I'm definitely no expert, but I'll pass on what I've often heard from reliable sources: If you place a brom inside a sealed plastic bag with a banana peel or a piece of extremely ripe fruit, the ethylene gas released from the fruit will cause the brom to start flowering. I'm not sure how long you need to leave the bag sealed. I recently read where someone recommended three days.

Florel will do the trick. Here is a link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Florel on ebay

Hi There, from NZ experience (and also a VERY harsh recent winter in Auckland)...if you are getting flax and cordylines freezing in winter (some of the most cold hardy plants I know)- then I'm sorry, not much in the brom world is going to survive outside in your NW USA winters. Most broms only need ONE night of bad frost (minus 3 to 5 Deg C) and will badly burn all over the exposed leaves. Maybe set up a small shadehouse if you can, with 30-50% shadecloth in summer, then you can overlay it with frost cloth in the harshest winter months to keep them protected ?
Hope that helps, Graeme

I heard that if you put a bromelaid in a bag (keep it opened a little) and dont water it in the bag it will fruit, if the bag has a bruised apple or something like that in it. From that time it should take about 2-4 months before it reached full bloom so I would try it around march so you have some nice flowers for the summer.

Also as far as bromelaids surviving by you, the only one I can think of is maybe ball moss, or spanish moss, Both of which grow on trees. Its techincally considered a bromelaid but probably not the one you are thinking of.

Their are some that will come back from a freeze (slowly) but if its a bad freeze or a prolonged one they are gone. I would say most are cold tolerant to a zone 9b.

Good luck!

Hi Rainydaywoman.
Bromeliads which naturally grow in Chile, or southern Brazil, would be the most likely to survive in your garden.
If you contact me through "My Page" on this forum, I could send you a list of broms which did and didn't survive an unprecedented, prolonged frost in my garden.

Cheers,
Kerry

Florel will do the trick, Kyle, but it's kind of overkill for just one plant. Just a couple of tablespoons in a 16 oz. hand sprayer is enough to treat about 3 dozen plants, and you'd only need to do it once, so it's hardly worth investing in a whole bottle unless you have a sizeable collection. It's not cheap and it's not 100% safe to use either.

The ripe fruit in a bag method is less predictable, but it's cheap, fairly easy and has no health risks for the user.

I have allways used ripe apples for it ,when i do wish to induce flowering i just sit the whole apple in the centre of the plant and a week later remove it ,it mostly works well ,and if it does not ? well it matters not there is allways next time hmmm? Jack