Woo hoo! New bromeliads!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Paul Mc

Beautiful ones! I have two large ones that look like your purple mottled leaved ones.

I have a question for you though, how do you get yours to bloom? My two have spiked for several years but still have yet to pop those beautiful flowers out of the hard shell like spike.

I really haven't mastered how to bloom them on a regular basis.

They're very tricky like that.

But I suspect it would be a lighting issue and a temperature differential between not only seasons, but night and day as well.

The Tillandsias I'm currently growing can handle bright indirect light that Vandas thrive under.

I wouldn't expose the more shade loving Aechmeas and Neoregelias to bright light, they like more moderately bright indirect light to bright shade type situations.

Many Tillandsias are actually xeric (desert growers or inhabitants of very harsh and arid environments). There are a few Tillies that are mesic, but not frequently.

Neoregelias and Aechmeas are mostly mesic (rainforest growers or inhabitants of more humid environments).

Humidity may play a factor in it too for the mesic species. However, it doesn't have to be uncomfortably humid.

Try going to Central or South America, or the Caribbean Islands for a vacation one day. You'll see tons of bromeliads literally covering the trees. When I was on the islands of St. Vincent, Dominica, and the Grand Bahamas, they were everywhere. They're pretty much weeds. You should get a feel for how the mesic species grows in the wild. The beauty of it is you don't even have to go hiking in the jungles, they're on every woody tree they can attach themselves to, so even trees along the roadsides have them!

So far, I've only bloomed Tillandsia argentina, and T. lorentziana. Both not by design.

It takes a very long time for bromeliads to bloom. The inflorescence is rather slow to grow.

The flowers are very quick to fade however.

In my opinion, if the plant is about to bloom, or has put up an inflorescence, leave it alone. Don't move it around, they may not like that.

I bought the Aechmea gamosepala before all the flowers were about to fade out.

[Connie Star]

I love bromeliads, but I see them mostly in the wild. I don't have anything at home other than the Spanish Moss (Tillandsia?) growing around my orchids.
I thought you might like this picture of Dendrobates pumilio, the strawberry dart frog or blue-jean frog. Taken in Costa Rica, where they, and bromeliads, are very common.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Thank you, Connie!

Why of course I love the photo of the Blue Jean Strawberry Dart Frog (Oophaga pumilio - aka Dendrobates pumilio). I had a small group of them once. They are not the hardiest of the Dart Frogs, but they aren't overly difficult to keep either. They tend to be more heat sensitive than the Dendrobates ventrimaculatus. I love them though!

[Connie Star]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

Thank you, Connie!

Why of course I love the photo of the Blue Jean Strawberry Dart Frog (Oophaga pumilio - aka Dendrobates pumilio). I had a small group of them once. They are not the hardiest of the Dart Frogs, but they aren't overly difficult to keep either. They tend to be more heat sensitive than the Dendrobates ventrimaculatus. I love them though!

They are very common in Costa Rica. All over the place, in fact. One time when we were hiking in the Arenal area we watched a small non-descript snake chasing one along the ground. My hubby picked it up (the frog, not the snake) and carried it to safety.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Cool! Score one for the frog at the time.

[Tindomul]

Originally Posted by Connie Star

I love bromeliads, but I see them mostly in the wild. I don't have anything at home other than the Spanish Moss (Tillandsia?) growing around my orchids.
I thought you might like this picture of Dendrobates pumilio, the strawberry dart frog or blue-jean frog. Taken in Costa Rica, where they, and bromeliads, are very common.

love it, use to keep a pair (Bastimentos type, no blue jeans). I miss them.

[Izzie]

What darling Neos!!! Good luck with them, they look lovely!

[samarak]

Thanks for posting the pictures, Philip. Love the Aechmea. And I have some research to do, because I think I have the Neoregelia but got it with a different name. Very cute under any name, of course. (Someone gave me some noid Tillandsias at a show a couple of years ago - they have been growing and flowering, very happy, lying on a table with no pot, no dirt, no nothing except water and light, and there's about 3X as many now. Very tough.)

[DelawareJim]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

Photos of the new bromides!

The first two are of Aechmea gamosepala. The flowers are spent on the spike, but the colorful pink flower bracts are still around. This one is just under 2 ft tall.

The second two are of Neoregelia punctatissima var. rubra, a true miniature Neoregelia!

Yikes! 2 feet?!? I guess you'll be doing a vertical tank then. I know a lot of the dart frog folks in my area just got used fish tanks on Craigslist and got a vertical tank kit for it online.

Love the Neo. Let me know if you ever want any Neo. liliputiana. Might want to swap for one of your punct. pups when it gets larger.

Cheers.
Jim

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by DelawareJim

Yikes! 2 feet?!? I guess you'll be doing a vertical tank then. I know a lot of the dart frog folks in my area just got used fish tanks on Craigslist and got a vertical tank kit for it online.

Love the Neo. Let me know if you ever want any Neo. liliputiana. Might want to swap for one of your punct. pups when it gets larger.

Cheers.
Jim

Just measured the Aechmea gamosepala. With spike it came out to be about 16" tall (not including the roots, which would add an additional 4 to 5 inches).

Yeah, it'd have to be a fairly tall tank. I'm only putting one or two of the pups into the tank, I'm keeping some, and I may trade or sell a few of the others. This'll be after I'm done setting up the tank though.

Yeah, Neo. liliputiana sounds cool. I'll let you know when I'd feel comfortable in letting one of the pups go. Thank you!

I'm planning on getting some nice miniature to small sized Pleuros into the tank. Some Lepanthes, Lepanthopsis, Pleurothallis (basically the different genera that split off from Plths), Masdevallias (also the different genera that split off from Masd), Trisetellas, Scaphosepalums, Stelis, and Porroglossums.