Hi there! The pictures are of a Guzmania Bromeliad that iv had a short time, I know enough about it to know its dying since it had flowered when I bought it and it has now produced pups! I tried to find out how to care for the plant and its pups but was met with a list of hundreds of different types of this plant I went through several hundred and didnt find one which looked like mine! Obviously if someone can tell me the specific type or this plant I will happily research all this myself but if anyone has any info id really appreciate it! I noticed that the centre red flower had gone black at the tips and the centre of the flower had gone browny/green amd slimy, I looked that up and it said the plant will now die and thats why it has reproduced with the two pups! The site said to remove these and repot them but the parent would now die off! I unpotted it, removed the soil to expose the roots and tried to pull the pups off, they seemed to come away easily but it seperated from the roots of the parent so had no root hanging from it on either pups, I put it into some compost and watered the soil and down the inside. I dont know if I have maybe seperated them from the parent too soon they are about 2-3 inches tall? Im hoping that the pups will root but not sure if iv done it wrong and killed them, i only did it days ago so will have to wait? Iv read that putting an apple in with the pups once bigger will make them flower, but if it will just die after it flowers it seems a shame to make it flower although it looks nicer. Any idea how big the plant will get fully grown and how long it will live if it never flowers? How many pups should one plant produce? Is there any way to save the parent plant? Maybe by removing the red flower part? I repotted it again and pulled out most of the slimy centre bit that had died off? Thanks again for any help you can give me on this plant!
There is no way to save the parent plant - it's bloomed, it's finished. The end. The difficulty you're having in pinning down a species si likely due to the fact that there are also zillions of cultivars. Check the cultivars of G. lingulata - that's the most common of the cultivated species. The pups will more than likely root for you - they're pretty tough little plants, and as long as you don't overwater them, they'll be fine. Personally, I'd be popping a zip baggie overtop of the pot you've got them in, then leaving them in a warm area until they start to put out new leaves. (It's the cheapest and easiest way to make a mini-greenhouse for starts.) You might also want to look into making a log for them, since Guzmania are epiphytes, not terrestrials (they prefer roots in air, not in soil - certainly, that's how they grow in the wild here - on trees.) The easiest way to do this is to take a 2-3" diameter piece of PVC and wrap it in cork sheeting, which is available at craft stores. Use silicon or hot glue as an adhesive to stick the cork to the pipe, then use garden twine to hold the pups onto the cork. They'll eventually develop their own holdfasts, and you won't need the twine at that point. This way, you'll never get a root-rot situation. Other than that, probably the best place to keep them is in your bathroom - warm, humid environments are best for Guzmania. Water by misting the plants. If you never let your bromeliads bloom, they can get quite large (up to 60-70 cm across). However, with Guzmania in particular it's pretty hard to do that, and even if you pinch the bloom spike when you see it, the mother plant will still die (it knows it was flowering, even if it never got to) - so you might as well enjoy the blossoms when they come. Part of the reason that most houseplant bromeliads stay small is that they're grown in the wrong medium - most are epiphytes, rather than soil-dwellers, and they get stunted and choked with their roots covered. You may find that your pups get bigger than you expected on the "log" I detailed above.
Wow thats great info, thanks sooo much, never had a clue about the not being in soil thing lol Will put a bag over them in the morning, iv got one over my venus fly trap that should be ok for this too! Will let them root like you said an get them out the pots, its hard to picture what you mean about twinning them to a log, if you had a pic of one you had done it would be great, not blue peter i know lol I take it its a waste of time trying to identify it, just the general care for any bromeliad should cover it? Its a shame not to be able to save the parent but i guess thats nature, if there isnt really a way to stop them flowering and dying il just enjoy them while i can and keep planting its pups, once they are sorted il move um to the bathroom! Should i rince any soil off the roots so they are clean before i twine them to the log? Can i just use a log instead of making a fake one? You said if i NEVER let them bloom they will get bigger, but you said that even nipping of the bud wont stop it dying because it knows its flowering? I take it its hit and miss if it dies or not?
Put that name G. lingulata into google images and it came up with my plant so its the closets iv got, am pretty happy with that lol Thanks again for your help on that Lorax! ;-)
This is what my friend Lorax was describing. The only difference is I went "nuts" and didn't make a small one. I started with two or three Bromeliad plants on my fake "tree" and now have tons. These plants don't have roots but instead "hold fasts". All they do is attach the plant to the host. They draw no water or nourishment from the tree, instead they need clean water inside their cones on a regular basis as well as bright light. Just use Liquid Nails glue to glue the hold fasts to the cork and wrap the base with sphagnum moss. It will take close to 6 months to fully attach but after that will just reproduce and spread. Many tropical plants grow as epiphytes so you can add many different species, just check to see if they are epiphytic. If you mist them regularly and keep the sphagnum moss around their bases damp (not wet) they will thrive. Steve
I have a boring corner in my balthroom which nothing can fit in! If i get a big long pole from floor to ceiling and cover it in moss, can i get them to live on that? that would look great! id love to see what they look like on logs etc, iv only seen it in a pot lol
You could wire them to a moss pole but they need something solid such as cork bark for the hold fasts to attach. They also need bright light. Steve
Hiya steve, my bathroom is really bright so i think that should be ok, will wrap in in cork bark like you have suggested. Im guessing this is one of these things that will take years to get fully set up but im sure itll be fun watching it all progress. Again i know this isnt blue peter but it would be great to see some examples or ones people have allready had going for a while, will have a look see online if i can find an example of it. Thanks again
Meesh, what Steve showed in his attachment is a fully covered Bromeliad log made in the way I told you. I can show you some pics of how these things grow in nature, if you like - that's what you're really going for with a setup like we've described. The really fun thing would be to go back to Tesco's and other large chain stores and rescue more bromeliads from them to fill in your log....
Ah I did see that pic but couldnt see what it was, cany open it to get a good look since the page just freezes, if you have pics id love to see them! You guys have been a great help, cant thank you enough, this plants identity has been driving me bonkers for a while now! ;)
