Gardening with Gary

Gardening Advice from an Expert

Bromeliads

I will give you the basics and allow you to delve deeper at the mentioned websites.

Firm support - potted
Reasonable temperature - 55 degrees F to 90 degrees F
Moisture - medium to high humidity; moist but not wet roots. Allow
top to dry between waterings.
Light - from moderate to full sun
Fertilizer requirements - weekly feeding [Read label directions carefully].

Some hints to help you succeed are:

Maintain humidity requirements.
Maintain good air circulation.
Provide required light level.
Have good drainage.
Avoid extremes of temperature

Don't: over water.
Allow to become totally dry.
Over-fertilize. Be especially cautious [less] during the winter.
Move suddenly from deep shade to full sun.
Place plants directly in the air flow from heating or cooling outlets.

The potting medium may be organic, inorganic (soilless), or a combination of the two. The main points to remember are to provide quick drainage and firm support. Plastic pots hold moisture well; clay pots require more frequent watering. Dark plastic pots may get hot in the sun and injure roots; clay pots accumulate mineral salts and algae. The soil line should only reach the base of the leaves; if too high, the plant may not be stable; if too deep, the plant may rot. A pot near the diameter of the plant is usually selected: a smaller pot can restrict root growth; a larger pot allows roots to spread, and possibly rot due to too much soil per roots.

Here are select sites for you to gain full information on them:

Bromeliad Society International - Promoting public and scientific interest in the research, development, preservation and distribution of bromeliads, both natural and hybrid, throughout the world. [supplied info above] http://www.bsi.org

bromeliad - (Encyclopedia.com) http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/01889.html

Q. I have a bromeliad that has several baby plants sprouting from around the main plant. Is this OK or do they need to be removed?

A. One big plus of having Bromeliads indoors is that they last so long. Not just a few weeks but months and months. They slowly turn a bright red, orange, pink, or purple and then will slowly fade away.

Some people just throw the plant out when it has finished blooming and others hold on to it. Once a plant flowers it will never flower again. The colored leaves are not the flower. The flower was the growth inside featuring small white flowers which last only a couple days.

After a period of time, the old plant usually produces "pups" from its base. These plants can be grown up and if given enough time and lighting will flower.

First of all, the pups do not need to be removed; they will not harm the plant. Some varieties look nice with all the plants massed in a pot. However some varieties look better when grown as single plants in a pot.

As your adult plant ages and slowly begins to die, the leaves will turn yellow. The best way to remove the leaves is to split the leaf down the middle and pull each half to the side away from each other. This will allow the leaf to be removed easily from the base of the plant. Do not remove the pups too early. Allow them to get about 1/3 the size of the parent plant.

Separating them is an easy task. Remove the parent plant from the pot. Clasp the parent plant with one hand and the pup with the other, as close to each other as you can. Gently bend them apart.

Or, you can take a sharp knife and place the blade between the parent plant and the pup and slice through it. Try to get some roots on the pup. Repot into a clean pot with good well drained potting soil with added perlite. Use small pots to avoid root rot.

The major purpose of the soil is to hold the plant upright, not to provide moisture. A bromeliad has a "tank" to hold water, where the leaf blades cup to make a holder. It serves as a reservoir to hold the captured water. The plant then absorbs water and nutrients through specialized cells concentrated inside this rosette. Water into this center so that some of the water runs down into the roots while some stays inside.

Keep the pup slightly moist, but not wet, and provide good light. In a few months, your new bromeliad will be established and growing, and later will produce a bloom.