Those are looking very good, Andrew. The one on the right is definitely showing its GF heritage, and I bet it'll be a big one too.

I did a few more crosses with c-a last year too, but so far I'm not seeing anything that looks quite as nice as that. You're right about the "default setting" being washed out color with small spots, and I'm getting a lot of that. One cross that does look like it could be interesting is the one with Tiger, though. They're still small, but starting to show some markings in the tray.

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I hit all my seedlings with a foliar feed about a month ago and they still haven't grown out of it, so the green is obscuring a lot of the markings I might otherwise be able to see at this point. Still, you can see they're all strongly discolor, that is to say dark on the underside of the leaf but not on the top. Just looking at some of my other seedlings this seems to be a fairly common trait of both c-a and Tiger hybrids, at least in the seedling stage. So far they look fairly uniform too. If they stay that way it may lend support to the premise that c-a is a species and not a natural hybrid, as one would expect more variation from 3 species ancestors than from 2. At any rate, I'm fairly sure they will be monsters!

I have so many variations of this one marmorated neo that look so different that I've been mostly avoiding them as pollen or seed parents in my crossings. I don't feel like there is any need to make more of same as I'm happy with what I got. Someday I'll figure out all the light/fert influences.

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Hey Devo. Looking good!

I like BIG spotties that can handle lots of sun.....Keep us updated.

Dennis

Nice batch of seedling there Lisa ! The leaf edges and spines already have a ÂTiger look to them, and is that seedling (top left) showing a hint of banding ?ÂIÂd like to see these in another 6  12 mths when their markings come thru.

About 2 yrs ago, our society seed bank received a batch of Neo. correia-araujoi seed. It was said to be the result of a cross between 2 c-a clones. Unfortunately the seed had a poor germination percentage, & I only got 5 seedlings out of the batch, however, theyÂve grown well, & are now showing a range of markings, the 2 at the back are just green with red nails (very johannis like), while 3 at the front show varying degrees of marmoration.

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This one has only developed a touch of colour on the leaf surface over the last couple of months, but the marmoration on the underside developed early on.

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These results seem to be similar to others that have grown c-a from seed, & promotes the debate re species vs natural hybrid. What ever is it correia-araujoi is in the top 10 of my Âmust have Neo list.

BTWÂdoes anyone know who correia-araujoi wasÂ? So many broms are linked to this name, but I cannot trace it back to its source.

All I know is that they are named for Luiz Correia de Araujo of Brazil. Scroll down to page 14 of the link, where it's highlighted.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aechmea information

Hi Guys

How would one pronounce that name?

Louie Correia, de Araujo, I gotta go. Yi-yi-yi-yi-yi Louie louie, of brazil...

Am I close? I think someone once wrote a song about him.

Devo,

Your top Neo is certainly a beauty. Your pup looks a lot like a Mamoretta.

Rick

Well, I think I know how to pronounce it but I'm not sure how to communicate that in writing, particularly with all of the different accents we have here! ;-)

Devo, that last neo just looks like a big marmorata as HDD said. I still have a few marmorata that look like that and they can look ok in the right place, but I usually toss the ones that look like that in the trash.

Ya thanks for the help guys! :-).

One man's trash is another man's treasure!

Very true.

Thanks for that info on Luiz Correia de Araujo Lisa, I assume it was he who discovered the plant? Keep practicing the pronunciation DennisÂcorreia-araujoi is a good name to drop into conversations, & one of those names that just rolls off the tongueÂalmost as good as philippo-coburgii.

And Winter, those last few may well all end up in the trash, or under the lawn mowerÂwhich is my preferred culling technique as it leaves no chance to second guess! I grew that c-a seed batch as a trial just to see what would come out of itÂand since I already have a good clone of c-a (top photo) one of the c-a seedlings will have to develop into something just as good, to justify holding onto it. There are so many Âaverage quality marmorated hybrids around already, & I have no desire to add to that poolÂbut there is great potential to create hybrids suited to our temperate climate by using choice plants like correia-araujoi, so IÂll be watching my c-a hybrids with interest to see how they develop over the next few yearsÂ

Devo, I've heard that plants grown from seeds often are better adapted to local conditions. I specifically remember somebody talking about C02 absorption in different tillandsias and how that wasn't an issue if raised locally from seed. I suspect that you'll have better acclimated plants if grown locally from seed.