In a former life, I used to work with inbred mice. The minimum number of generations of brother X sister mating was 20 consecutive generations before an "inbred strain" was considered established. In many cases, the number far exceeded F20. The advantage in that situation was that after 20 generations, the resulting population was considered to be genetically identical (or close to it). This has terrific potential in medical research. Theoretically, genetics is no longer a variable. A particular trait can be "highlighted" with inbreds. A rare mutant trait may become normal in all individuals. As bambi pointed out, fatal traits are often highlighted by chance instead of "desirable" traits. It is rare to get inbreds to F20 because they simply die out! In plants, this may or may not be desirable. Each individual will eventually appear identical. Nurseries would go broke--no variety! --Stitz--

Right now my back yard is pretty full of bromeliads, and I have I don't know how many different kinds, from pineapple to Portea petropolitana extensa. I also have Meyer lemon, Eureka lemon, blood orange, Kaffir lime, bay tree, white sapote, cherimoya, avocado, banana, papaya, Fuji apple, Bearss lime, and some shrubs. I also have a large collection of orchid cactus (epiphyllum) and a small collection of orchids, mostly epidendrums and cymbidiums, plus some cattelaya, dendrobium, and several others that I do not know the names of. I have one tiny orchid that makes flowers with an intense coconut fragrance. I also have quite a few South African succulents in the back yard. My dill is making flowers now, but I have basil, chives, Greek oregano, Italian oregano, and rosemary. I used to have some mint, but I don't know what happened to it. I also have a couple of chocolate Habanero plants that appear finally to be growing, but I probably won't get chilies from them until December. Here's a bromeliad that is just now blooming after my having it almost four years:Vriesea Mint Julep. Here are some more bromeliads in the pergolaHere are some in the back yard in front of my pitaya plant:I have to keep moving them around, and some of them cannot take too much sunlight, which makes this a somewhat difficult time of year. Anyway, I am trying to make my back yard a very pleasant place to relax while I am recuperating. I very much enjoy looking at all my flowers plus the hummingbirds and other birds that visit the yard. I need to clean out the fountains, but that can wait.

Hi everyone. Noteybook (5) - You mention a bromeliad you call "red hot pokers" By this do you mean Vriesea 'Splendriet'? (See picture below) If this is the plant you mean, you may have a problem with this in the cold weather as well. I find even here where I live in an Australian temperate climate close to the sea, they do suffer cold damage in the cooler winters when grown in a shade house with my other bromeliads. However, there is information available as to what plants are suitable for what areas and this could be a better guide for you when selecting plants (See link below); or better still, try and locate local growers and get advice from them. http://www.fcbs.org/articles/cold_sensitivity_of_bromeliads.htm Vriesea Splendriet All the best, Nev.

Hi everyone. Mr Blubs – First of all let me say that your plant is definitely a Vriesea, but as for a cultivar name, I can’t help. It’s probably one that’s commercially produced in their thousands by tissue culture to be sold as a substitute for cut flowers. It’s always interesting to take up a challenge such as a brom rescue and it’s usually very rewarding. Bromeliads are very resilient plants and it takes a lot to kill them so just because they may look a bit “rough” doesn’t mean they are going to die, in fact quite the opposite often applies as “Mother Nature” has included a survival system within each plant. Whenever these plants are severely stressed by various causes such as, neglect, excessive heat, excessive cold, injury from objects falling on them, over watering, under watering, and even diseases such as rot, this survival system come into operation and the plant immediately begins to activate a plan to reproduce itself. This can be done in two ways, by producing pups or producing flowers which in turn can produce seeds. Once this is done the foundation for new plants are in place, and your plant demonstrates this by already producing new pups. Plants like yours are marketed with the intention of taking the place of a “bunch of flowers” so that when the flower dies off, the plant is tossed out and another is bought to take its place. Therefore the medium around the roots was never intended to make the plant grow; it was just there to support the plant and act as an embellishment to make it more appealing to the eye of the purchaser. In fact, quite often these plants are sometimes an attractive looking pot which often doesn’t even have any drainage holes. Looking at your plant, it seems to me it’s suffering a bit from under watering; this assumption is based on the age old rule that (1) Brown leaf tips means Not Enough Water; and (2) Yellow leaf tips means Too Much Water. This could be a direct result from the way it has previously been potted and the mix it’s been potted in. You say, “The plant appears to be a plug, so there’s only a bit of dirt surrounding the roots and the rest was that fake moss”. Obviously your plant is also suffering from lack of nutrition as well, as the fake moss is an inert substance with no nutritional value and the little bit of nourishment in the soil would have previously been used up. Look at how these plants grow in nature; they usually grow attached to trees and therefore have their roots exposed to the air and never remain wet for very long. Obviously in pots we can’t expose the roots to the air, but we can do the next best thing and make sure they are in a mix that is open, free draining and doesn’t stay continually wet. This is a general requirement for all bromeliads that normally grow as epiphytes in nature. Bromeliads will grow in almost any medium that drains well, does not pack down, and provides stability. A ready-made, good quality commercial “all-purpose potting mix” or bark based “orchid potting mix” can be used as the base for a suitable bromeliad mix. To this you can add any number of ingredients depending on what’s available to you. The most common other ingredients that come to mind are, Tree Fern fibre, Coco Peat pieces, Perlite, Charcoal, small Polystyrene pieces, small sized gravel or Skoria, Pumice, pine bark, fir bark, coarse river sand, broken up brick pieces and no doubt many others. These are all good additives if they are available, and will all help to make the mix open and free draining while base mix ingredients will still retain sufficient moisture without staying wet. I have used all these ingredients successfully based on mixtures of 50% all-purpose potting mix and 50% of a combination mixture of some of these other ingredients listed. e.g. 50% all-purpose potting mix, 10% small polystyrene pieces, 10% charcoal, 20% Coco Peat pieces, 10% small Skoria. Alternatively if you can get a good quality bark based orchid potting mix, 50% of this could be mixed with 40% all-purpose general potting mix and 10% of either Perlite, charcoal, pumice or any of the other above inert ingredients to help keep the mix open and well-draining. The important consideration is that the potting mix must drain rapidly and not remain wet. With a plant in a condition such as yours I would give I a good soaking in one of the good quality basic Seaweed supplements on the market; these aren’t fertilisers but act more like a “tonic” or a “pick-me-up” which is what your plant needs initially. Once the plant is settled into its new mix and after being watered in, you could give it a misting of a half strength foliar fertiliser; this would give it an immediate boost of food and nutrients much quicker than any of the slow release types usually applied to the potting mix. I hope some of this advice is of help to you, but remember, the above information is just a guide on how I would treat this plant if it were mine, based on my conditions and the potting ingredients available to me here in Australia. All the best, Nev A few Vrieseas and Guzmanias in my shade house