Use Merit on the nasty stuff. I put it on everything that comes home.

Good lord! Not only infested with scale, but it seems she just pulled those names out of a hat!

First, the scale. If you don't want to invest in an arsenal of toxic chemicals (and I don't blame you) there are a couple of home remedies. The one I use is to soak a cotton ball or swab in (isopropyl) rubbing alcohol and simply wipe the little nasties off. The alcohol not only loosens them, it kills them, but you might have to do it 2 or 3 times as the young or hidden ones hatch. A dip in soapy water should help too, but make sure it's a mild SOAP and not a detergent, which contains harsh chemicals that can damage or kill your plants. And yes, keep them away from your other plants until you get the situation under control. Even the best nurseries sometimes get scale, but she shouldn't have shipped them without a thorough cleaning.

Second, the names. I have no idea what the pink Neos are, as there are so few identifying characteristics to work with there. The little green guy appears to be our old friend Ae. aculeatosepala (see previous posts). How on earth did she come up with Franca on that? Similarly N. pauciflora (large form) bears no resemblance whatsoever to Mocha Mint, LOL...

The supposed B. horrida v. tigrina looks more like Ae. flavorosea to me, but I'll wait until it blooms to say for sure. The one labeled euphemiae could be B. pyramidalis, but it's kind of hard to say from a top shot.

Good luck, and don't buy from this person again!

While you're at it, move Melon to a safe spot away from the nasties. On second though, I'd better come over there and rescue it......

LOL Melon needs no wordwide rescue operation. He says you can come and visit him anytime. Don't worry those Kautsky's are well away from my other broms. I'll try and dip em, I don't like the chemicals either.

Thanks for the names I'll compare my new friends with the names you suggested on FCBS.

I really don't understand why she is so far off with those names. She seems to be in business for a while and she even has a big brom shipment coming from Brazil. So she should know better. She is going to mail me a list (with photo's) wen she gets it. But I do consider not buying from her again, it depends on what she's going to do about the bad kautsky's she sent me. Maybe it just was a stupid mistake. Nice broms are really hard to find here and she does have nice stuff too and not very expensive. Those pink unnamed hybrids are to die for especialy the one on the left with the nearly white base. (by my standards)

I'll take some more pics of pyramidialis tomorrow.

'Franca' has bloomed do you know what old flowers look like on Ae. aculeatosepala?
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!!!
While typing this she e-mailed me. She is sending free new ones right away, she says it was getting dark in the greenhouse when she got them and didn't see it. With loads of apologies...

Sander

I'm assuming you meant Neo. tarapotoensis Lisa? Maybe I need to go back and review the old thread.

Mike, I found several threads dealing with Ae. aculeatosepala, but the one in the link shows my plant. I still haven't straightened out the issue of there being 2 fairly different looking plants going by that name. I have asked both Harry and Derek about it and they both ask what the flower looks like. Alas, it has never bloomed, so the conversation tends to become stalled at that point.

Are you sure yours has already bloomed, Sander? I don't see any detritus from spent flowers in there, it looks to me like they may be just getting ready to open. If they do, be sure to take a picture for us!

Frankly, however, I have grave doubts about your qualifications as a fit guardian for Melon if you can't even tell that he's a SHE (at least you'd better hope she is if want her to make babies)!

Here is a link that might be useful: Ae. aculeatosepala

Big white, cigar smoking, thick, broad chick, with sharp teeth? Some lady...
It has to be a dude. :-)

Might be the flowers are still coming, we'll see. I'll keep an eye open.

Sander

Well, she IS a tranny, after all......

Well this tranny has to be a girl.
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The morning sun aided by the flash shows the hot pink a bit better. Still not as bright as what my eyes make of it
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Pyramidialis?? It looks like this one might even give me some colour. There is some red on the small leaf just rigt from the center.
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Ae. flavorosea is right too, more points for Lisa.

Just recieved another mail with apologies for the bugs..

Sander

Hi Sander,

I would be interested in the list of Brazil plants. Will she mail or email it to you?
Tomas

She wil email it to me.

If you are interested send me an e-mail through my website.

As Lisa predicted 'not Franca' has a flower:
{{gwi:456980}}

Looks like a Neo flower to me..

Sander

It looks like a Neo flower to me too, Sander. The plant still looks like what both Tropiflora and Michael's have been selling as Ae. aculeatosepala, but if theirs has a bloom like that too, then it's not like any Aechmea I've ever seen. Since it doesn't match the FCBS or Padilla's photos of aculeatosepala either I think it must have just gotten a wrong name slapped on it somewhere along the line.

Maybe I should Florel mine and see if the flower looks like yours, or I could send your photo to Harry and see if he recognizes it. Lately, though, I've come to question a lot of his IDs. Maybe you should call it "not Ae. aculeatosepala". You can't call it "not Franca", because there already is one!

Here is a link that might be useful: Not Franca

LOL so much for my name inventing skills...

Somehow I think it is a species and the damage it has makes me think it is wild collected. I checked FCBS and found a few that looked a bit like it but they all have different flowers, not white or not this shape. The pic above is with the flower completley open. The way the petals overlap is also very different from my other Neos.
Getting more info from the seller seems like a bad idea, she gets all the info wrong.

I am sure it is not N. tarapotoensis, that's the one Mike has and has very different flowers. The picture of your A. aculeatosepala you showed us in the older post Mike started looks very much like mine. Mine is also not as spiny as Mike's plant.

If you can ask Larry wat he thinks that would be great. If you need better or more detailed photos you know where to find me.

Sander

Got a better pic from a flower:
{{gwi:456981}}

Ideas anyone?

Sander

Kind of looks like tristis.

"Neoregelia tristis was named by Beer rather aptly because "tristis" means dull coloured or sad!"

Going by the pics on FCBS this one looks smaller..
But I see a lot of similarity.

Sander

N. tristis is a marmorated plant, so that's not it.

Sander, I sent your photos to Harry Luther and he says it's either N. kuhlmannii or N. hoehneana. I have N. hoehneana and the foliage coloration is more grey-purplish, but that doesn't rule out the possibility that it could be just another form of it. Unfortunately I can't find a picture or any info on N. kuhlmannii.

Harry plans to be in town in a couple of weeks so I'll show him both my Franka-look-alike and hoehneana and see if he has anything more to say about it.

If only I can convince IdentiGEN that there is a multi-million dollar market in identifying plants...

Thanks for the effort Lisa!!

The hoehneana on FCBS looks different but that coud be another form or just growing conditions.
Can't find much info on kuhlmanni either.

Who knows, maybe we solve this mistery someday.

Sander