Hi everyone.

leggs - It looks to me that you've overdone the water and your plants could be rotting. If the dead bit pulls out after giving it a gentle tug and the centre of the plant "stinks", that will confirm my suspicions.

Something worth knowing is that more plants are lost through over watering than under watering and if in doubt as to whether a plant requires watering, best put off the watering for another couple of days. Finally, never stand your pot in a saucer of water.

The best way to tell if they require watering is to compare the weight of the plant before watering and after watering, then by just feeling the weight you will know for sure.

All the best, Nev.

Keep an eye out for small offsets which can be separated from the mother plant before it dies. It's by growing those progeny, and theirs once they flower, that you will see those lovely flowers again.

Gradually the original rosette collapses as multiple side shoots from the same rootstock grow up around it. Since it's all off the same root the plant isn't really dying, just replacing the top. In the wild this serves to make a little compost pile on the branch where the epiphytic bromeliad is perched - although the roots of these specialized plants mostly serve to grip the branch, with the little ecosystem in the pool of water filling the center of the leaf rosette being the main source of moisture and nutrition (always keep the center of the plant full of water).

Thanks, all! They came home from the store looking like this (and with the soil dry as a bone), so it sounds like what I need to do is water them moderately and wait for baby rosettes to appear in the soil around the base. Is that correct? Should I transplant so as to give them more room or fertilize to make propagation faster/more robust? If not those things, is there anything I can do to aid the new babies in growing (faster)?

Check the recent $1 bromeliad thread for a couple longish posts about similar plants.

They don't need a lot of soil. Removing the pups early is a bad idea in the fall. Room to grow and bright indirect light without direct sun. Fertilize 1/2 strength or less.

It will take a year or two to get new flowers, maybe longer.

I would put some general fertiliser around the pots as these plants like their food and it will give you stronger pups.