I have wanted to respond to this thread for quite awhile but have not had the time. I am also a guy who is very interested in plants. I am also a man who is interested in flowering plants. Because I have a soft almost feminine voice and enjoy growing African violets and their cousins I have more than once had someone conclude that I must therefore be gay. I assure you that this is not the case. I do however have a very good guy a friend who unfortunately passed away from AIDS. He also had a similar love of plants and this was partially the basis for our friendship. We traded leaves and cuttings to increase our collections. Larry

Yes, keeping the soil moist is enough. I would recommend taking off the moss that's covering the soil, though, because you actually do want the soil to dry out partially between thorough waterings. (The moss will reduce evaporation from the top of the soil, keeping the soil wetter longer.) Also, yes, they die after flowering, kinda -- the original plant dies, but it forms offsets which replace it. The offsets can be removed (you have to pull or cut them off, though it can be a little tricky to do so -- I don't know how to explain exactly, but you want to keep as much of the little stem connecting the offset to the parent plant with the offset) and rooted separately once they're about 1/2 to 2/3 the height of the parent. Offsets will rot instead of rooting if they're kept too wet, in too large of a pot (I use 3" or 4"), or in too heavy of a mix: you're best to start with a mix that's mostly composted bark, without a lot of peat, and then add some perlite and coarse, unchopped sphagnum moss -- something like a 2:1:1 ratio. If you don't want to put that much into it, look for a potting soil that's mostly made of composted bark, without a lot of peat, or buy some Miracle Gro and cut it with perlite in about a 2:1 ratio. Maybe 1:1, even. I dislike Miracle Gro, but it'll work for this. It sounds like more work than it is. (Keep in mind that you don't have to separate the offsets.) Removing offsets will, I think, encourage the plant to keep producing more. Give the plant at least bright indirect light (some sun is okay, but not all day long at full intensity), water when you can stick a finger in a couple inches and not feel any moisture, keep the temperature above 60F/16C, and don't put it in the direct path of any air-conditioning or heat vents. Guzmanias are one of the easier bromeliads to grow, has been my experience.

Yes, Rhizo has posted the instructions for the exchange forums specifically.....below are the rules for the rest of the forums... Those who have been following the rules on these forums for a number of years do develop a "watchdog" reaction when they witness abuse of the rules which are established for a reason. This thread is a perfect example of why it is important to follow the rules. When we see a thread of this nature in an inappropriate place, it means one of two things... A. The OP is either ignorant of or has no respect for the GW's structure and choose to ignore it. B. They know the rules, but think they can get away with it anyway. Whichever way you look at it, dismissing the rules for one's own personal benefit is automatically viewed as an act of rudeness and disregard for the rest of the members on the forum. The swift intervention of this type of post is necessary to insure that others won't try the same thing and turn these forums into something other than intended. Pirate_girl was fully justified in nipping this in the bud (I have done so myself and know many others who do the same)...those who don't believe that are not looking out for the future integrity of these forums. Without members like Pirate_girl and others, the forums would be a complete mess...a place no one would like to come. I do hope this post can end this thread and we can all get back to chatting about houseplant issues. Thanks! BTW: Here are the rules for the rest of the forums: "Instructions * Before posting a message, make sure you have chosen the most appropriate forum from the list. Off-topic posts will be deleted at our discretion. Please do not post the same message to multiple forums. * You may want to search the site to see if your question has already been answered by another user. * Since the subject line of your message is indexed for searching, try to include important keywords in the subject. Do not post messages with subject lines in all capitals or consisting of simple subjects like "Help!" * Posting a message is a two step process. You will first have a chance to preview your message and verify its contents. * After posting your message, you may need to reload the forum page in order to see it listed. * HTML codes are allowed in the message field only. * No advertising is allowed in any of the forums. * A special test forum has been provided if you just want to see how the forums work. * If you have trouble logging in, please see the member services page. * See the Help Page if you are having problems or have further questions."

I've gotten another response on this already, so I'm probably good. Thanks for responding, though. Don't let that discourage you from posting the picture, or a link to the picture, if you want. Might get a positive ID off it, and it's always entertaining to look at people's pictures.