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Bromeliads
paul_t23

chantinii berries

17 years ago

Hi everyone.

I bought my first Ae. chantinii just over a year ago when I found e-Bay (couldn't resist the stripes), so now I'm having my first experience of one flowering, and I'm not sure what happens with the berries.

In particular, how/when can you tell if the berries are fertile?

If the berries on mine aren't fertile, I'll chop off the flower spike so the plant can put all its resources into producing pups. If they are fertile, I'd like to play around with some seed. The following pics show the plant in question.

In flower 6 weeks ago.

{{gwi:445825}}

This morning - sagging under weight of developing berries

{{gwi:445827}}

Closer-up of berries

{{gwi:445829}}

Do the fertile berries go a different colour? How early? Is there some other way to tell? If they are fertile, how long does it take for them to mature? How can you tell if they are mature?

Love to hear your thoughts. Cheers, Paul

(Re growing conditions, it is under cover but open to ambient air temps, days typically 25-30 degC next few months, then 18-25 for 3 or 4 months after that (ie in winter), nights typically 15-20 for next few months, then 10-15 in winter).

Comments (4)

  • 17 years ago

    Berries turn blue when ripe , but it is rare to get good seed set on this species. Some years there would be lots of seed , especially if several plants flower at once , but when you want to put down a batch of seed , never a blue berry to be found , or if some look promising , only a few seeds to the berry .

  • 17 years ago

    Ae. chantinii is not a self-pollinator, Paul, so the berries would only be fertile if they had been pollinated with something else (including a different clone of chantinii). They would turn bright blue if that were the case. I'm not exactly sure of the time frame, but looking at your photo, they appear to be getting close to the point where color change would occur if it were going to. Once they turn blue, they are ready to harvest and sow. I don't know how much insect pollinator activity you have, or what else you had blooming in close proximity at the same time, but from my own experience I can't recall ever seeing a blue berry on any chantinii that I hadn't pollinated myself. It is a fairly good seed parent, though-- one of the best Aechmeas for hybridizing because it tends to be receptive to a wide variety of pollen. It just needs a little assistance. It couldn't hurt to give it a couple more weeks, but I kind of doubt anything will happen.

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  • 17 years ago

    Thanks for the feedback.

    Lisa, I didn't do any pollinating myself and the only other Aechmea-like object in flower at the same time was a Portea petropolitana extensa about 20 metres away, so if the chantinii isn't a selfer, I guess the berries are probably infertile.

    I'll follow your suggestion of giving it a couple of weeks, then if there are no blue berries, "off with its head".

    Just another quick question - do some clones of chantinii just refuse to put out roots in a pot? This black one has grown really happily over the last year but not put out a single root. An Ae. chantinii "Stripes on Stripes" near it has put out lots. They are potted in the same medium (open good quality 10-15mm composted pine bark), in the same size pot, same watering regime etc.

    Should I try something different in a pot? Or should I just tie it to a lump of wood, which after all is what it is really designed for?

    Thanks for your help, Paul

  • 17 years ago

    One of my fav plants!

    Paul unless your weather this time of year is humid and moist (I know the weather over in OZ has been a little dodge lately) I wouldnt take a chance mounting, if you can provide those conditions artificially then go for it. I have found it best to leave the pup attached until it has produced a few roots of its own and then I will remove it.

    Any very well draining mix is suitable for these and they shouldnt have any problem setting themselves up.....however if the weather is dry with not much humidity perhaps they wont even root in a pot?

    Cheers

    Dennis

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