Bromeliads For Novices and Addicts - October 2014

Hi Everyone!

Can’t believe it’s almost Wednesday… must remember to put the bins out in the morning LOL.

The weekend flew by but I had a great time preparing for the market which went really well on Sunday where we went with a trailer full of broms and only come home with about 10 out of 60 broms so it was a very successful day and I had a great time chatting with all the customers that came through passing on growing tips and answering any questions they had. The weather was perfect with a nice breeze blowing so that kept the heat down a bit and I had a great spot shaded by beautiful tree’s which was lovely.

Hi Jean so very pleased to hear you also sold most of your plants to the same person and that at least they live close for you to visit any time you want which works out great for you especially if down the track you might be chasing the same plant again and could do some swapping of some sort.

Looking forward to seeing pics when you get a chance, as well as when your 15 Rose bushes have grown, I can imagine how beautiful they will all look in full bloom and would luv to see pics down the track. What a great pic of your resident Koala having a peaceful nap, I always like how relaxed they look in the way they just lay around so comfortably without falling out of the tree given some of the positions they can be in he he.

Also pleased to hear you liked the picture of the tiny little frog in Joe’s brom, we ended up getting one of the pictures framed and it’s now hanging in our living room area for us to enjoy every day. As for our Sausage Dog “Lexi” in amongst the brom pic, she does her utmost best not to knock any over even with that spaghetti body of hers, something I drummed into them from the very first day I adopted them from the R.S.P.C.A, whenever they were in the garden near the brom’s I would say to them “Be Careful, Be Careful” and they now know to be careful around my broms, most of the time unless there is a snake in amongst them then that’s a different story and they cause a bit of destruction along the way when all they want is the snake LOL.

Hi Teresa pleased to hear you had a great time with Sugar at the show and thanks for sharing those great pictures with us, she is such a very pretty girl and looks like she tries here hardest to make you a proud mum. Lexi’s cute little face in the broms is sometimes the reverse where we only see her tail and bottom but I always seem to miss getting a picture of that as she slithers her way in there quicker than I can click our camera ha ha.
Also pleased to hear you liked Vr. ‘Cracker Jack’ and the Dessert Rose garden; we have just put in a Succulent & Cacti Garden also so I will have to take and upload some pics to share with everyone, it’s finished but needs a lot more plants in it but this will take years to fill and something that does not need to happen overnight but at least the hard parts done cleaning out the old garden bed and putting in new irrigation, lights, pebbles etc. makes a huge difference from before.

Hi Brian I just got rid of a trailer full of broms and you have just acquired a trailer full of broms he he. How exciting that would have been for you and by the looks of the pics you shared with us you came home with a fantastic hall. Next you will be like many of us here trying to off load a few to make room in the garden for some more; it’s a never ending backwards and forwards and forwards and backwards kind of thing especially once those pups start popping up everywhere, but it’s great fun and something I will never tire of.

Pleased to hear you liked the pic of the frog in Joe’s orchid, we picked out the best of the pics he took and got it framed and it looks fantastic.

It was great meeting some of the locals at the market on Sunday as well as a lot of people travelling from different parts of Australia that took broms with them to take or post home.

Hi Nev hope you are on the mend and can totally understand why you are felling so frustrated at the moment being “Grounded” as you say, it’s times like this I wish we lived closer as I would be over in a flash to lend a helping hand as there is always so much to do isn’t there around the place; like I went for a walk around the garden late this arvo when I got home from work and there are hundreds of large old avocado leaves that have littered all my broms with the wind that came through on the weekend so I have a lot of cleaning up to do between now and the weekend otherwise that’s all I will have time to do on the weekend and I have so many other things I need to get done around the place, it’s never ending but I do enjoy it. Just do what you can do as the most important thing is to take it easy and give your hand time to heal, and lucky broms are tough and I am sure they can do without you for a bit.

Pleased also to hear you like the Frog Pic and the new Desert Rose Garden, we have to get a new leaf blower to blow the leaves off the white pebbles though because the gumtree leaves have started falling so not looking so neat at the moment but still very nice compared to what it looked like before.

Thanks for sharing with us all the great info on the mealy bugs; I will have to put some time aside over the weekend to have a good read.

Hi Colleen thanks the stall I had at the market was a great success and I had such a great time meeting and chatting with people that knew mainly very little about broms but with the odd collector in there chasing one’s on their wish list.

Yum I luv stone fruit especially nectarines and the white one’s have been beautiful from the shops of late but I am sure nothing compared to what you have been eating. Sounds like you guys got a good downpour of rain and the boys sounded like they had a great time getting caught in it and it’s something I too remember I always enjoyed as a kid getting absolutely soaked and jumping in puddles LOL.

Hi Shirley thanks did great at the market, better than I had expected really but it helped that there were so many people around, from about 9am to 10.30am was where I was flat out busy but for the whole 5hrs I hardly had a chance to sit, eat or drink, it was just like go, go, go from the very start and slowed down a bit in the last hour.

Our pouches too are feeling the heat so I have a half clam shell pool (for kids) that I fill with a couple of buckets of water for them to play in during the day, Lucy jumps in it and luvs it, Lexi just drinks from it as she is not much of a water baby unless we hold her and take her in the pool with us.

Lovely pics you posted, I especially liked the pic you posted of Pic 2 Neo’ OBE, I have not heard of this one before, can you please shed some light on its parentage?

Anyway I must fly, its way past my bed time, one quick picture to attach but that's all I have time for - one from the back garden taken over winter. Sorry sideways shot by the looks of things taken on my phone.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi all,

Teresa, congrats to you and Sugar for your third place win. I’m sure you both enjoyed the competition, you’ll slay ‘em next time.

Nev, just wondering how deep is the layer of coco peat that you place the pups in and do you add anything else to the mix. Also, do you keep the neo tanks full of water as well.

Colleen, good luck with your sale on Saturday.

Trish, neo OBE is a Grace Goode hybrid … see Nev’s post above, he has done all the background checks already, thanks Nev.

Hi to Jean and Brian as well, hope I haven’t left anyone out.

Pic 1 – neo Bantu
Pic 2 – neo Poesy
Pic 3 – neos Shep (L) and Walking Tall (R)
Pic 4 – neo It’s a Goodie

Bye for now, Shirley

I managed to fall and land wrong and break my wrist badly just over a week ago. Made a good job of it as it required surgery involving a plate and a bone graft. The pain is settling down and the frustration is setting in as I will be in plaster for at least another month. At least I can still water the garden but can not manage a lot else. I try to console myself with the fact that it was getting much too hot to do much gardening anyway. I am grateful it was my left wrist as I am right handed. I hate having to type with one finger but can still enjoy reading your posts. I can really empathise with your situation Nev and hope you make a good recovery in time - Diane

HI EVERYONE, IT’S GREAT TO SEE MORE GOOD POSTS TO READ AND HELP BREAK MY BOREDOM.

COLLEEN – I THINK YOU MAY HAVE GOT THAT NEO CAROLINAE #3 FROM ME AS I BOUGHT THREE PLANTS FROM A GROWER AND THEY WERE JUST NAMED, NEO CAROLINAE #1, NEO CAROLINAE #2, AND NEO CAROLINAE #3. I DON’T KNOW ANY MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY EXCEPT I’M DOUBTFUL ABOUT THE NAMES; I DO KNOW THAT #3 IS THE PICK OF THE THREE AND WHEN GROWN UNDER GOOD LIGHT WITH MINIMAL FERTILISER IS A PRETTY REASONABLE LOOKING BROM.

AS FOR THE NEO IN YOUR PIC; THERE ARE TWO PLANTS WHICH OFTEN GET CONFUSED, NEO. COMPACTA AND NEO. MACWILLIAMSII. FROM A DIASTANCE THEY DO LOOK SIMILAR AND WILL BOTH CLIMB TREES (I POSTED A COUPLE OF PIC’S OF THIS PREVIOUSLY). HOWEVER, WHEN YOU LOOK CLOSELY, MACWILLIAMSII IS A LARGER PLANT AND HAS FAINT SPOTTING DOWN IN THE CUP WHEREAS COMPACTA DOESN’T. I HAVE PICTURES OF BOTH BUT THEY’RE ON THE OTHER COMPUTER WHICH IS AT THE “COMPUTER DOCTOR’S” AT PRESENT.

TRISH – I’M SURE YOU WOULD BE OVER TO HELP IF YOU LIVED CLOSER AND JUST TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT, I’VE HAD ENDLESS OFFERS FROM GREAT FRIENDS WHO ARE WILLING TO GIVE ME A HAND WHEN EVER I NEED IT. HOWEVER, BEING AN OLD BUGGER WHO’S FIXED IN HIS WAYS, I PREFER TO JUST POTTER ALONG AT MY OWN PACE AND PLAN THINGS AS I GO. IF I COME UP AGAINST SOMETHING TOO HEAVY TO HANDLE, THEN I CAN CALL ON ONE OF MY MANY BROM FRIENDS TO HELP.

OVER THE YEARS I'VE HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF HELPING MANY FRIENDS NEW TO BROM GROWING AND NOW THEY ARE ALL OFFERING TO HELP ME. THERE’S A LOT OF TRUTH IN THAT OLD SAYING OF ‘WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND”.

THAT’S GREAT GARDEN FULL OF COLOUR IN THE PIC YOU POSTED; WHY IS THE PIC.COMING UP SIDEWAYS, OR IS IT JUST THIS COMPUTER OF MY WIFE’S?

SHIRLEY – I USE A BROCCOLI BOX CUT DOWN TO 4 INCHES DEEP, I PUT ABOUT 3 INCHES OF FINE COCO PEAT (THE SAME GRADE AS I USE FOR SEED RAISING) IN THE BOTTOM WITH JUST A FEW SMALLISH HOLES FOR DRAINAGE. (I DON’T WANT THE WATER TO RUN STRAIGHT THROUGH, BUT INSTEAD, TO WET THE PEAT WELL BEFORE DRAINING AWAY).

THIS SYSTEM WORKS FOR ME AND IS HANDY AS IT DOESN’T TAKE UP AS MUCH ROOM AS POTS. I KEEP THE COCO PEAT CONTINUALLY DAMP (NOT WET) AND WATER NORMALLY FROM OVERHEAD SO THE VASES ARE ALWAYS FULL AS WELL.

THIS IS THE SYSTEM I USE FOR MY SEEDLING TAKE AWAY CONTAINERS AND I FIND WITH THEM SITTING ON THE COCO PEAT, IT ENCOURAGES THE GROWTH OF ROOTS AS WELL AS CREATING HUMIDITY THEY LOVE.

IT WAS JUST BY ACCIDENT ONE DAY WHEN I WAS POTTING PUPS AND RAN OUT OF POTS AND TEMPORARILY POKED A PUP IN THE COCO-PEAT BESIDE THE SEEDLING CONTAINERS. WHEN I FINALLY GOT AROUND TO POTTING IT UP SOME WEEKS LATER, I WAS SURPRISED TO FIND ROOTS WELL DOWN INTO THE COCO-PEAT.

ONCE AGAIN A NICE SELECTION OF PLANTS WITH GRACE GOODE HYBRIDS MAKING UP THEIR FAIR SHARE.

NEO. ‘BANTU’ ONE OF THE BETTER SHAPED DARK COLOURED NEOREGELIAS WHICH IS A GRACE GOODE CROSSING OF ‘PITCH BLACK’ X ‘PITCH BLACK’. I CAN’T CHECK ANY FURTHER BACK THAN THIS AS THE B.C.R. DOESN’T WANT TO OPEN UP FOR ME THIS MORNING.

TWO MORE FROM THE SAME HYBRIDISER ARE NEO. ‘SHEP’ = NEOREGELIA ’STRAWBERRY’ X ‘THE ROSE’ AND NEO. ‘WALKING TALL’ = ‘SMALL WORLD’ X ‘BOB’. THESE ARE TWO I DON’T HAVE BUT WOULD DEARLY LIKE, SO IF YOU CAN PLEASE ADD THEM TO MY WISH LIST I WOULD BE GRATEFUL.

NEO. ‘POESY’ I DON’T KNOW BUT THE ATTRACTIVE SOFT PASTEL COLOURS MAKE THIS PLANT A WINNER AND FINALLY, NEO.’IT’S A GOODE’, A VERY NICE VARIEGATED PLANT WHICH I SUSPECT FROM THE NAME HAS CONNECTIONS TO GRACE GOODE ALSO, BUT UNTIL THE B.C.R. DECIDES TO WORK FOR ME CAN’T VERIFY.

ONCE MORE A NICE COLLECTION OF WELL GROWN PLANTS AND THANKS FOR SHARING THEM WITH US.

MAGPIE – WOW! YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO TRY AND "TRUMP" ME, BUT YOU DID, AS I ONLY BROKE FINGERS AND A HAND BONE; WHAT A PRETTY USELESS COUPLE WE MAKE. LIKE ME YOU’RE LUCKY IT WAS YOUR LEFT WRIST SO YOU CAN STILL TYPE AND WATER, HOWEVER IT’S STILL VERY FRUSTRATING TO BE LIMITED TO JUST WHAT WE CAN DO WITH ONE HAND.

I HOPE YOU HAVE A SPEEDY RECOVERY AND THE FRUSTRATION DOESN’T DRIVE YOU AS NUTTY AS IT DOES ME

SORRY NO PIC’S TODAY AS THEY’RE ALL ON THE OTHER COMPUTER.

ALL THE BEST, NEV..

the best thing for me with the showing over the weekend was catching up with Sugar's breeder and having her say how pleased she is with the condition Sugar is in.
She had a good look over Sugar & watched me running her in the ring & has revised her plans for breeding - she has a couple of different dogs in mind to use as her first choice while great on paper actually has some of the same faults as Sugar.
As you can imagine from your experience hybridising broms we want to improve on our breeding stock & doubling up on any weakness is not a good idea.

Hi Everyone!

We got a bit of rain last night which was nice and the only way I knew was the frogs woke me up at around 2:30am ish from all their croaking which was almost ear piercing like when cicadas are about but not quite as bad; but frogs don’t bother me at all as I have been fascinated by them ever since I was a kid and enjoy seeing all the different types that habitat our gardens.

Hi Shirley thanks looks like I missed reading the background check Nev had already done on Neo’ OBE, I should have known better given how great Nev is at checking such history and wonderful to hear that it’s a Grace Goode Hybrid, no wonder I liked it so much.

What lovely Neo. Pics you posted of so many Neo’s I have never heard of before except Neo. ‘Shep’ which I have. I really liked the look it Neo’ ‘It’s a Goodie’, such a pretty one.

Hi Diane so sorry to hear you badly broke your wrist and that you required surgery to set it right; great to hear though that the pain is settling down so you can still water the garden etc. and that it was not your writing hand as that makes the frustration even harder like in Nev’s case with his injury. Anyway great to see you popping in and ready the posts and taking the time to write us.

Hi Nev pleased to hear the long posts are helping you “Break my boredom” as you say. As well as so very nice to hear you have received so many offers to give you a helping hand if you ever need, at least like you say if you come against something too heavy to handle then you can call on one of your many brom friends to help and that’s a good thing to keep in the back of your mind so you don’t go overdoing things for a bit.

Pleased you liked the picture of the garden full of colour, the colours have greatly intensified since I last took that picture a good couple of months ago now. No issues with your wife’s computer he he, the picture is sideways because that’s how I took it on my mobile phone and Joe saved it for me in a hurry and left it that way unfortunately, there are many saved like that at the moment that need to be adjusted / resaved to file.

Hi Teresa I forgot to congratulate both you and Sugar for your third place win at the recent completion you both competed in; how great that you got to meet Sugar’s breeder and to hear how pleased she was with the condition Sugar is in would have made you feel great. Also very interesting to read what you wrote about improving breeding stock etc. which is not something I would have thought but such an important factor when assessing overall.

Pic 1 - Joe's Paph's basking in the early morning light
Pic 2 - Vriesea 'Tiger Tim' x 2 (sorry sideways again)
Pic 3 - Neo' 'Morando' (just starting to colour up)
Pic 4 - Garden shot (sorry sideways again)
Pic 5 - Neo' NOID?

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

HI EVERYONE - FIRST LET ME SAY THAT MY ASSUMPTION THAT SHIRLEY'S NEO. 'ITSAGOODE' (ALL ONE WORD) WAS ANOTHER GRACE GOODE HYBRID WAS VERY WRONG. (AT MY AGE I SHOULD KNOW NOT TO ASSUME).

NOW THAT MY B.C.R. IS WORKING AGAIN, I SEE THAT IT IS IN FACT A CHESTER SKOTAK HYBRID AND REGISTERED BY PETER TRISTRAM.

IT'S FROM A CROSSING OF NEO. CAROLINAE X CHARM AS A SEED PARENT WITH CHARM AS THE POLLEN PARENT.

TERESA - WHEN BREEDING ANYTHING, YOU ARE STILL GOVERENED BY MENDEL'S LAWS WHICH ARE BASED ON DOMINANT AND RESESSIVE GENES.

JUST BECAUSE YOU CROSS TWO NICE LOOKING DOGS, CATS, BROM'S OR WHATEVER TOGETHER, YOU WON'T NECESSARILY GET ALL OF THE GOOD FEATURES IN ALL OF THE OFFSPRING, YOU WILL OFTEN GET THE FAULTS AS WELL AND DEPENDING ON HOW DOMINANT THAT GENE IS AND WHETHER IT'S STRONGER THAN THE GENE FOR THE GOOD TRAITS, YOU MAY GET ALL THE BAD TRAITS.

THIS IS WHY TO ACCURATELY PREDICT THE OUTCOME FROM A CROSSING, YOU WOULD NEED TO HAVE A VERY SCIENTIFIC MIND WHICH COULD APPLY THESE RULES OF GENETICS TO THE CROSSING AND EVEN THEN, THERE IS STILL THE POSSIBILITY OF SOME UGLY RECESSIVE GENE FROM SEVERAL GENERATIONS BACK STILL POPPING ITS UGLY HEAD UP UNEXPECTEDLY. THAT'S WHAT MAKES BREEDING SO INTERESTING AND FULL OF SURPRISES.

THATS WHY IT'S SO IMPORTANT TO LOOK AT YOUR RESULTS AND RE-ASSESS AND TRY AND WORK OUT HOW THEY CAME ABOUT.

TRISH - GOOD TO HEAR YOU GOT SOME RAIN, THERE'S NOTHING LIKE IT TO BOOST THE PLANTS.

THAT’S A GREAT LOOKING COLLECTION OF PAPH’S JOE HAS THERE. MR. LEO GILES WHO WAS A WELL RESPECTED ORCHID NURSERMAN AND JUDGE ONCE SAID THAT PAPH’S WERE THE CONNOISSEUR’S ORCHIDS; SO I GUESS THIS MEANS THAT JOE IS A PRETTY CLASSY GENTLEMAN DOES IT?

VR. TIGER TIM IS ALWAYS A “STANDOUT” IN ANY COMPANY AND PROVING TO BE A GOOD PARENT IN BREEDING PROGRAMMES AS WELL.

NEO. MORADO IS A NICE ALBO-MARGINATED PLANT AND THE SEMI CONCENTRIC RINGS JUST STARTING TO APPEAR MAKE IT EVEN MORE ATTRACTIVE. (AND NO, IT DOESN’T HAVE CONCENTRICA IN ITS BLOODLINES, I’VE ALREADY LOOKED) ALTHOUGH WE COULD BE FORGIVEN FOR THINKING SO BY THOSE PROMINANT SEMI-CONCENTRIC RINGS ON THE LEAVES.

NEXT IS ANOTHER NICE COLOURFUL GARDEN SHOT (OUCH! - NOW I HAVE A SORE NECK AS WELL) FROM LOOKING AT IT SIDEWAYS.

YOUR NOID REMINDS ME OF A FEW DIFFERENT PLANTS AT THIS STAGE, BUT AS IT STILL HAS SOME GROWNG TO DO, PLEASE POST AGAIN WHEN IT REACHES MATURITY AND WE MAY BE ABLE TO ID IT FOR YOU..

THAT’S IT FOR TODAY, BUT I JUST WANT TO FINISH WITH A SHOT FROM A N.Z. GROWER OF A PLANT CALLED NEO. ‘ROSEA STRIATA’ GROWING NATURALLY ON A TREE.

WE OFTEN FORGET THAT MOST OF OUR BROM’S ARE NATURALLY EPIPHYTIC AND THAT WE JUST GROW THEM IN POTS FOR OUR OWN CONVENIENCE.

WHAT COULD BE MORE NATURAL THAN THIS PLANT, WITH THE MORNING LIGHT BEHIND IT, GROWING AS MOTHER NATURE INTENDED AND EVEN HAVING ITS OWN INSECT PEST PROTECTION IN THE FORM OF COBWEBS AND A SPIDER LYING IN WAIT SOMEWHERE.

ALL THE BEST, NEV

Nev - very true about breeding... all you can do is choose good examples from good parentage & hope for the best.
There are a few tricks - knowing what is a dominant characteristic can handy - stud fee on unproven dogs is generally lower than ones with a few nice litters to show for themselves.
Some dogs seem prepotent for characteristics like eye colour or head shape.
I guess brom breeding is similar - which is probably why certain ones are used more frequently in hybridising.

I did like the look of Vr. Tiger Tim... and Neo Morando, I think it looks nice even in it's plainer form, the extra colour is a bit of a bonus :)

Hi everyone. We're getting a light sprinkle of rain at the moment and it's a lovely 25C. Great weather for the ducks and me. The boys have a student free day today so we took another lot of empties to the recycle place. Not many to go now. $62.50. so far. They've already got Uncle John's present. a motor cycle piston made into a clock. It's blue the same colour as his motor bike. He's very hard to buy anything for so I hope he likes it. I have awful trouble buying presents as anything that is in my price range they have already just gone out and bought it. The last few years I've just given them money, but I really don't like doing that, it seems so impersonal. Will have to start racking my brain in next few weeks. My other son Micheal just want me to make him a boiled fruit cake with pineapple in it. That's easy isn't it? I can't believe that the shops have decorations up already. Why do they do that? Dianne, goodness me, did you try to out do Nev. I do hope you both heal quickly. It's so frustrating not to be able to do what we want to. I know when i did my back I couldn't even stand up for long and you can't do much in the garden sitting down for long. Well I'm going to see what else i can do outside. Have a great day everyone. Colleen

HI EVERYONE – AND ESPECIALLY ANYONE ON THE SICK LIST; GET WELL SOON.

THERE’S A HOT ONE FORECAST TODAY WITH TEMPS INTO THE VERY HIGH THIRTIES. IT MAKES ME WONDER WHAT SUMMER WILL BRING, ESPECIALLY JANUARY WHICH IS THE HEATWAVE MONTH.

TERESA – YOU SAY YOU LIKE VR. ‘TIGER TIM’, DID YOU KNOW IT’S A SEEDLING FROM VR. OSPINAE VAR. GRUBERI AND THAT IT TOO IS NOW BEING USED IN BREEDING WITH AN AIM OF IMPROVING THE LEAF PATTERNS AND COLOUR EVEN MORE. TO GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT I’M SAYING, I’M POSTING SOME PIC’S OF JUST SOME OF THE COLOURS NOW CURRENTLY AVAILABLE THROUGH SELECTIVE BREEDING.

COLLEEN – THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A LIGHT SHOWER OF RAIN TO FRESHEN THINGS UP, AND APART FROM OUIRSELVES, THE BIRDS AND ANIMALS ENJOY IT AS WELL. I LIKE TO WATCH THE GALAHS IN A LIGHT SHOWER HOW THEY HANG UPSIDE DOWN FROM THE POWER LINES AND FLAP THEIR WINGS, AND LIKE DAD USED TO SAY, “THEY’RE WASHING THEIR ARMPITS”.


I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO YOU FOR TEACHING THE BOYS THE BENEFITS OF RE-CYCLING. MOST OF MY SHADE HOUSES ARE MADE FROM RE-CYCLED MATERIALS (EXCEPT THE SHADE CLOTH), AND WITH A COAT OF PAINT (ALSO OFTEN RE-CYCLED) THEY COME UP JUST AS GOOD LOOKING HAD THEY BEEN MADE FROM NEW MATERIALS.

IT SOUNDS LIKE THE BOYS HAVE GOT UNCLE JOHN A VERY APPROPRIATE AND MOST UNUSUAL CHRISTMAS PRESENT WHICH I’M SURE HE’LL ENJOY AS MUCH AS THE BOYS WILL AS THEY WATCH HIM OPEN IT.

LIKE YOU SAY, IT GETS HARDER AND HARDER BUYING PRESENTS FOR THE FAMILY AS THEY GET OLDER, AND YOU SOMETIMES END UP GETTING THEM SOMETHING THEY EITHER DON’T NEED OR SOMETHING THEY DON’T WANT.

WHAT WE DO NOW IS GIVE GIFT VOUCHERS; THAT WAY THEY CAN BUY WHAT THEY WANT, WHEN THEY WANT IT AND IT’S NOT AS IMPERSONAL AS JUST GIVING MONEY IN A CHRISTMAS CARD. PERSONALLY, I’VE TOLD ALL OF MY FAMILY TO JUST GIVE ME BUNNNGS VOUCHERS, THAT WAY IT’S EASY AND SATISFIES EVERYONE.

YOU SAY, “I can't believe that the shops have decorations up already”; I CAN GO ONE BETTER THAN THAT; WE HAVE A FRIEND WHO WORKS IN K-MART AND SHE TOLD US THAT LAST WEEK AT THE MORNING TEAM LEADERS’ MEETING, THEY WERE DISCUSSING THEIR EASTER ADVERTISING PLAN.

TODAY I’LL FINISH UP WITH AN ASSORTMENT OF PIC'S SHOWING DIFFERENT COLOURED VRIESEA OSPINAE VAR. GRUBERI, WHICH ARE NOW AVAILABLE.

ALL THE BEST, NEV

HI EVERYONE – IT FEELS LIKE IT’S GOING TO BE ANOTHER WARM ONE TODAY AS IT’S ONLY 6.30 AND ALREADY I CAN FEEL THE TEMP. RISING.

AS THERE ISN’T ANYONE TO TALK TO THIS MORNING, ANDI’M GETTING SICK OF TYPING WITH ONE FINGER, BECAUSE WE HAVE A FEW NEW MEMBERS, I’M ADDING A LITTLE ARTICLE I ONCE WROTE ABOUT BASIC BROMELIAD REQUIREMENTS. I MAY HAVE POSTED THIS BEFORE, BUT DON’T REMEMBER, SO IF I HAVE I APOLOGISE.

BACK TO BASICS WITH BROM’S
N.Wood 08/01/2012

When we acquire our first urn type bromeliad it is usually already potted up and may or may not be in flower, and like all other plants we need to find out a little about its basic requirements. Firstly what is an urn type bromeliad? Loosely speaking it is any brom whose leaves form a sort of has a vase in the centre which can hold water. Plants such as Aechmeas, Neoregelias, Nidulariums , Vrieseas are some common examples.

I have on various occasions overheard various descriptions of the cultural requirements for these plants, often at the markets from the sellers or from other establishments and more often than not the advice given is incorrect.

One of the most common mistakes that the new grower is told is to stand the plant in a saucer of water so it doesn’t need to be watered too often and just make sure that the centre has water in it at all time. Consequently after a few weeks the plant begins to look sick and gradually deteriorates to the stage where it’s almost dead. At this stage the new grower will sometimes seek advice from someone who grows these plants. This all usually leads to the plant being taken out of the pot only to reveal it has been growing in nothing more than a pot of mix the bottom half of which is mud; in other words the mix was waterlogged.

To prevent this from happening, I would suggest to all new growers to start with the basics; Understand the basic requirements of the particular plant genus you want to grow. The basic requirements of the plant can easily be worked out firstly from how similar plants grow in their natural habitat. This is usually on trees, on rocks or on the ground. The one common denominator here is in the fact that no matter which form of growth these plants take, they all have good drainage.

The other fact worth noting is that the terrestrial plants always have adequate space between them allowing for good air circulation, if they do become crowded for some reason, the weakest plants die which then creates growing room for the strong ones, i.e. the survival of the fittest.

Likewise the plants growing on rocks and on trees have constant access to good air circulation which is necessary to prevent attack by various types of fungus which cause rot.

So based on this we can gather that the two main basic requirements of these plants if they are in a pots, are firstly a free draining mix and secondly, adequate space between plants to allow for good air movement.

Next we have to look at watering and again we can be guided by what happens in their natural habitat. First we need to realise that plants in the wild are mainly reliant on rain, mist and dew for their moisture requirements. The infrequent amounts of moisture coupled with the free drainage and good air movement certainly doesn’t allow for any plant to become waterlogged and the only way they could get an abundance of water is due to excessive prolonged rain which will accumulate in the vases of the urn type plants.

Even in these cases, nature has an inbuilt safety mechanism whereby when the excessive amount of water becomes just too heavy, it causes the plant to either tip over causing it to empty, or in extreme cases the sheer weight will pull its roots from whatever it is attached to.

Whatever the cause, the plant will not be waterlogged. Bearing all of this in mind the message here is that these plants don’t like to be overwatered and it’s a generally accepted fact that many more plants are lost from overwatering than under watering.


Now to just recap on what we have established already:

Brom’s don’t like to be waterlogged................................Free draining mix
Brom’s must have good drainage ....................................Free draining mix
Brom’s must have adequate space to grow .....................Don't overcrowd them
Brom’s need good air circulation, plant and roots ........Free draining mix

Now what about fertilizer? Again what happens in nature?

When these urn shaped plants are growing naturally, they are exposed to debris and leaf litter falling into the vase as well as the occasional bird, frog or small animal droppings. This mixes with the water already in the vase and makes (for want of a better description) a soup, this mixture then starts to rot and break down all of the components and ultimately it becomes a weak liquid fertilizer which as the urn receives more water, becomes more diluted.

This is a continuing cycle and consequently the plant is continually getting minute quantities of dilute fertilizer and it’s probably from this very fact that the old nurseryman’s adage to “fertilize plants little and often” was born.

So to summarise what basic needs are required to grow urn shaped brom’s in a domestic environment based on what occurs in nature:

They need a free draining potting mix to afford good drainage and air circulation around the roots; they don’t like overcrowding so they need adequate space to grow and they also only need a minimum of water.

In my case where I am one street back from the ocean and my climate could be classed loosely as a maritime climate. I only water once every two weeks in the summer and monthly in the winter. The exception being on very hot days where I give plants a light misting in the late afternoon.

As far as nutrition goes they need the fertilizer in a very dilute form and fed regularly, and if the instructions say mix 1 teaspoon of fertilizer per litre of water and apply monthly, you would be better off mixing ¼ Teaspoon per litre and feeding weekly.

These are good safe principles from which to start your journey of growing urn type bromeliads.

I’LL FINISH NOW WITH SOME OLD PIC’S FROM A MEMORY STICK AS MY COMPUTER’S STILL AT THE DOCTORS.

ALL THE BEST, NEV

.

Hello all,

Up early, can't sleep past 4.00am as usual. The clouds are rolling in this morning after a hot one yesterday and they are talking 40deg tomorrow, I better get out and mow the weeds / lawn today.

Geez there are some injuries happening, I hope everyone recovers quickly.

Teresa, congratulations to Sugar and yourself on your podium finish at the show, she really 'stands' nicely.

Colleen, I was thinking the same about how early the shop decorations are up. The present thing is hard. My wife's family always got together at Christmas and all bought presents for each other and it seemed like their was about one hundred useless gifts, so in the end it was scrubbed and only the kids got them.This year we have our little grandson with us so we might do the decoration thing and spoil him a bit. I'm sure your boys will enjoy the present they give to their uncle.

Trish, your garden shots look very nice. Its a good idea to sell off some extra plants at the markets, I suppose it pays for some of the upkeep of the rest of them and keeps numbers down. It must take a bit of time to keep everything in order.

Shirley, neo 'Bantu' is a nice looking plant, unusual dark colour.

Anyhow off for a walk, and then into the yard.

Hi to everybody else looking in.

Pic1... Vr. Phillopo- Coburgii ( I think the yellow colour that attracted it to me is just being in the sun )
Pic2... Unknown

Pic 3...Neo. 'Gee Whiz'

Pic 4...Unknown

Pic 5...Neo. 'Red Macaw'

Nev - what lovely stripes & colours on those Vr. Ospinae var Gruberi.

In your next post I particularly like the first one, the glossy deep purple leaves are so striking.
The next two also appeal to me.
They all have their charms but spots, stripes & purple are my favourites...
You can imagine that if I ever see a brom offering all that in one I will just have to buy it :)

very warm here today - perhaps 30C but a change coming & thunder, lightning & hail possible later.

Strange spring weather, garden seems to be coping so far.

Hello everyone.
I have made a new thread as this one was getting quite long .
we have moved to here...
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1381441/

Its a beautiful day and I will be out enjoying the sun later, if it stays around.
There are clouds coming up, but yesterday was the same. Rain in the morning then a lovely warm day.
My broms are enjoying the warm and I must take a couple of pups off as they have grown quickly.
I saw some of my sold broms last week. They are liking their new home by the look of them.
Some are really spoilt, being in a large sunroom.
They will be like Shirleys plants at her brom spa resort...lol

I hope all those with injuries are healing fast.

Its not pleasant and also frustrating to sit around when you could be out with the plants.
Take things easy over the holiday season and be really fit for the New Year.
I am going out to pot a couple of roses.
I am putting them in front of the smaller pots to provide some shade .

No new pics as I cannot get the darn things off the new camera as yet.
I will eventually figure it out, but at the moment it doesnt work.
My large camera was getting too bulky so I bought a new smaller one that fits in my purse.
Its the same brand ..Canon.. but the software isnt doing its thing.
I'll just add a couple of old pics .
Loving all the pics you all have .
Jean.