids, we take them off fairly quickly. Our heat is responsible for stewing a lot of seedlings up here. Keep up the great work.
Well I had better keep moving, big hello to Bree, Theresa, Nev, Shirley, Jean, Wendy, ..... who have I missed??? Well to everyone I hope you are all well :)


This message was edited Nov 5, 2013 11:36 AM

Hi all,Just another day here and I went for a look see around my broms and fertilised my seedlings. It looks like it might rain so I am tempting it with the fertiliser, foliar as usual. While I was checking my plants I saw an orange flower spike rising out of what was supposed to be a cross between Bilbergia Rosea and Quesnelia Tim Plowman. It is obviously an Aechmea and how the seed germinated in the tray of seedlings is a mystery. Because of this origin I have called it Ae Yarn NR (not Registered) In pic 5 it is showing the second generation, 2 nice little pups, both spoken for at this time. I bought this seedling some time ago and often see the seller.I don't know if I am allowed to name a plant like this but have put it up on FB anyway.
Pic 1 shows a little bit of colouring up of Bil Pink Champagne seedling. This is the seed parent and nature did the fertilisation. Whether it is a self or from something else I have no idea.
Pic 2 Is a similar set up using Neo Bold Streak X macwilliamsii as seed parent and it is just starting to colour.
Pic 3 Is a good example of what not to do to a beautiful Neo Barbarian. It has almost dehydrated and been in too much sun

OMG, it has taken me about two weeks to catch up on the september thread and finally arrive here. Hopefully I wont get the poops with DG and will get to post a bit more often. I will keep it short tonight and just comment on a couple of things.
Neo. 'Break of Day'. Mine look like Nevs when they are young, and Shirleys when they mature. They go through a range of colours in between.
Neo pups flowering : if you have pups big enough to remove now, wait until most of the Neos have finished flowering before removing them. it wont hurt to leave them on a bit longer and once flowering is over, you can remove the pups and it should be another year before neo flowering season again, so you should get a bit of size on them. If you remove them now, before the neos have flowered, chances are there that the pup could flower early. be patient!
No pics right now, but now that I have caught up, next time I should be prepared. hello to everyone.
Sue

I got a little interrupted just before and have come back to try again, not that there is much to comment on. It is good to see Sue back again and the other regulars continuing on. I am still learning by making mistakes and by listening to others.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Bench shot
Pic 2 -4 Ae Yarn not registered
Pic 5 Ae filicaulis showing pendular flower spike.The flowers are only open for a short time in the mornings.

Hi Everyone!

Hi Tash thanks I am definitely enjoying the challenge with growing vrieseas and neoregelias from seed and look forward to the day when I really get to see the shape, detail and colour in them. It is interesting that you say you sow a lot of your seedlings without the lids right from the start. I should try experimenting different ways in growing them down the track and see what works best for me here in our nursery as at present they are all growing with their lids on but some lids need to come off now as some of the vrieseas are touching the tops of the lids.

Tash that a gorgeous group shot you posted of your broms, they look fantastic.

Hi Ian your seedlings look great and are colouring up nicely, I can’t wait for mine to get to that size where they are starting to get a bit of shape, detail and colour, then boy am I going to have my hands full. Ian hopefully your Neo. ‘Barbarian’ throws you a good amount of pups after going through all that stress; they normal do after going through a bit of a rough patch in life.

Hi Sue it’s fantastic to hear from you, thanks for the great advice on when to remove pups, I will keep this in mind with any of my flowering broms, normally I wait till the mother flower is dying before removing pups as by then the pups are of a good size and the mum is still strong enough to produce more pups once I have removed its first or second pup.

Ian your back again twice in one night that’s great. Nice bench shot pics of your broms as well as those lovely Pics 2 and 5 of your Aechmeas’.

Anyway time to head off as I have more seedlings to fertilise and I won’t have much time to do so in the morning as I have some other stuff I want to get done in the brom garden as soon as my alarm goes off.

I can’t seem to be able to attach pics tonight for some reason and I have logged out and back in on numerous occasions? I wonder if anyone else is having trouble.

Hi to anyone else looking in or on the sick list.

Take Care and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi everyone. Like sue I've been trying to catch up on all the reading. I do often pop in and read but then it's too late to respond or I'm too tired to respond.
When the conversation was happening about ADHD I was going to add that our youngest was a brat till we learned that he was allergic to the red food colouring. once we removed red things including cordial, tomato sauce. and anything else pink or red he improved so much. I'm sorry Cody took that conversation as criticism and I hope she is reading still. we have all discovered these things over the years and are sharing our own experiences with her hoping it helps.
so many lovely pics I wanted to talk about but now can't remember what I wanted to say. What I will say is I've made a list of those plants that Shirley got from me recently that Nev in particular has asked for pups of. I am preparing a box for Nev and seeing that I already have pups of those plants I will include them in Nev's next parcel. These include canefire, imperfect, medallion, Freddie and Kay Jay. Hope nobody minds that I am jumping in. Nev if there is anything else please let me know.
Tash I am so jealous of your biggest vrisea seedling. We should have them that big by now but we've just had another batch of vrisea seedlings chewed up by rats. 2 trays almost completely gone save 2 or 3 in each. that's almost 60 seedlings to a tray. and once again it was Johnny's favourites vr dad's favourite F2 and crosses, and some other vr crosses. Of course we have hieroglyphica and red chestnut seedlings of varying sizes but we've been growing those species for a while and you know what you are getting with those. it's those unusual hybrids that you don't know what you'll get that we've been waiting for but each time we get them to the stage of really taking off they get eaten.
Shirley did I give you a pup of that tillandsia NOID I got from Peter Tristram that was down the side of the seedling area?? If you got one of those pups then that's the only one now as the rats chewed them all off. now only got the mum plant and I'll have to wait for more pups to grow. see pic 1
Like Tash we also wasted a lot of seed in the learning process but now we're getting better at it. I know our seedling area is not the ideal spot as it doesn't get enough sun to warm them up properly to get maximum growth. but we don't have any other option at present.
Pic 1 s this tillandsia NOID showing all the pots of little babies that are now all gone.
Pic 2 is my little garden gnome tending his crop of ionantha which is flowering at present.
Pic 3 is my first clump of tillandsia on a log. it is getting quite impressive now when it flowers.
pic 4 is the till funkiana which is coming into flower again at present. love this one. must do some crossing of it.
pic 5 is showing how I do some of my tillandsia seeds in choir filled balls. I just put the seed in under the net and then dunk the ball in the birdbath every day. that one is gardneri which are getting quite a good size now. of the till seed I have growing there is butzii, gardneri, fasiculata large and small and every size in between, utriculate, schiediana, ionantha and probably more I can't think of right now. so will have lots to spare soon.
Will post some more tomorrow night.
PS: Nev Johnny had another of those things cut off his left temple this time. he went today just for stitches to come out of right temple but doc insisted left one couldn't wait as it had grown again so it had to come off. so he's had a bit cut from his nose and skin pulled in to stitch it up, then right temple and again skin pulled tight to stitch and now left temple. I've told him that's a full face lift now. not many wrinkles left as they've all been pulled out. hope he's all clear now.
PS again. all my tests came back as perfect except blood pressure which is a bit high and borderline for needing medication. I've been told to try regular exercise to see if that lowers the BP so I don't need to rely on meds. so all healthy apart from that.

Night all
Wendy

Hi everyone - I don't know if I'll get this finished today as I have to go to the Museum early but ILL start anyway. It's cool and overcast here this morning (5th), maybe we're going to get some of the rain that's been promised for the past three weeks, I know the garden and grass needs it.

I spent most of yesterday dead leafing and watering and in the process I found a couple of plants which I had previously misplaced and both have two nice pups so I know what my work today will start with.

Tash - To add a little bit more to what you say about irrigation; when I grew ferns I put in some of that black irrigation hose with the little micro jets and found they were great, the only thing I could never get right was how to get the water right into the corner of the benches. The mist would cover everything but the ferns in the corners didn't get as much as the others. I always promised myself I would put it in the brom shade houses as well, but I enjoy hand watering so much it never got done and now I'm too bloody old to do it anyway, Ha! Ha!

Interesting what you say about the variegated seedling not being variegated initially. I was told by the "so called experts" that any variegation in a seedling would be apparent when they were tiny and if they weren't variegated by the time they were about a centimeter high they wouldn't become variegated. You've just buggered up my day saying what you have, as I must have tossed a hundred or more of those seedlings and only kept a few that were clearly showing variegations. How many possible variegated plants have I chucked? But as you say, it's a big learning curve and the one thing I've learned is that the "big boys" don't know everything, as I've proved them wrong a few times now. As for the slow growth rate of that seedling, I think I may have mentioned to you that all of mine were very slow as well, so I don't think it's anything we're doing wrong, they're just very slow growers.

I love that plant of 'On Target' in your pic; I bought a pup of it from a woman on one of the forums once and it turned out to be nothing like the real thing. She was adamant it would get better as it got older and now at three years old it's still a "weed". She has obviously long gone and I have the "dud". So if you get a spare pup you want to swap, please keep me in mind.

That's great growth rate on your Vriesea seedling, it proves just how much they like feeding. I found that Guzmanias are also heavy feeders and one year I really pushed the fertiliser into them and they rewarded me with fantastic growth and lots of beautiful inflorescences. I guess "you reap what you sow". I was talking to a professional grower a few months ago and he said he feeds at every watering and more or less literally takes seriously the old advice of feeding "little and often". He says since he has done this his plants have never looked better.... So there's something worth thinking about also.

I'm all over the place this morning (6th) trying to catch up with the posts and I've just read your post (4th) and the interesting info about firstly Neo.'Neo Lorena' and secondly the new info about Neo. 'On Target' being added to the BCR and finally Neo spectabilis variegata now being registered as Neo. 'Jaffa'. It has an interesting history and if you would like to read about it go to: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=11771#11771

Ian - I find that if I'm feeling a bit "down", I'll take the hose in my hand and do a bit of watering and looking at the brom's; there's nothing like it for a quick "pick me up".

The comments I made about 'Blackout' and 'Black Onyx' were based on what I've seen in pic's. I've never had the chance to compare them with each other in the flesh so to speak as I've only gone off pictures on the BCR and other sources. Unfortunately a lot of pic's don't give specific sizes. I see that Black Onyx is a John Catlan creation and is listed as "medium size" which means different things to different people. As for 'Blackout' I haven't seen that listed anywhere. Ian if you have both plants, could you give us an idea of the sizes, or better still a pic of them side by side.

Looking at your interesting batch of Aechnea pic's I'm reminded that Ae. 'Aztec Gold' is another we have John Catlan to thank for, and the very interesting history of how it came about can be found on the BCR at: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=AECHMEA&id=32#32

They're two interesting seedlings in your first two pic's on (5th) and also a good example of what not to do to Neo' Barbarian'. If you haven't already done so, wack the "Seasol" into it at the dose rate for stressed plants it could pick it up. If not at least the stress it has suffered will initiate pups more quickly just give it extra fertiliser to help Mum feed them.

The plant in your last pic's is a "beaut", I saw the pic's in Face Book this morning. It will be interesting to see if in fact the flowers are Aechmea or Billbergia; either way it's a beautifully marked plant and I'll bet the waiting list for pups will be a mile long now it's been on Face book. Good onya mate, you've gotta have a winner sometimes don't you?

Ian, you say, "I have called it Ae Yarn NR (not Registered) and I don't know if I am allowed to name a plant like this but have put it up on FB anyway."Although people do this all the time for their own convenience, it's not a good idea to release pups of it carrying that name in its unregistered state, so why not register it?

I'd send the pic's to Geoff Lawn (The registrar of the BCR) along with the plant measurements and everything else you know about it's history and ask his advice. I'm sure he'll be very helpful and steer you in the right direction on how to register it. Cultivar Registrar: Geoffrey Lawn E-mail: cultivars@bsi.org .... Go for it mate.

Trish - I guess my comments about Blackout and Black Onyx were a case of me writing what I was thinking. I usually try and consider different things when comparing pic's of plants, such as the area it is grown in i.e. temperate or tropic and at what stage of its development it was photographed and probably most important of all, what amount of light it was grown under. It's difficult to get a true indication for comparison from a pic without knowing these things, but then when you start thinking, sometimes the imagination runs wild also.

Thank's for the ID on 'Sam Smith'; you ask how my pup is going; well no good,; as I don't have a pup of this plant and never have had one, but I'd love one when ever you get a spare.

Now that Tash has given out her secrets to success for growing Vriesea seed reminds me I have some excess seed of Alcantarea odorata. If anyone would like some just let me know.

Nice pic's Trish, is that a Vr. Ospinae var. gruberi I spy there in among the Neo's in your first pic?

Looking at your next post now (5th) and what you say about seed sowing is dead right with the emphasis on the word experimenting. What suits Tash or myself won't necessarily suit you as we all have different climates to work with. You can only take our advice as a guide and adapt it to suit your own conditions. Whatever you do though, I think you should remove the lids when the leaves are touching them otherwise the leaves will take a 90 degree turn, and besides it's perfectly safe to remove them at that size even down here where it's cooler than up where you are.

Sue - Like you, I've been flat out trying to catch up with the posts. Why is it that sometimes there are only one or two posts, but when you miss a day that's the time that everyone posts?

I have to agree with you about Break of Day and it's a beautiful little brom which looks good at any stage of it's growth. I've done some crosses with it as the seed parent using 'Small World' and a couple of other similar size plants, which should prove interesting.

That's all good advice about the pups, but I've found that sometimes it doesn't matter when you remove them they still sometimes flower before they are mature; I guess it's a case of the genes "spitting the dummy" or maybe "separation anxiety syndrome", Ha! Ha!

Wendy - Thanks for the offer of those extra pups; I'm sure you won't upset anyone by "queue jumping" (as you put it) as the people I've promised pups to will still get them no matter who I get the ones I'm chasing from. We'll just have to adjust our lists accordingly, and besides it's sometimes handy to have two of each plant especially down here where they aren't easily obtainable. What you will have to do Wendy is now tell me what you are chasing and I'll see if I can help you out.

Seeing you've had a lot of seedlings destroyed by rats, is there any seed you might be after as I still have a reasonable supply in the fridge waiting for a home.

You say that like the rest of us, you too wasted a lot of seed in the learning process; the thing is that seed wasn't wasted if you learned something from it. We were all feeling our way at that stage and we've all made mistakes. Let me just relate what an old Scottish carpenter told me once when I was a 15 year old apprentice and had just cut a nice piece of maple too short; he said (in a very broad Scottish accent) "Laddie, the mon who didnae make a mistake didnae make f...all", and I've always remembered that, as making mistakes is all part of learning. The thing is, don't make the same mistake twice.

I'm not a Tillandsia grower but I always admire a nice plant of Til. ionantha in flower, it's one of a few we have had given to us and grows like a weed and flowers easily every year.

Glad to hear Johnny is getting sorted out, I guess we're all paying the price for enjoying a lot of sun when we were young, ask him for me if he's going to have a "boob job" next, Ha! Ha! As for your blood pressure being border line, I've found that just when you get it right they move the goalposts and lower the recommended reading, just like they do with cholesterol guide lines, so what chances have we got of getting it right?

That's it from me today and maybe I'll get around to taking those pic's I promised tomorrow but not today, sorry.

All the best, Nev..

Hi Everyone,
Gee Ian what a twist that brom of yours has taken, looks just like out Ae chantinii’s up here that we just call Ae chantinii dark form. But you’ll have to wait for the flower like you say. We find ours are very variable depending on what light they are grown in, anything from a green, to the colour of yours, to an almost a dark pink/purple colour. We love them. Whatever yours is, it’s great.
Hey Sue, yeah I have had a few neos flower early but they were either sent to me in winter or I cut them off my own in winter. So I have some midgets in flower ha ha.
Trish like Nev says, what works for one with seeds, may not work for another. If your system is working well, my advice is stick to it. I probably experimented too much with all different advice, but it’s all a learning curve isn’t it? Getting the lids off will help that you will be able to fertilize them more and more easily.
Wendy, it’s funny what we learn about kids and diet huh? The simplest thing can make the biggest difference for one kid and none for another. I’m sorry to hear about the rats and seedlings, how disheartening. Grasshoppers are bad enough, but rats, oh no. Lots of bait!!! And maybe a change over the broms? What a shame.
Nev…yes hold off on the culling. These were some you sent me in toilet rolls, so that would remind you of the size they were when you set them, maybe about an inch, inch and half tall or a bit more. You sent me a few of this and a few of that and they were the first seedlings I received where I had to carefully separate them and pot them up. And not too deeply as you advised or they might rot. I remember it was fiddly work and being the first time, a bit daunting but exciting too. The variegation slowly appeared bit by bit, months later. A line here, a line there, bit by bit. It was slower than the rest. It was the only one of everything you sent me that variegated. It went funny at one stage and we thought it was dying, then it got burnt, and now it looking great. Poor thing has been getting a rough ride, but it’s getting there and we really like it. I’ll have to look at the cross and let you know what it is. You of course know what one parent is.
Well it’s hot here today even though it looked a bit grey earlier.
Well some photos...
Our Ae chantinii dark form, both growing mounted one in higher light.
Well that will do, have to find something interesting to put up, shown it all and repeated them too I'm sure, lol. Hope you all have a great day

Hello everyone.
Boy what a great read of all the posts. I needed a break in the middle for lunch.
I went out this morning to take a few pics so will have something to add to my post this time.

Thanks for the comments regarding the air movement in my greenhouse tunnel. I have decided not to worry about it as the brugs were living in there for quite a while and doing well before I altered it.
They will survive. I am not one to fuss over plants too much. I look after them as best i can and they seem to get on well .

I found that my large vriesea heiroglyphica x Red Chestnut is starting a bud way down in the center. I didnt see it until I moved the plant lower so I can now look down into the center.
I also found the small vriesea Lucille with a bud coming up. .
My large vr vegans has not flowered but is putting out a pup.

I can see lots of color coming int o the broms now the weather is getting warmer.

Love reading about how you all grow your seeds. I am learning but wont be doing too much as I dont have the room. My vriesea seeds are sitting on the lounge table near the window and are all coming along very nicely . The first lot of seeds I grew are from my noid neos , They are about 1cm high now.

I love all the pics, but wont go into detail for each persons pics. . I just want them all. lol

Ian , nice to see your bills. I am getting very fond of my bills and must get a few more.
I do like the stripes on your aech Yarn.
I am like Shirley and partial to stripes .

I may have to try and arrange another space to hang bills. I was going to hang some between the others and use chains to hang them lower. This will spoil the view of my broms on the ground so I will have a rethink.
I may put a steel pole up between the shadehouses . I still have room inside one shadehouse which will still give them plenty of light.

Rats, eating seedlings ugh. We ha d rats here a couple of years ago and they ate all my lilium bulbs I had stored. Buggers..

Wendy, your tills are so pretty. I just may get back into a few now the greenhouse is done. They would like it in here.

You were all chatting abut Blackout and I must admit the dark broms do look well against the bright colors of the others. I have neo Midnight , which I love.

Tash , your Chantinniis are so beautiful. My new one is looking good but I am keeping it in the greenhouse as I dont want to lose it. The first one I had was a lot smaller and died in the winter a few years ago.

Lovely to see you pop in again Sue. Your garden must be alive with color now.
Better add some pics and then go do some spraying . I need to get at the brugs before the spider mites do.

pic 1.....neo Midnight. great contrast plant.

pic 2....vr heiroglyphica x Red Chestnut...if you look closely there is a bud coming

pic 3...vr ospinae gruberi looking very beautiful

pic 4....vr Barbara

Jean.



This message was edited Nov 6, 2013 3:14 PM

A big G'day to everyone again. I'm back home again on days off. Arrived this arvo and could see there's been a lot of rain. Checking my weather station, there'd been 13.5mm on Sunday and 26.7mm on Monday. I know some places not far away got up to 150mm on Sunday. But the temps are still up, my average maximum for November so far is 39.0, and the rain had brought it down a little to that.

However, there was a package awaiting me. My broms I'd ordered through the mail had arrived. They looked a bit limp when I took them out, I just hope it's only from having been in the dark a week that's done it. This is the list of what's arrived, and I have until Sunday to get them settled in before I'm away again.

Guzmania 'Indian Night'
Guzmania 'Bernie's Gold'
Guzmania 'Kapoho Fire'
Guzmania 'Optima'
Guzmania 'Sangria'
Guzmania wittmackii
Tillandsia capitata Peach
Tillandsia fasciculata
Tillandsia krukoffiana
Tillandsia leboldiana
Tillandsia wagneriana

They didn't include any notes on culture/care so guess it'll be a matter of searching to make sure they get optimum recommended conditions, and then hoping for the best.
Cheers everyone

Hi Everyone!

It pelted down rain here this morning at about 5.30am for a good solid 30mins +. I laughed as I got up early to water my seedlings in the nursery and some other plants in the garden, then while I was sitting potting broms a squall came through along with the heavy rain and I just sat there in amazement and watched with a big smile on my face as I had not expected it plus I had really missed the rain. Anyway the wind got that strong it ripped one corner of the shade sail over our pool and into our pool so now we need to fetch it out and attach it back to the wall clip. On the news it said we got 21mm.

Hi Wendy great to hear from you, sounds like you have been keeping really busy. I once had very high blood pressure and the doctors said I would more than likely need to be on medication for life but they did say similar that exercising and losing weight could help but that if it didn’t then it was probably hereditary as my mum suffers from high blood pressure and that I would be stuck with it for life. Anyway I lost a fair bit of weight and am no longer on blood pressure medication, I don’t exercise as much as I should but I am keeping the weight off as well as still losing some by watching what I eat so I am thrilled to bits about that. I have been off my blood pressure medication for about nearly 10 years now.

Wendy great pics of all your Tills they look so wonderful when they are in flower. And I really like that coir filled ball for hanging your Tills. I have some Till seeds I collected recently, could I germinate them straight on a coir filled ball and just spritz the ball every day until they germinate and maybe use the flour and water paste helpful hint that Nev mentioned recently that his friend uses and paint this on the coir filled ball as the Till seeds would be mixed up in the flour and water paste?

Wendy sorry to hear about the rats and the seedlings, our problem is grasshoppers and you have to get up really early to catch the little buggers aside from trying to find where they are hiding.

Nev I posted you a pup of Neo’ ‘Sam Smith’, a gift from Rob Smythe back on the 18/05, so where have you got it hiding amongst your broms? I posted you another Neo on the same day so I hope you got them both as I remember you confirmed with me that you had received your parcel, anyway I hope you find ‘Sam Smith’ and wish you good luck in your search for it amongst all your other beautiful broms he he.

Nev the Vriesea you spotted in amongst the other broms is I believe Vr. ‘Tiger Tim’ the last time I checked. I ended up potting them outside as they were not doing well where I have my other vrieseas and seem to prefer the new position far better.

Nev thanks appreciate your advice in relation to taking the lids off any seedling trays where the seedlings are touching the top of the lids. I had a look at them all last night and many vrieseas are now touching the lids so it is time to take the lids off on a good majority of my seedling trays. Joe also gave me the idea of just popping the tray into a slightly larger tray with a bigger lid until I come to a decision on what I am going to do with them next. I really liked your Styrofoam idea very much so I have been madly trying to get a few more from Woolworths so I can get some ready in our nursery to sit all my trays in with the lids off but I have not got enough as of yet as some have just been too small but as soon as I have enough I am looking forward to giving your way a go as there is far less chance of them drying out as quickly this way which is what I am afraid of as I don’t want to loose any.

Hi Tash appreciate your advice also in relation to taking the lids off my seedling trays, I am getting to the point of having no choice now that a lot of the seedlings are touching the lids so I just have to bite the bullet, I think I have just been worried to because I am not around as much as I would like to be to look after my babies but if I go with Nev’s great advice using the Styrofoam boxes to sit them in then they may have a chance in still absorbing moisture and humidity with the core peat in the bottom under the trays but in more detail the way Nev explained. And yes like you say it will make it so much easier to fertilise them whenever I need to with their lids off. Tash nice brom pics, I adore the Ae. Chantinii dark form and it’s one that I am looking forward to getting down the track amongst many others on my wish list, one day as there are so many nice one’s to pick from but it’s just working out which order to put them in and I keep changing my mind on the order of precedence LOL.

Hi Jean your seedlings sound like they are doing well and it sounds like you are really enjoying growing them, now we just have to think about where to put them when they all grow up he he. Jean lovely brom pics you posted.

Hi Tropicbreeze pleased to hear your well, wow that’s a lot of Guzmania’s you got in and the names of them sound lovely. I do not have many Guzmania’s but when I do get them by post I give them a good overnight soak in water and brown sugar like Nev often mentions that he does with his broms when they come in the mail. This helps to rehydrate them and then you can pot them up like you would other broms. I tend to treat my Guzmania’s like my Vrieseas, they get a little more attention than my Neo’s and enjoy regular foliar feeding and I water them more than my Neo’s; the main thing is the mix is free draining and they don’t get soggy feet or they are prone to rot just like any other brom. I have mine growing in the nursery under 70% shade cloth as well as under shady trees where they enjoy filtered light conditions. I also like growing mine in groups in the one pot as they seem to do better this way and look far prettier when they all flower together and then it is just a matter of cutting out the old mum as she dies and the new ones will just fill the gaps.

Anyway time to put the kettle on or maybe I can talk Joe into making me one he he.

Hi to anyone else looking in or on the sick list.

Take Care and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pic 1 & 2 – Vriesea cv. that I got from a friend for my birthday that came with lots of pups

Pic 3 & 4 – Neo. ‘Kinship’. I have had this one growing in a lot of sun but have recently moved it under 70% shade so hopefully its colours improve as it was starting to loose colour but thankfully did not get burnt. I have had it in the same possie for two years so it’s a pretty tough one to have endured all that sun for two summers coming into its third summer but then I relocated it.

Hi everyone
Trish I don't use anything to stick the tillandsia seed onto the balls. the one I posted a pic of with the net around the coir, I just tuck the seed under the netting string. I have some other seed on coconut balls with no net and I just stuck the seed all over the husk and watered it. if you keep misting it the seed sticks to the damp husk and once adhered to it you can ease off on the watering a bit. it's only when it is fresh that it tends to fluff up again when it dries and if you miss a day misting it the wind can blow it away. so misting step is important to make the seed stick.

oops I hit the wrong button and sent instead of attach a pic. pic 1 is the coconut husk ball with seedlings that I mentioned in previous post.
Tash I love those chantiniis mounted on the trees. never thought to mount those. We'll have to try one up a tree. Might have to put some thought into which one to attach to. We've been talking about letting some small suckers come up in the golden canes as we want to cut down the really tall ones. they are getting too tall now for Johnny to reach the seed pods and dying branches to cut them down. he is not good up the ladder these days and finds reaching out with the cutter is too hard on his arms. so if we mount anything on the wrong palm it might be one coming out soon. LOL
Tropicbreeze your mention of getting a till kruchoffiana in the mail made me think about when we were at a friends place recently looking at his broms and he showed us a pot of kruchoffiana pups he was growing nicely. I was thinking about taking some of our grass pups off and getting them going like that when he said they were ones we'd given him so I had to think "Oh Johnny must have given him some" when we got in the car to come home I asked Johnny about it and he said he thought I must have given this guy some. Now we wonder if he helped himself when we weren't home. The kruchoffiana is just inside the entry gate out the front. I remember thinking one day that I thought some were missing. Anyway what can you do. we can't accuse him of taking them. I know I might have given him one or two but I certainly wouldn't have given up to 8 or 10 of them away. I'd strike them myself before giving that many away. So now the gate is padlocked when we leave except for time like now when we are waiting for parcels in the mail or couriers.
Pic 2 & 3 are trays of our seedlings after the rats had their feast. as you can see in one pic there is one nice fat seedling left standing.
Pic 4 is our till kruchoffiana with a flower spike forming. Must take another pic as it now has branches coming out of that spike and I love the colours on it.
Pic 5 is the first grass pup we grew on from the kruchoffiana. I got 2 to strike that first time and sold one to Aaron Smythe in north Qld or swapped him for some plants. I have smaller ones growing now but not nearly as impressive as this first pup.
Anway time for bed now so I'll say hello to everyone I didn't reply to individually and goodnight.

Wendy

Hi everyone,

Nev, I received your parcel today, lovely pups, thanks so much.

I haven’t been put off by your experience with the vriesea hieroglyphica seedlings though vrieseas do take a long time. I would like to try to grow some bills as I have been told they are much faster but I have no idea how to go about collecting bill seed.

Tash, love your pics … great colour and shape, especially neo Lorena.

Ian, it will be interesting to see how your seedlings grow in the cup of the neo but once the flower gets old and yucky they might not like it there too much. Nice pics too. Great colour in your Ae Yarn.

Trish, no problem with adding your name to the neo Apricot Nectar pup list. Sounds like your seedlings are coming along nicely.

Sue, great to hear from you again, we’ve missed your posts. It’s not surprising that my neo Break of Day looks a lot like yours since it is one that you sent me a while back, thanks. I am wondering if the neo pups that flower prematurely while they are not fully grown will produce pups that grow to normal size.

Wendy, great to see you back posting again as well. Thanks for sending the pups off to Nev, though I only have neos Canefire and Freddie on his wish list from me. I don’t have neos Imperfect, Medallion or Kay Jay myself. Two that I have been after for a while are neos Cee Bee and Razzberry Ripple, if anyone has either one for swap or sale, please.

Sorry I don’t have one of the tillandsia NOIDs you mention were eaten by rats, the one you gave me was till Mima and it’s looking good.

Wendy, glad your tests came back perfect, hope Johnny doesn’t need any more face lifts. I know when I had switches in my forehead after a small sun cancer was removed, my left eyebrow was about half an inch higher than the right for months.

Jean, your neo Midnight is nice and dark, mine must be in too much light. Your vrieseas look good too.

Tropicbreeze, sounds like you’re going to be busy potting up all your new broms before Sunday.

Wendy, perhaps you should get a cat to keep the rats away. Gee, that’s an impressive looking till in your pics 4 and 5.

I hope this all makes sense, I just noticed the time, no wonder I’m so tired, it's going on 1:00 am, Qld time.

My pics are 1 – neo Apricot Nectar, pic 2 – bill Imroposa, pic 3 – neo Bob’s Pride, pic 4 – bill Purple Ice, pic 5 – neo Carolinae (albo) x Carcharodon

Bye for now, Shirley

Hi everyone - Only a short, quick visit tody as it's Museum Day and besides my fingers are still sore from my Marathon Post yesterday trying to catch up with all the posts.

Tash - Sorry, but the culling of that cross you speak of was done long ago when I followed the advice that only the plants showing obvious variegations when tiny would remain so, and the plain ones wouldn't change. I was even told that some of the ones with variegations could revert to plain before they matured as well. I was listening to the advice from all "the experts" as it was my first time to breed any variegated plants.

When I initially sent you those small seedlings it was mainly to give you the chance to learn to handle small plants as I could see your thirst for knowledge in this area as you asked lots of questions and really got stuck into it; I don't think I've ever seen anyone so keen and I wanted to encourage you. I'm pleased I did, as you followed through in your quest for even more knowledge, and now know much more than I and now I can ask you the questions fo a change. With variegated plants from that particular cross, I have found they are all very slow growers; I don't think it's to do with our cultural methods or different climates, it's just in the plants genes.

Your Ae chantiniis are looking great, unfortunately I've never had any luck with them and every one I've ever tried (and there's been a few) just start going backwards from the time I get them,so I guess Chantinii growing just won't happen for me here in Shellharbour.

Jean - Like you I too can see the colour coming into the Neo's with the weather warming up and there's something new to see every day.

From what you say about your seed growing, you are over the hardest part now and just have to look forward to what they'll produce at maturity. I think it's a great thrill to see a plant come to maturity from seed you've sown yourself and it's only then you can truly call yourself a bromeliad grower.

Nice pic's you've posted, especially the Vr. Ospinae var gruberi which always looks great in any of its different forms.

Tropicbreeze - Pleased to hear you had a nice present awaiting your return home. I have found the best pick-me-up for plants that have been in the mail for a while is to firstly put them in a shady area and give them a good hose, then dissolve a cup of raw sugar (or white sugar will do) in a bucket of cold water and soak the whole plant in it. Give them the occasional dunking as well and make sure that the centre cup has the sugar/water mixture in it also. They can stand in this mixture all day, it won't do them any harm (I've even left badly dehydrated plants in it over night). Once you have potted them up it will help even more to give them a good dousing with Seasol at the recommended strength for "stressed plants" and a second dose in a weeks time.

You will find good basic cultural advice for most genera by googling Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies. It is written for American conditions but most of it applies to here as well. If in doubt just post any questions here and I'm sure you'll get an answer from someone.

Just for some quick brief advice, Tillandsias like bright light and good air flow and kept a little on the dry side. If the foliage loses that silvery grey colour and goes grey/green, it means they are getting too much moisture. On the other hand Guzmanias also like good airflow, but a much shadier environment and watered more frequently. They are also pretty heavy feeders as well.

Trish - I recall you saying some time back that you had a pressie for me from Rob Smythe but you didn't say what it was. However, I don't remember ever getting a Neo. 'Sam Smith' and I didn't say anything at the time as you were very busy at work and I thought you may have forgotten.

The only one I have is Neo.'Sam' and I got that from Rob Smythe's son Aaron a couple of years back. I've looked through the list of all my Neo's and definitely don't have a 'Sam Smith'. As you say I told you I received the parcel so I must have got it; the only thing I can think of is maybe the name was lost and it's in among a few NOIDS which friends have sent from time to time. I must say I was a bit puzzled the other day when you asked how my Sam Smith pup was, and now I know what you meant. Not to worry, one of these days I'll see this beautiful Neo NOID coming into colour and I'll know where it came from. The only thing I feel a bit bad about now is that I haven't thanked Rob for it, so I'll have to think how to break the news to him.

Nice pic's once again, your little Vriesea looks like one I have called Evita, it's a very good grower and reliable bloomer. I like the Neo. also especially the shape.

Wendy - great shots of the Till. Seedlings, they look fantastic, by the way, what were you drinking when you took pic 4?

As for the missing Till pups from inside your gate, it may not have been your friend who took them, it could have been someone else if they were just inside the gate and easy to access. You probably should have had the pot attached to a 240 volt live wire.

Shirley - It's not much good asking me about Bill. seed as I seem to have trouble getting many of my crosses to take, however with the ones I have got seed from, the seed is much larger and faster growing than Neo's and probably even a tad quicker than a lot of Aehmeas. Generally speaking, from what I've found, the larger the seed the quicker they grow and to this stage Acanthostachys is the quickest I've ever grown.

They're nice pic's of your Bill's; I didn't know you grew Bill's and I'd certainly be interested in pups of both of those if/when you get spares. Your Neo's are still my favourites though, especially that last one, it's a beautiful plant.

In your Pic 4, what are the wooden stakes? Are they some sort of butcher's skewer or chopstick? How long are they, they seem longer than anything I've seen around down here and just what I'm looking for to stake Bill's.

That's it for today, sorry I have to go as I'm late already,

All the best, Nev.

Hi all, I took a stroll amongst my plants and found a few plants colouring up for the first time for me. All I did after this finding was to take a few pics.
I find with my Tills that the silver coloured ones will take a lot more light and sun than the green coloured ones.Til usenoides (old mans beard) grows in full sun in Florida and hangs off the power lines to the extent that it has to be controlled with sprays. They use a copper based spray as it poison the plants as we would use roundup. Too muchb shade in silverleaf tills kill them here, I have learned from this mistake.
My seedlings seem to be doing well, especially the ones that I thought were grey-green Aechmeas. When visiting that same parent plant it had been in more light and turns out to be Ae Reubens. This was the second lot of seeds that I planted in June last year. Some of them are almost 1 foot high and are colouring up reasonably well.
Enough from me for tonight
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Neo Black Onyx on Left and Black Out on right not coloured up as yet.
Pic 2 Neo Red Claw on left and Treasure Chest.
Pic 3 Maybe Neo Blue Star
Pic 4 Neo Bakers Creek Nursery #5 with Pride of Ipswich in background.
Pic 5 Bil Ole X Pink Patches.

Tropicbreeze, your new plants sound very colourful, I know Guz Indian Night is I got mine in June and it is still flowering but is starting to show that the flower is not as fresh as it was.

Tash I like the Chantinis and there seem to be more and more variations all the time. I am experimenting with a common green with more shade trying to deepen the green colour. I will take pics every month or so just to see what happens. I also have one under the mango tree getting a lot of light.I am also doing similar things with Ae Bert.

Nev I read on another forum that one can submerge a scale ridden plant in water for 24 hours and it will kill the scale and not hurt the plant. I will have to try this method on a common scale magnet type of plant.

Hi Everyone!

One day closer to the weekend and then it’s one on one time with my broms – yeah!

Hi Wendy thanks for the great advice on how you grow your Tills on either Coir or Coconut Balls, it would be nice for me to get these going in the nursery and then once they take I could look at hanging them in the trees around our garden and imagine they would look very pretty spinning around in the breeze. Thanks for attaching pic, that’s wonderful how well they have taken off, then like you say then it’s just a matter of spritzing them every day until they germinate/have attached themselves.

Hi Shirley thanks for putting my name down on the Neo. ‘Apricot Nectar’ pup list, it is such a pretty one and that’s a fantastic pic you posted of it as well as all the other beautiful brom pics you showed us and what a stunner that Bill ‘Improposa’ and Neo. ‘Carolinae (albo) x Carcharodon is.

Shirley I purchased a pup of Neo. ‘Cee Bee’ some months ago, it’s growing, colouring up but still has a lot of growing to do. I already have your name down for this one from back then as you were keen on it LOL so as soon as I see pups appearing I will let you know and hopefully there will be one for me and one for you popping up at the same time.

Hi Nev I hope your fingers are recovering from your as you say Marathon Post from the other day he he.

Nev I just found my DMail to you back on the 28/05 replying to your question about what the surprise brom was from Rob Smythe (I just flicked the DMail back to you just now for your FYI), where I let you know that it was Neo. ‘Sam Smith’. Anyway I hope you find it like a hidden treasure amongst your other beautiful brom. I remember it was a bright orange pup with open form. Anyway not to worry Nev if you can’t find it over the next couple of days let me know and I will put your name down on your Wish List for a pup when I have one spare, I will also check with some of my brom collector friends and see if they have any spare.

Nev pleased to hear you liked the vriesea cv. pic I posted yesterday, although like you say it’s similar to one of your vrieseas called ‘Evita’ would you like me to keep you a pup of this one as it has many pups forming below that are about 10 / 12 cm height already but still too small to remove just yet, then you can really compare it with your ‘Evita’ when they side by side in flower?

Anyway time for me to head off and rest these eyes of mine.

Hi to anyone else looking in or on the sick list.

Take Care and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pic 1 - Neo. 'Oso Proud'
Pic 2 - Neo. 'Lava Swirl'
Pic 3 - Neo. Ad 'April' ??? Not to sure on history on this one??? This was how it was labelled???
Pic 4 - Neo. 'Termite'
Pic 5 - Neo. 'Fairy Tale'

Hi Ian

You and I appear to have posted at the same time, nice pics, especially that Bill in flower. Sorry I can't help you with your Neo. NOID with the lovely centre starting to flower, hopefully someone here can ID it for you.

Cheers

Trish

Hi everyone
hope to have an early night tonight. we had a dickhead going round and round and round on the intersection last night at 1am. he ended up drifting and I'm sure he hit the curb. anyway he went west towards IGA but I'm sure that was closed by then. Anyway we just settled back in bed and started drifting and the idiot came back and did it all over again. This time I had my nighty on and was ready to run out the front with Johnny grabbing the phone as I went. within 10 mins we had 3 cop cars cruising the streets. I told them I thought he was just round the corner as I saw his headlights as though he turned into a house or the park. we heard yelling so maybe they knew where he lived from our description of his car. turns out when we drove round they way this morning he does live just round the corner. fancy doing that and pissing of your own neighbours. he'll be sorry if he does it again cause now I know he lives at 22. LOL

Nev it doesn't matter how often I turn photos around, for some reason they just turn back to be posted. sorry about that. the photo of that spike doesn't even give you an idea of half the colour it has now. it is spectacular. should have lots and lots of seed this time next year.

Shirley with collecting seed from your billbergias I've attached a pic of what you need to look for. bet you can't find the pod full of seed. hahaha. anyway I was told to look for a change of colour and firmness in the pot. so if your billbergia pod is dark green look for it to change colour maybe to almost white? if pod is red or purple, look for a change of colour and when pressing it should feel soft and squishy. I also find that if you give them a tug a seed pod not ready will be hard to pull off but when they are ready they almost fall off when you touch them. then just sqeeze the seed out into a sieve and wash them under the tap then leave to dry.

Nev today I had to move all my plants from the edge of the downstairs patio area so I could clean the gutters and I just had to stop and admire those ae calichroma x blanchetiana seedlings you gave me (see pic 2) . I just love that deep rich colour. you can't get an idea of just how intense the colour is from a photo. I potted up another 3 or 4 this week and I'm slowly introducing them to the sun. every so often I push them out a bit further so they get a bit more sun each time. eventually they will be in really good strong sunshine and I hope I get some more really deep colours like these. thank you so much for sending me these. my favourites for sure. I nearly shared one today with my sister who has bought a new home and is doing her gardens. I thought about it then decided no I couldn't let either one go. LOL
Pic 3 and 4 I've attached because they are the same plant. the washed out one at 4 is how we've always had them under shadecloth and I have trouble getting someone to buy them so we put one in the garden we created next door for our neighbour. it is getting full sun all morning till about 1pm when carport shades it. it is now the most vibrant colors and is stunning. I also put a washed out billbergia that didn't look much at all growing round our tanks under the tree and only getting late afternoon sun. Now after a period in a lot of good sunshine it is the most stunning billbergia I've seen. just want to go take it back but I'll wait for a pup. just goes to show that the plainest of plants can because a Cinderella if moved into a better position with more or less light.

If anyone wants to try some acanthostachys seed raising I have about 10 or 12 seeds. they are so big you can sow them individually in small seedling trays. Hayden our grandson has done that and we have 2 dozen growing. I did see another seed pod last week and couldn't stop myself from squeezing and washing the seed. it's now dried out and ready to go in the fridge. Pic 5 is my acanthostachys flowering at present.

Hi to all not mentioned like Tash, Trish, Ian, Jean, tropicbreeze, Jen, Sue, Cody if you are still reading, and anyone I missed. Night all. I'm off to bed now.
Wendy

Wendy - that is quite a difference between pic 3 & 4...
it could be fun playing with plants you have multiples of - growing them in varying degrees of light to see what you get.
My Virgo mind is seeing a science experiment in the making.
Take identical plants & use a light meter to keep a record of their exposure, take weekly photos...
once the colour reaches a stage where they look like different plants - swap places & repeat the experiment & see if they repeat the colour change.

I can see I need to win a few million in lotto in order to conduct this experiment, need a new house with green house & maybe a conservatory in which to grow broms.

Ok Universe you have heard me - bring on that lotto win :)

Hi everyone - I know I said I'd keep it short yesterday but didn't, so I promise I will today.

Ian - I was told by a good grower of silver/grey foliage Tillandsias that if the foliage colour goes grey/green you're giving them too much water. He said the main thing was constant good air circulation and lots of light.

Thanks for the comparison pic's of Black Onyx and Blackout, they certainly don't look alike as I suspected, and your Bill 'Ole' x 'Pink Patches' is a beaut.

That's a good tip about the scale, it seems that this will drown them. Why is it we often overlook the most common solutions to problems?

Trish - First let me say that I've never doubted you when you say you sent me the pup of Neo. 'Sam Smith'; it's my memory that I doubt as it's letting me down more and more. I found the D-Mails where we talked about it and the ginger you sent, but why is it my mind only lets me remember the Ginger and not the brom's? Maybe it's worn out and can only remember one thing at a time, anyway the search is on now to find where I've put it and the pup of Neo.'Kismet' you sent with it..... So stay tuned for further developments folks..........Silly old bugger!

That Vriesea you describe sounds very much like 'Evita' as mine is also a multiple pupper and grows like grass for me down here so it may take over your yard up there. The interesting thing is the leaves will change colour depending on the light they receive unlike similar types of floral Vrieseas

Wendy - That's good info on collecting Billbergia seed, I'll have to try it as I suspect I've been leaving them too long and by the time I check them they are "shriveled up" and I've just thought they died and the pollen hasn't taken. Approximately how long from pollination to seed harvest? Faster than Neo's I expect, is that right?

I'm pleased you like the colour of the foliage on the Ae calichroma x blanchetiana seedlings, it just doesn't do anything for me though, but then we all have our own likes and dislikes; I mean if we all like the same thing it would be a pretty boring world wouldn't it?

I noticed a big fat seed capsule on Acanthostachys pitcairnioides yesterday so if anyone wants to try some of that let me know also. It's very prickly and not as spectacular as the Acanth. Strobilacea shown in Wendy's pic though.

Theresa - I guess there's lots of experiments someone with a scientific mind and a bit of spare time could do using brom's as a subject, but as you say, you would first need to win Lotto to set yourself up.

All the best, Nev.

Hi again - I've finally worked out how to down load pic's from my camera to this computer so for today are Pic.1 and 2 to show Trish how I keep my seedlings once the lids are removed, Pic's 3 and 4 are of Ae. nudicaulis 'Giant' (unreg.) Sorry I couldn't get the plant out and take a better pic. but as the name implies, it is a giant at just on 1 M. tall and too awkward for me to get out. Pic. 5 is one I just found yesterday and had forgotten I had and is Bill. 'Pink Ladd'.(Unreg.)

All the best, Nev.

Not much from me today as I am going out to list my broms.
Now I have moved them I have to find where they are now, so when I want to check on any particular one, I know where to look. .
I will work between showers and do a bit of potting in the shadehouse with the alsinite roof.
Its very handy for rainy days.
I have a lovely group of broms to pot . Thank you Nev & Shirley.

Nev, thats a very nice bill Pink Ladd.

Hello to everyone else. I am enjoying all the pics and adding to my wish list. I am still waiting for the Lotto fairy to come this way so the list will stay as just wishes for now.

pics are just views of the broms the other day when the sun was out.

Jean.