I just got one of those last month and I've been keeping it in the shade and it's just getting darker so I'm going to gradually move it out into the sun. It will probably take a lot of sun once it's acclimated.

I wouldn't fertilize it at this point. I'm not sure if there is much fertilizer in the pot already, I never looked.

Here is mine:

{{gwi:502035}}

According to Michael K., most of the Groves hybrids have been bred to do well under somewhat lower light conditions than most Neos. Many will bleach out in bright light. They do like a good feeding, but any sudden addition of nitrogen is likely to green the leaves up. A constant program of light foliar feeding would be ideal.

The darker Groves hybrids do ok in 30% shade..the light colored ones don't. I prefer Purple Star over Voodoo doll. It isn't as picky. Cool weather turns doll irredescent blue

Very nice looking Voodoo Dolls. I particularly like that blue appearance Dennis, but I find that once settled in after travelling and starting to grow, it looses most of the blue, like WL's plant. But still very nice!

Japie

Iridescent blue sounds cool!

Actually, that iridescent blue in Dennis' photo is pretty close to the real color of the plant when I first saw it at Michael's. It popped my eyes out, and it wasn't in cold weather either! No photo I've taken has ever been able to capture that, it always reads more pinkish. I like it much better than Purple Star, and mine is holding up reasonably well here.

I am growing out my third generation doll and it still lets me blah...A plant made from Grants hyrids has gotten my attention..Hot Lips..its a must have plant :)

Yeah, Hot Lips has definite star quality. Her sister ain't bad either. ;-)

Very nice color Doll Neomea. I like those colorful GG hybrds. They catch peple eyes even me. I usually look forward to those plants.

In a book BROMELIADS The Connoisseur's Guide by Andrew Steens, has mentioned colorful GG hybrid has been bred to grow under low light condition as Lisa said. They said plants were massive production by tissue culture and then distributed all over the world as indoor plants. That's why I think they usually tolerate the low light.

Lisa Hot Lips is a glittering star. How about her sister? There is no her grex in FCBS. Let's show :)

Hi all

Thanks for the replies....

How you doing with that kak Cape weather Japie? Plants not rotting?

Hot Lips is a beauty!

Cheers

Dennis

Fortunately nothing is rotting, Dennis. But with all this rainy weather, my plants have lost a lot of colour. Apart from the lots of rain, we also had hail a couple of times. Again I am lucky as I got very little damage on my plants, just some small spots on the leaves of mostly hard leaf plants.

But summer is coming!

Japie

Yong, I haven't registered the other because it's not available yet, but here's a preview. That's Hot Lips on the left, and her little sister First Kiss on the right:

{{gwi:502038}}

I should probably do it before the name gets taken. Hot Lips was originally called Drama Queen, but *somebody* beat me to registering that name so I had to change it. ;-p

FK is more of a bubblegum pink to HL's lipstick red. It's also somewhat more compact growing (although it's hard to tell that from these two plants), and shows its white spots a bit more. I think of her as more young and innocent, whereas big sister.................. well, let's just say she gets around. ;-)

At any rate, Michael tells me that he sees a bright future for Hot Lips, since the color doesn't seem to fade out in strong light the way so many of Grant's hybrids (and my other hybrids made from his) do. That has been my experience too, which is a big plus for me growing it under my brighter conditions.

I'm looking forward to the updates to my Pokédex.

Whoa!
I'll have what Bromadams is having!

Lisa - beautiful luscious lips on those girls of yours! Congratulations, and thanks for introducing the more light-tolerant additions :)

K

Kerry, you've never watched Pokemon? They wander around and when they find a pokemon they don't recognize they whip out the pokedex (a hand held electric device) and look it up. Professor Oak is always registering new pokemon and updating the catalog. Anyway, the fcbs photo bromeliad index has always reminds me of a pokedex. I guess fcbs would be the bromdex.

Thank god my kids are too old for that now, but I spent way too many years watching pokemon.

Aah! Thanks for the Pokeman education Bromadams/WL. I thought you were losing it for a while there :)

I know of that kids' phenomenon, but little about the nitty-gritty terminology. My kids didn't get into it so much.

By the amount of visits to the fcbs "bromdex", there are heaps of big kids, world-wide, playing that game too!

K

Yeah, I spend too much time on the bromdex myself, but how else are you going to learn this stuff.

Very nice plants both Lisa. Hot Lip and First Kiss, what lovely names. Hope I will get them someday.

Hi all

Japie: Glad to hear all the babies are well....And yes cant wait for summer!

Lisa....yes FK and HL are hot!

PS your little XNeomea munchkin, can she grow in full sun (sub-tropical)?

I've never tried Munchkin in full sun, Dennis, so I'm not sure. It's got Fireball in it, which burns in full sun here, although some of its crosses (i.e. Sunball) can take it. And Ae. recurvata is a real toughie, so it might be worth a try.

Thanks Lisa. Fireball cooks here too. Munchkin has a little munchkin coming up so I think I will put it to the test...I will let you know.