Photo shop it or..get it a full time babysitter?

They are pretty hardy Gonz, basically treat them like any hardy Neo. Give 'em bright to full sun, the normal fert treatment (if you want to gain a largish size) and don't let them get frost bitten in winter. You might have to move them if you're not getting the nice fingernail tips coming out, but I've found good light and hot sun makes the leaves wider and gives good colour. If you want it green looking, use some shade, otherwise full sun will give you canary bright yellow all over...there's another unbelievably yellow one in Andrew's first book that looks awesome from memory ? Like most Vr, they also grow great in trees too.
Cheers
Graeme

Gonzer, I was fascinated by that picture in Steens' first book and also by the picture of Bromeliaria Imperialis on FCBS so I tried growing it just like that, perched on the pergola in almost full sun. It did get a bit yellowish but also got burned. So I moved it a little bit down, onto the trunk of a Trachycarpus palm where it will be shaded during midday and the afternoon sun. Much better but also greener. But the red tips are still there!

On the pergola:
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And immediately after I removed it from up there and mounted on the palm trunk:
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What it is looking like this morning (I have removed 5 pups from it already):
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And then the bigger picture of its surroundings now:
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Hope this helps!
Japie

Hi Gonzer, I tried mine in full sun and it did get a little burnt through our scorching summer. The flower spike was just emerging, and despite being badly burned by the water in the cup, it went on to produce a nice spike. I was told to leave a pup or two on if you want flowers.
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Here it is In February this year.
This next pic is of a friends plant that is in full sun most of the day. Hers has grown quite compact, but it does have nice colour.
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I think here, in Australias hot summers, it pays to have your V. phillipo-coburgii under a bit of protection during the hot months, to avoid scorching.
Maybe in NZ, with the sun a bit higher in the sky, you could acheive that lovely golden yellow? I'm trying mine under 70% beige shade cloth this year to see what I can get.
Nice pics Japie! Always love to see pic of your garden.
BA

Thanks for the info Graeme and BA.
Japie, the first photo on the pergola is really nice. It seems that my climate will be just fine. Is the color of the flower bracts variable too?

Gonz, did the plant you saw have the nice big fingernails? I ask because there are different clones of p-c and I haven't seen that one in Hawaii. If the ones they brought in are the comparitively drab clone I'm familiar with, you'll never get it to look like the down under plants!

No fingernails on the majority Lisa. One pot had very light nails but otherwise nada. That's the reason I posted because the coloring was more "blah" green than electric. Thanks for thr tip.

I was lucky enough to get a few philippo-coburgii plants from Andrew's collection. They all grew to be quite large, produced many pups and were very impressive when they flowered too. These ones were started under a bit of shade in a glasshouse, then spent the last couple of years outside in full sun. (sadly I didn't ever get a good photo of them flowering)

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Cheers, Todd :-)

Good things come to those who wait. SD Andy dropped off one today on his visit with Kerry. More on that later.

There is a pink flowered clone that does not have finger nails ,and the one I have with the best finger nails is a reverted plant of " Rapheal" and some clones never get at yellow tinge no matter how you " Bake " them

Gonzer, to give you more food for thought, I also have what Michael sells as Vr philippo-coburgii small form. No finger nails on this one, but some nice colour! The colour on the undersides of the leaves, are a bit stronger. It's just started pushing a flower, so when that is mature, I'll post another pic.

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Japie

Nice to see all the different pics and plants! I also have a plain green one (lime green) with no fingernails and it will produce a predominantly yellow spike and flowers. Its only a baby, but I'll be sure to search for this thread and post a pic when it does its thing.
BA

Interesting Japie. It looks like a totally different species. I guess the color/shading of the flower bracts can be quite variable?

Hi everyone,

Paul posted a pic of a very large clump of flowering Vriesea Phillipo-Cobergii some time back and I thought that seeing there are now more new members, if he's reading this he may like to share it again.

All the best, Nev.

I have to make a correction on my previous post ,its indeed the yellow flowered form that has no finger nails ,the pink flowered form has very big finger nails ,sorry guys ,

Hi everyone,

Following Nev's suggestion I'll post a couple of those pics, and I'd also like to bounce around a few more ideas on fingernails.

One of the clumps in mass flowering in the front yard, taken in April 09
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Same, but closer up
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Those clumps became just too congested following that flowering, with pups trying to grow one on top of the other to the extent that none of them were getting a fair go. So, I finally got around to breaking them up a couple of months ago at the start of winter and re-planted half a dozen or so to re-start each clump, in a repeat of what I did 8 years ago, then another 7-8 years before that.

Here is a shot of that same bed this afternoon. I thought it might be interesting given the current discussion of "fingernails", because I'm damned if I can work them out.
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The lighting is what I want to look at here. This pic is taken looking westward along that fence, which runs due east-west and the V. p-c's are on the southern side of it. The plants to the left of the pic get full sun for most of the day, and I've had to deliberately over-exposed them in this pic so that the plants to the right are visible in the deep shade cast by the fence with the sun low in the sky to the north. Since we are just coming out of winter, the plants have been growing in these lighting conditions pretty much continuously for the few months since I re-planted them.

I was interested to compare the fingernails on the plants grown in full sun with those grown right next to them in deep shade. You can sort of see them in the pic above, but here they are closer up:

V. p-c in full sun
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V. p-c in deep shade
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Not much difference in the fingernails, huh? So, maybe the fingernails are not greatly influenced by light intensity, at least in this clone.

Based on past years' experience, those fingernails will get a bit bigger and a bit more intense over the next few months, then disappear moving from summer into autumn. So, maybe there is some sort of seasonal influence?

Then again, a mate of mine living nearby has had pieces of my plant for many years, growing in a variety of different positions in a situation that has what seems to be very similar exposure and very similar soil type, even down to the same species of overhanging gum tree. Not a single fingernail. Ever.

So, I've been trying to work out what produces the fingernails for years and I still don't have a clue. I've put off getting one of those clones with the huge fingernails a few times because I already have cubic metres of V. p-c and I'm uncertain whether the huge fingernails will actually turn up. Then again, maybe I should just do it!

Cheers, Paul

Hi All,
I am very much the novice brom addict who has been lurking in the background watching and learning thanks to all the good information that has been posted.
Vr. philippo-cobergii is one of my favourite broms to grow and for me a no fuss brom.
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This is a picture of my original philippo-cobergii purchased as a pup from my local club both her and the resulting pups had the red fingernails until they were moved for renovations. Originally they were grown hard with direct sunlight up to mid afternoon, including summer. When I moved them the only change in growing conditions was the light levels. They were put under trees with very little direct sunlight and all lost the red fingernails and became plain green. Once I realised my mistake I started to move them to different areas of the garden, those getting the stronger light levels are just starting to get the red fingernails back.

Hi greyfortune,

It's certainly beaut to be able to welcome yet another Aussie to our forums. Like me you lurked in the background for a while but at last you're finally one of us and we hope to hear from you and see your pic's a lot in the future.

Your phillipo-cobergii certainly has beautiful well defined fingernails and it would appear that from what you say, the amount of light is definately the answer to developing these great fingernails.

What state are you from? Queensland I suppose where the sun is brighter, hence the nice fingernails.

Thanks for posting, all the best, Nev.

Hi greyfortune,

Welcome, and thanks for showing that pic. It has decided me. Now I just have to get one with fingernails like that!

Cheers, Paul

Thanks for the welcome Nev & Paul.
Yes I do live in Qld Nev.

Cheers
Cher aka greyfortune

This plant looks an awful lot like V. platynema v. rosea pictured on pg 224 of Baensch.

A little more info about Vr p-c having nice fingernails or not. I have experienced that some of my plants have more pronounced red tips than others, and they are all pups from a single one that I bought initially. When I feed them, their red tips disappear or become very small. Here is a picture of one growing in deep shade. When it was potted up, I gave it a good dose of slow release (6 months) Osmocote. It started growing very nice, but hardly any red tips at all. I thought it was the shade and wanted to move it, but never got around doing that. And now, at the end of Winter when the shade was even more intense, it has this nice red tips, even the pups coming out has got those tips already. So, I can only think that when the fertiliser was resposible for the red to disappear as I did not feed it again after the initial dose of fertiliser was worn out.

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Japie

That's the look I want Japie. See my question in the post above yours concerning platynema var. rosea.