Hi everyone.

Junglemel - Your plant looks like Vriesea var. ospinae gruberi.

The colour range can be quite variable, however if you go to the "species section" of the FCBS Photo Index at: http://fcbs.org/pictures.htm you will see some typical examples.

If you just Google "ospinae gruberii images" you will see many pictures of different colour example for comparison as well as some examples of the brilliant yellow inflorescence.

All the best, Nev.

Given time it will actually grow a "trunk".

Nev, thank you! What threw me off is that it's making so many pups at such a small size compared to many of those photos that I looked through online. Variable species makes sense though.

Gonzer, a trunk sounds interesting....thanks for the info. I don't have but one other Vriesea in my (medium sized?) collection and it's just one of those Home Depot hybrids. So I'm excited to see how it grows!

As it gets bigger and bigger and the trunk becomes a bit unsightly, I cut the top off about four inches below the bottom leaves and replant it.

I find if you give the old plant (remaining trunk) a good dose of fertilizer, it will continue to produce pups from the dormant eyes on the stalk..

Oh wow. Good to know if I decide it's looking ugly with it's trunk someday I can do the same. Learn something new everyday.

i seriously doubt that V ospinae gruberi would be sold by HD. but who knows?

i got this one on green market in FL - sold as Vriesea chestnut. but to me it looks more like V. chestnut x hieroglyphica or even V. hieroglyphica.

chestnut has pretty well defined stripes, which i don't see here.

and mine looks just like yours, i think.

Hey Petruska, thanks! I didn't buy it at HD, we have a lot of garden centers that source from a variety of wholesalers, local greenhouses and orchid importers. That's one of the best parts of living in Florida, if you're a plant person. We get all kinds of neat things locally no matter the part of FL you live in.

The color does look just like yours. Looking at it from the same angle, it is a possibility?

oh, what beauties, splinter! thanks for posting pics!

my seller did say it had a yellow spikey inflo. i kinda imagined smth like the last photo.

by the way, junglemel, do you think your plant have bloomed or not yet? so many big pups - mine has none. i have V. splendens that blooms for me (just spotted the spike a week ago), so i am pretty sure i can bloom this one too. Once you get the spike, it's easier to guess what it might be.

Clearly it has V. ospinae gruberi in it, hybrid or not. Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait for it to flower. It doesn't appear to have flowered yet, I can't find even the remains of a spike, despite the number of pups.

when it does flower - post the pic here! i'll post mine too and then we can compare :).

i still have mine. it has not flowered. no pups. some grass pups that i removed and tried to root but they failed. it developed a tall trunk and is leaning . i keep it in a tall box so it's not so unsightly. had to tie it up to my Ficus for support. what now?

i searched here and found that i can cut it 4" below the lowest leaves and pot up. do i need to wait to dry up the cut? do i need to remove some of the lower leaves to expose a fresher trunk for rooting? i'll post the pic tomorrow.

otherwise it's doing quite well, all this time indoors too in west window : some dappled sun part-time, some direct too, but mostly thru sheers.

So here are the pics:

Can such a large top root succefffully? i would not want to loose it to experiment!

Should i remove some of the bottom leaves?