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Do bromeliad flowers produce seed

17 years ago

Hi. I have a Queen's Tears that sent up a number of flower stalks which are now drying. Do they by any chance produce viable seed if allowed to remain on the plant? I also wanted to know if I should separate the babies from the original plant? I have a few bromeliads that I've just allowed the offsets to continue growing along side of the plant that's already flowered.

Karyn

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Comments (3)

hotdiggetydam
17 years ago
that particular plant looks better grown in large clumps and clean away dead as it appears and all broms produce seed ..the trick is to know when the seed is viable...Lisa can tell you that better than anyone I know.. maybe she will post some info here
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LisaCLV
17 years ago
Queen's Tears is Billbergia nutans. It probably won't set seed if it's not pollinated. B. nutans has been used in a lot of hybrids, but I don't know if it will self-pollinate or not. Some species do and some don't, but you'd probably have to try hand-pollinating it to find out. You'd see juicy green berries forming if it did. If the old inflorescences look dried up already then there isn't going to be any seed, so you can just cut them off.

From a practical standpoint though, if all you want is to get more of the same thing, it's much easier to propagate by division. Billbergias tend to look and grow better if you leave them in clumps, but if you want to start more you can remove some of the pups and start them up on their own. Just wait until they are about half the size of the mother plant before you cut them off. This is one of the easier species to grow.
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I do not personally hybridize dahlias, but I do take a keen interest in the different techniques and natural processes of dahlia hybridization. With this disclaimer, here are my thoughts on your questions: 1- that single flower is a mutation of the normal variety, and there is a chance that other blooms on that lateral branch may be different, as well. If you have a whole branch of these desirable blooms and wanted to try to overwinter that specific mutation (called a 'sport'), you could try to root several cuttings from that branch and grow the cuttings through the winter. I would suggest taking cuttings as low as possible on the sported branch to increase the likely hood of rooting, and to avoid taking a cutting with terminal ends ( tips of stems that will have buds on them instead of new growth). It's possible that, even after successfully rooting a late-season cutting, the blooms will revert to the mother plant's original blooms. 2- any seed from any bloom on that plant has potential to have seedlings with that single bloom's color, as it is quite obvious that it is already in that cultivar's genome. But the form and color will most likely vary drastically from seedling to seedling. If the donor parent is Cafe Au Lait, there's more of a chance of that color in your seedling batch. Hope this helps. CiCi
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I'm not even sure they all necessarily die after flowering. Mine certainly doesn't. And it produced offsets before flowering too. Mine's and Aechmea. Paul yours must be tiny if it's in a 2-3 inch pot. Give the poor thing a chance. And a picture would really help so we can id it before we pontificate.
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karyn1
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks. I was wondering about seed because the spent QT flowers are kind of fat and green now. I only have a few bromeliads and hate to admit that I pretty much neglect them. I only remember they're there when I see a flower stalk pop up. lol
Karyn
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