Appears to be cold damage. Aechmea's don't do cold very well.

Hi Sid,

I've had the same thing happen with 'Ensign' quite a few times over the years. Mainly it has been in winter if a plant is a bit too shaded, but I've also had it happen quite badly in summer one time when I had to move some plants into deep shade for a couple of weeks while I was re-doing the roof of the shadehouse. The common thread seems to be that if 'Ensign' doesn't get enough light, it becomes quite sensitive to anything else that it doesn't like, like low temperature or poor air circulation.

On the other hand, I've found it to be tough as an old boot if it gets plenty of light. The ones I have that get just 30% shade through winter always seem to come through without a mark, with the added bonus that the colours are great!

I've just snapped this half-grown plant sitting in 30% shade under a polycarb roof, but near the northern edge so it is otherwise fairly exposed. Not a mark on it and plenty of colour.
{{gwi:489217}}

Hope this helps. Cheers, Paul

Hi HDD, not ignoring you, just typing at the same time you were! Cheers, Paul

Hi Paul
Ensign always looks good when it is young for me.. it gets UUUgly quickly at maturity

Thanks HDD and Paul.

Yes cold damage makes sense - even though it is the only plant in the glasshouse which has suffered any.

The temp in the garden has been as low as 0.2C/32F and it's been down to 5.5C/42F pretty regularly in the glasshouse and as low as 3C/37.5F degrees once or twice.

As an aside the only plants to have suffered from cold damage outside this year have been a couple of immature Alcantarea nahoumii (extensa?).

Paul your Ensign is clearly getting much more light than mine, which is really quite green right now. Thanks for the tip I'll probably move it to a brighter spot at the northern end of the glasshouse and see how we go for the rest of the winter.