Advice on Bromeliads for Novice Wanted

18 years ago

Hi,

I have just puchased some broms. I have read that they should not be watered in the centre when they are flowering. Rather, they should be watered around the outer leaves. Can anybody confirm that this is right?

We are in the summer months now in Australia, but it has been raining frequently over the last couple of weeks so the soil is fairly damp. Can anybody tell me how damp the soil should be for growing broms in general.

I put some shade cloth up to stop the plants from burning as we will get some very hot and sunny days before the summer is out. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

You can see some recent pictures of my garden at the following URL.

http://korina-alarna.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!1F9545F719C8B2CE!125/

Thanks & Regards,

Korina

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Comments (3)

sutto
18 years ago
Hi Korina.
All my broms have water in the centre, flowering or not and there doesn't seem to be any damage done.
Shadecloth is a very good idea, most of your broms will thank you for that, they burn and/or bleach from our very hot sun if not protected. Broms like ot be well drained, orchid mix is good if you can't get brom mix where you are. If they sit in too much "wet" they will rot.
purplestar
18 years ago
Hi Korina, like Sutto said, as long as they have really good drainage they should cope with all this rain we've been having. if the soil you have them in is nice and open it should be fine.
Although I'm finding that my flowers are rotting because the petals are submerged in some of my Neos. So as much as I can, I've been tipping out the excess water and boy does it stink! LOL
Is your white brom a pup from Neo Bill Morris? I've heard that albino pups won't survive once removed from the mum, because they lack chlorophyll, photosynthesis can't happen. So good luck with it. It's very pretty though LOL
Be prepared for some bleaching of your broms when the sun finally comes out after all this rain. Because they've had lots of cloud cover for a while, the sun will pack a powerful punch now smack in the middle of our summer. You may need some extra overhead protection to get them to gradually get used to seeing the sun again. Good luck with it :)
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korina_alarna
Original Author
18 years ago
Hi
Thanks Sutto and Purple

I have put up 90% Shade cloth in from the roof of my veranda down to the bottom of the garden. I have orange blossom trees put in infront of the shade cloth but they are to small to offer any shade.its open at the sides air is freely flowing through.

As for the white Neo It is still attached to its mother.
the mother is green with white edgesgoing around the leaves.Kind of a pink centre.The farm person didnt know what it was he called it a Freak.I liked it cause it was different.It is as big as its mother now.Plus it has another pup on it about 1cm big.same colour as the mother though.Im going to leave mum on see what i get.

I Already got a lot of bleaching speacialy on the McWilliam it was so green.I Cut off all the burnt tipps.so far they have cost me a lot.EXPENSIVE .HOBBIE cause i want more.Im searching for some seeds.I Would like some appricots and MAUVE Ones.