posting a picture of what you have will speed up the ID.

Good point Hotdiggety.
This pic is of what I was told is a KR pup. Hope its not too big.

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It was sunburnt when I got it but I am hoping those few leaves will eventually disappear under new growth, is that right?
YOu will have to excuse me if I ask stupid questions, I am rather new to broms.

Your correct the lower leaves canbe removed later and I agree your plant isnt kings ransom..since it has alot of growing to do...and right now it looks like 5-6 Neo's that I can think of..ID may have to wait until it blooms..Its a nice looking color so dont be disappointed that its not what the tag said

Thanks Hotdiggety. I do love the colour so had no plans of getting rid of it LOL. ON the subject of KR do they all have that obvious raised centre on flowering or is that dependent on where it is grown?
Thanks

It isnt raised.. the color contrast just makes it appear that way

Well, there you go. Its all a learning curve isn't it. I will stop looking for a KR that has a raised centre.

Thanks Hotdiggety, for your help.

So, HDD, mine is obviously then also NOT a KR as sutto's plant looks a lot like mine, just more coloured? Or does KR stays green untill it flowers and then produce a profusion of short, red leaves in stead of flowers?
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LOL Will the real KR please step forward.

Avane, I hope yours is "it", I would really love to see a real KR.

guys and gals that could be Kings ransom and it could be 30 others..just watch and grow.. time will tell...to many things affect how a pup looks..I try not to grow neo's that dont look like their parents...I want color on my neo's at birth and the hybrids im trying ..that is my main goal..then the plant can be enjoyed 2-4 years instead of only a few months

HDD, I also like plants that show who they are from a tender age, but I also like the see-saw ride of plants that surprise you with a marvelous display of colour/form/whatever 'in their old age' That also gets me out of bed in the mornings. Who has done what? It could be a bit boring being overwhelmed by beauty for years on end. That's why I love my orchids so much. Breathtaken when they flower, and usually the flowers last long, but befor you 'get used' to their beauty, they die and you have a whole year to wait for another display.

BTW, have u ever seen a live KR in it's prime? (I have not!) Have u also seen a N Medallion? Are there a strong resemblance between them? According to the picturesI have seen, I am willing to wait a year or two for that display!

Thanks for the arty comments on my picture!

I think medallion is a species and KR is across

Good Morning.
I recently went on a road trip to see broms. The first place I went to had this as medallion. Its just gorgeous.
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It was only recently I learnt that KR and M are supposed to be similar in appearance. Its my humble opinion that the only real way to know that, is for the one person to grow both in the same conditions.

SuttoÂÂ..IÂm going with regional differences to explain the huge variations we see in plants like Kings Ransom.

It seems to be the general consensus around here, is that plants like Kings Ransom, and Medallion require year round heat and high light intensity to bring on the pattern of growth, during flowering that results in a flush of central leaves, giving that amazing effect that these plants are known for.

I have had this issue with Neo Debbie, one of the lovely Grant Groves hybrids. A batch of these came into the country about 5 years ago, and were very popular, mainly due to the photos that came with them, showing that lovely flush of red leaves on flowering. After now growing this plant in all sorts of conditions over the last few years, I could show you photos of my flowering (NZ) Debbie that you would say are just a carolinae hybrid. None have developed anywhere near the colouration of what you would expect, based on FCBS photos. Now, it could be that we just got a Âbad batch of plants. However, Kings Ransom, & Medallion perform the same way.

Maybe this is a southern hemisphere thingÂ.???

If there is just some trick to getting these plants to look like the one in the link below, I would sure like to know what is is.....!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:461472}}

Devo, we too have a debbie that just cannot possibly be a debbie. Actually, just recently one of the nondebs was listed as an unknown brom on ebay. Whatever they are, they're promisicuous LOL breed like rabbits but do very little else. The leaves have the faintest darkish tinge to them but nothing else.
That KR photo in your link is the reason why I wanted one.
The medallion in my pic is grown in south queensland, they def' have winters there, of course nothing like NZ winters, whereas I don't really get a winter, maybe a couple mornings where it might get to 10C. I have a friend in north qld, where there isn't a winter at all and her KR still didn't look anything like the fcbs one.
LOL the only thing I have got right is my wango tango looks just like it should going by fcbs pics.

I'mm waffling now aren't I.

Most of Grants hybrids....must be grown hard with very bright light to achieve the color..I learned this trying to grow Tangerine...me and that plant...excuse me 7 plants went round and round...finally I put them in the corner and only watered them and they got morning sun...3 months later there they were Tangerine..all tho it doesnt hold its color long it was nice for about 4 months..I gave them away and started growing orange zest with much better results

HDD, grown hard. This means tough love? Almost neglect?

LOL it means no fertilizer of any kind

I am only learning HDD, be kind LOL

I don't use fertiliser of any sort on my broms. Would be my luck I would stoof it up and kill or disfigure them.
What I might do is put a debbie here and a debbie there etc and see what difference different positions make. Might even bung one in the brom tree I started since reading this forum. I have enough of them that I am giving them away, they're better breeders that fasciata.

When the pups are potted up I use a balanced time release fertlizer (270 day)and then no more until bloom. I have found a trace element liquid diluted to half strength is beneficial and does not affect the color. I have been experimenting for 6 months and its doing a good job and the plants arent stressed at all

HDD I have some pups in need of a cesarean, its coming into winter here, should I still fertilise or wait until it warms up again?
There is a local grower in my area, he says he uses liquid potash every 2 weeks, his broms are also just riddled with, is it black spot, fly speck?? Is there any relation between his fly spot looking thing and the regular potash?
Please excuse my questions but if I don't ask I will never know.

I've never grown King's Ransom. I did have Medallion for a while but it never gave me a raised center or intense color, it just looked like a Meyendorffii. We have year-round warm temps and bright light, so there must be more to it than that.

As for Debbie, read this old thread for an opposing point of view:

Here is a link that might be useful: The great fertilizer debate

Thanks Lisa for that link, great reading. When I first started out on the great brom adventure I was potting pups in a normal potting mix with slow release fertiliser and wetting agent included. Then I read that I was doing it wrong and needed special potting mix. So I now use a bought brom mix. From that link, I should add slow release to the mix when potting? or, as my weather pattern is similar to HDD's, only add fertiliser at certain times of the year?

So many questions = so much typing, I will have the fittest fingers in the west LOL

I dont take pups in what little winter we have Jan and Feb we rarely go below 40 degrees...but when I take them thats when I fertlize with time release..top dress pup but i dont mix it with potting medium....fly speck scale jumps on stressed plants and it is hard as hell-o to get rid of with using toxic chemicals

sutto have you seen a plant in your part of the world being sold as Neo Panama? Its has outstanding color but I havent found its origin to purchase it.

HDD, I just did a quick search and found 2 forms. I have no idea who is real or if they both are, just different growing conditions.
This one is a NSW grown plant, maybe not as much light?
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And this QLD form,
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source of plant or parentage ?

All I can find HDD is Panama queen in BSI, which lists chlorosticta and seed parent. Still looking into it. Cannot find any reference as of yet to "panama".

Gidday Sutto!

I was hoping to solve the KR mystery as well as I too have one labelled KR but I am yet to be convinced. It looks nothing like sutto's. As for Deb/Debbie don't get me started on that. I think sutto and I got duds!

I see a Panama listed on ebay at the moment, it is spectacular!

G'day Cavoodle.

Post your KR too and add to the mystery.

OK Here's mine, different habit and much lighter green with more pink markings than red!

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Im reasonbly sure thats not kings ransom..just because of the pink tips

Hello to all on here, including two I know (sutto and cavoodle)
I'll try to put up a pic of my own KR for comparison in a moment, but first just wanted to comment on the 'rosetting' that sutto was mentioning earlier on.
I found in an old BSI article that the pic of KR on fcbs. the owner had found that many of his Neos had rosetted and could only put it down to his extremely high humidity.
And that he found KR only did it once as opposed to flowering, however Medallion had been known to continually rosette.

Now that I know this, I am scheming ways to create a mini sauna room for these two Neos to go in haw haw haw !

Here they are.

There are 3 in total depicting different stages of colour.

Excuse my satay skewers, I had just changed the mix to a finer one for our hot dry summer and she was still propped LOL.

First flush
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About 4 weeks later
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And left this pic too late as she was starting to fade, and also got her first scar *sad face*.
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I feel bad for my KR as my shadehouse was built (finally) quite late in the summer and she had to endure all different light levels and humidity levels that I feel she ended up quite bleached out in the end.

but I'm looking at next year as my 'best conditions' year for my broms so far.

I use the skewers for new plants. $1.00 gets me 150 of them.

Hi bambi too, yes I love the skewers.
Really helps with stable rooting, I use them on most new ones and any that I re-pot.

Does anybody have a picture of the Real Kings Randsom?
I would love to see one
That Skewer idea sounds great

HDD I have always wondered, this was sold to me as a KR and at the time I was a novice (still am but not as green as I was then!) and I paid too much for it too!

HDD any idea what it is then?? I would appreciate any thoughts :)

hi seeing Medallion is a subject as well, thought i'd show mine taken summer 2006

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cavoodle, The plant looks like it needs more light and less water.. unless the color is from the camera. There is a plant called Beauty spots...(king's ransom X gold fever) It's a possibilty but as always time will tell