Hi
everyone.

Lars
- Vriesea philippo-coburgii is a great plant and although originally a species
from Brazil, it’s one which I have grown for several years now and it’s strange
you mention “Paul’s Thread” as it was Paul who gave me my first pup of this
plant as he only lives about half an hour away from me and visits on occasion.

When
I first got this plant I found it grew like mad and produced pup after pup and
as fast as I removed them and gave them to friends, the more it seemed to
produce, but to my disappointment, never any sign of a flower.

It
wasn’t until I mentioned this to another grower who asked all the usual
questions about how and where I was growing it (it was in an old cut off hollow
tree stump portion, beneath the drip line of a Pepper Corn tree in about 75%
light). He said I seemed to be doing everything right and asked if it had
pupped, and when I told him of the massive pup production he immediately said “that’s
the problem”, you shouldn’t keep taking off the pups. As soon as I stopped
doing this it flowered the following year and has flowered every year since
with last year being its best with five flower spikes.

Apparently,
if you remove pups before it has made up into a decent size plant, the plant
will preferentially produce more pups instead of flowers, apparently this seems
to be a “survival trick” of Mother Nature to ensure the plant is well
established before it produces flowers. When they do finally arrive, the spikes
retain their colourful bracts for many months while at the same time continuing
to draw food from the mother plant.

You
say ,”When the spike first came out, it had a lot of dirt on it”, this is
pretty normal for garden grown plants, as debris accumulates in the centre of
the plant and gradually breaks down until it looks like dirt; in the same way
as it does in habitat. This dirt falls away as the spike grows and has no
detrimental effect on the plant; in fact as it mixes with and is diluted with
water it forms a sort of soupy weak liquid fertiliser which is continually
available to the plant; again just as it does in habitat.

You
say it was fairly expensive at $60, but that depends on what size the plant was.
By comparison, here in Australia I can buy a well advanced pup for about $12,
but then it’s a case of supply and demand and where I live the supply is high
and the demand low as almost every grower has it.

As
for the amount of light it can handle, I would recommend almost full light
except for the very hottest part of summer where it can sometimes suffer from
heat damage if exposed to unprotected midday sun. Strong light will produce
strong growth with tough light green leaves and good flowers, whereas shade
will produce strappy dark green growth with lower flower production.

I
have four different forms; the one I first got is the largest with the top of
the growth almost waist high and the flower spike as high as myself (5’ 10”).
The smallest one is just about 15” to the top of the foliage and the other two
come in sizes in between. All of these forms have yellow flowers but each has
different coloured bracts ranging from bright scarlet to a very pale (washed
out) pink which from a distance looks almost white.

I
find the leaf tips also an interesting feature as these too come in different
colours ranging from a light pinkish brown to a deep attractive red which is
further enhanced when grown in strong light.

We
shouldn’t forget either, that in habitat, this plant is a natural epiphyte and
I have also seen a couple of eye catching specimens mounted high up in trees
where they get maximum light.

It’s
a great plant and worthy of a place in any collection.

This is one of my friend Paul's plants showing the beautiful eye-catching red bracts which compliment the yellow flowers and stay in colour for many months after the yellow flowers have finished.

This plant with and inflorescence starting to emerge has very prominent leaf tip markings which are even evident on the new pup (lower centre of picture)

There is now a variegated form available in some countries although I've never seen one here where I live in Australia

Nothing can take away from the magnificence of this regal plant growing naturally in habit as seen here in the top of a tree fully exposed to unobstructed bright light.

All the best, Nev.

That information is very helpful, and now I can truly see that it can take a lot more sun than I have been giving it. I'm going to repot it after it stops blooming, and when it makes a large enough clump, I will transfer some of it into the ground.

I guess the demand for this plant is low in Los Angeles, even though it will grow well here. People here tend not to have bromeliads in their yards, with notable exceptions, but they will put cymbidium orchids in their yards, as well as epidendrums, and I also have both of those in my yards. I think if this plant had showier flowers it would be more popular here, but in clumps it looks showy enough for me!