I've been meaning to ask what's everyone's take on use of fertilizer.

Any recommendations for Neo's, Aechemas, Vriseas, and Guzmanias?

Also what do they mean when they say use fertilizer at half strength? Does that just mean dilute it with water?

Mario, if you read the fertilizer label it will tell you how much to use for different types of plants. If it's a water-soluble type, it might say 1 Tbsp/Gal, or if it's slow release pellets it might say 1 Tsp for a 6"pot, or something like that (these are just hypothetical examples).

Half strength would be only half as much per gallon or per pot. Generally speaking, for Neos, Bills, Aechmeas and other types where you don't want long strappy growth, it is recommended to use only 1/4 of whatever they recommend for house plants. With Vrieseas and Guzmanias you can go higher because lush growth is not going to ruin the form.

Also, you don't want a high nitrogen fertilizer. Check the three numbers on the package. The first is nitrogen, the second is phosphorous and the last is potassium. A balanced fertilizer (eg. 10-10-10 or 14-14-14) is okay, but if you can find one with a 1-1.5-2 ratio (eg. 8-12-16 or 10-15-20) that would be even better. I've never found any like that, but I'm still looking!

We ran out of balanced Nutricote at our place so my husband subbed a high N formula (without telling me!!!) so now all my Neos are growing weird. They're really brittle and they look like funnels! :-p

mario,
to be brief,the suggestion in Baensch's 'Blooming Bromeliads'book is what I've been following,and feel that it works very well for me.Before this,my first uses of fertilizer had some discouraging results.
The article reads as follows:
"considering relevent literature,the authors undertook systematic long term experiments with fertilizing bromeliads in the most important genera in Nassau/Bahamas." The following ratios have proved to be optimal:
Nitrogen(N),1.0
Phosphorus(P),1.5
Potassium(K),2.0
For bromeliads,the ratio of N to K should not be less than 1to2

As for 'half strength',it means use half the amount that the particular fertilizer you are using recommends.
Ex.: if it says to use One tsp.per gal. of water,you would use One-Half tsp. per gal.
I doubt if there are any brands of fertilizers with that exact NPK ratio,but you can try to obtain something close to it.
From my experiance,best not to fertilize in low-light months,and do so when the sunny months arrive.
There is likely some good articles on fertilizing of the various genera on the FCBS site. Hope this helps.
Bob

I stopped at 2 places this morning to see if I could find a fertilizer with that ratio but couldn't find any. I already have some slow release 13-13-13.

So now I should just sprinkle a small amount around the base?

Mario,
Yes,about 1 tsp. for a 6"pot,and you can mix it into the soil,or leave it on top.
A readily available liquid fretilizer is made by Schultz,called 'Cactus-plus',and has a ratio of 2-7-7,which works good for bromeliads.
Bob

Bob, if you ever see any slow release pellets with that kind of formulation, would you let me know? I've got too many plants to use a liquid, unless we were to install an injector system, which I doubt will ever happen.

Lisa, I sure will,and I've been looking for the slow release pellets with a similar ratio too. So much easier to use,and using the liquid type sure is time consuming.
Over the years,I've read about how this and that fertilizer ratio works 'wonders' with broms. In my less experianced years,I tried them, and the results were "wonders" for sure,as it helped me to toss out quite a few ruined plants. Fertilizing without proper lighting is not something to be attempted,and is often an overlooked ingrediant in fertilizing statements.
Now,older and wiser (I hope),I don't fertilize in the low-light winter months,and in the Spring,use 8-8-8 or 14-14-14 Osmocote,which is sufficient until Fall,and every couple of weeks,use the Shultz 2-7-7 as a foilage spray.This seems to work good for my climate and lighting,but may not be sufficient for other areas with different growing conditions.
Bob

Osmocote is probably fine for your conditions and for most of the Mainland, Bob. We don't like it because it's not formulated for the tropics and tends to "dump" when subjected to higher temperatures and humidity, so you get a big growth spurt when you first put it on, and it only lasts half as long as it should. NOT what you want for Neos, Bills, etc.

Nutricote is a much better slow-release for our climate, but our supplier went out of business so now we can't find it. My friend Sharon swears by Mitsubishi, but the company stopped making it, or stopped selling it in the US, I forget which. So now we have to find a good locally available brand because what we've got now is causing all kinds of growth problems. :-(

I was looking for a Nutricote supplier hee in South Africa when I stumbled upon this one. I know the ratio 13:13:13 is not that ideal but this product takes about a year to release all the food, so it is a pretty controlled process. Hard to overfeed. See if you can find anything useful on the page. Scroll right down for the plant food.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fertiliser - timed release

13-13-13 is okay, I think that's what we were using, but we had the "type 180" instead of the 360. The number refers to how many days it's supposed to last, there's also a 90 day formulation. You can still overfeed, though, if you put too much on or do it too often.

These guys are in Florida, so that doesn't help me any, but maybe some of you Floridians can check it out.

Lisa, I found a company that sells Nutricote to HI. Here's an excerpt from their site:

Nutricote is available through Sun Gro in the Western U.S. (including Hawaii) and the Caribbean.

http://www.sungro.com/products_displayProBrand.php?brand_id=6

Hopefully it works out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sun Gro Horticulture

LOL, thanks for the link, Mario, but the only Hawaii retail outlet they list is on Maui and I'm on O'ahu!

Still, we're getting closer..... ;-)

Lisa this is for you if you are still looking for nuticote you can get 14-14-14 T100 in a 50 pound bag for 62.85 plus 23.00 for shipping to chicago can't be to much more to you. Ordered a bag in the morning they sent tracking number and shipped by the afternoon roughly 1.72 a pound go here http://www.mortonproducts.com/page.cfm/1557 Hope this helps you and anybody else looking for this type of fertilizer. Joe

Thanks Joe, but I talked to my husband and he's found a local company that carries it, although they don't always have it in stock. They have to bring it in from Japan, so if it went to the Mainland first and then came back here the shipping would really add up! Shipping to Hawaii is horrendously expensive for most things anyway.

Lisa,
You have any turf companies or companies that supply golf courses etc.? We have Lesco here and through most of the East Coast.

They have several 75% and 100% slow release fertilizers. Plus I can get straight bags of Nitrogen, Potassium etc. Love the Potassium for my naners.