John, the red form is a notorious self-pollinator, so I would expect any seed from it to be selfed unless you emasculated it before the pollen was ripe. Var. benrathii, on the other hand, does not self and I have never been able to set seed on it with anything I've put on it. It might take another recurvata, though. Both make good pollen parents.

I'm currently nursing my own brood of recurvatas. I got these seedlings back in September and they are doing very well. I'm about ready to stick a few in some strategic places on some palm trees just to see if they take. Miraguama should be a good host. I'll try some others palm hosts as I have a lot of plants to work with.

Can anybody tell me if young plants will readily root terrestrially?

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Lisa,
I have been saving all the pollen I can. I want to try it in some of the Neo. pendula type plants when they flower (yes I know its a real long shot), so I should get some red form x benrathii seed. I open the flowers a day early, and grab the stamens before they open, then I leave them out until they do and freeze them. The flowers are hard to open before they are ready. It is as if they are locked!

Winterlager,
The var. benrathii seems like its better suited to growing in trees than the other forms, it does not get a real good root system in pots, the others do. The red form, Big Mamma sdlg, and normal recurvata all have large root systems, but none of the benrathii have good root systems in the pots. I have 6 small pots of them.

Personally, Winterlager, I would wait until they're mature before trying to plant them anywhere, whether in trees or in the ground. They're still tender and need a bit of coddling, and I just don't think the seedling roots will attach themselves to anything as vigorously as they would if you wait until they start to throw pups.

It's true that in nature the seed would germinate on a tree branch and grow there, but having tried this a few times I can tell you that it's a very slow process even under the best of conditions, and more die than make it. Also there's a big difference between a seedling rooting itself to a branch or rock from the very beginning and trying to transfer it there half-grown. The best time to attach broms to trees is when they are pupping, because the pup sends out a lot of new roots fairly quickly, and these will attach themselves to whatever they come into contact with.

John, I haven't noticed any difference between the different forms of recurvata in terms of the amount of roots they produce. My r.v. benrathii roots just as well as the others. I've never planted them directly in the ground, but I've stuck them into nooks and crannies of rockwork and they seem to do reasonably well there.

Lisa,
I have them all in pots and benrathii does not seem to grow root mass like the others, it also reminds me much more of a Tillandsia than the others. I have pups of all of them except the red form so far (I hope it pups). I suppose I'll try mounting some in the future. I have 6 pots of benrathii, and none came with or developed roots like the others, I am paying attention though.

Lisa, I was thinking of making use of the thick thatch on the Miraguama. I'll just try one or two and then wait, like you said, until they are older and starting to pup. I have more than I can ever use, so I'll be giving them away anyway.

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