Hi emery73 - I once read an article called "Look after your mothers". This related to bromeliads which had flowered and were producing or had produced pups. The writer of the article advocated heavily feeding the mother plant to help make up for the nourishment she lost while producing the pup/s and prompt her to have more "kids". I tried this theory out and found that I got a better production of pups which were bigger and stronger than I had previously obtained when I didn't feed the mother. Prior to that time I didn't feed the mothers at all as I had been told once they had flowered they were at the end of their life and it was all down hill from there. I am probably a bit too cautious but I wait until the pups are about three quarters the height of the mother which is much bigger than my friends do, but I find this works well for me and by waiting a little bit longer, I can safely take them off at any time of the year (where I live, we don't get very cold winters). By doing it this way, on average I only get about four pups from a plant, but they are good strong pups and grow well for me without any set-backs.

My Labrador also developed a taste for Broms, she would only eat my favourite ones though. I was able to remove my singular plants out of her reach, she grew out of eating things at about 2years old. I have been told that Epson salts in the cups will stop a dog eating Broms, it apparently sends them to the lavatory in a hurry and they soon associate eating Broms with bad bodily functions - I have not tested the theory. Rick

Hello, I've got 6 commons species/hybrids of Cryptanthus with no name tags. So I would like know your opinion on those 6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 My guess : N°1 : Crypt. 'Ruby' N°2 : Crypt. bivittatus hyb ? N°3 : Crypt. bivittatus hyb ? N°4 : Crypt. 'Marian Oppenheimer' N°5 : Crypt. zonatus N°6 : Crypt. 'Glad' Don't pay attention to the dead leaves, they're not quite healthy because of a lack of humidity during the past winter... Thanks Bonus : One of my 'Princess Di' pup after a rainy day. Have a nice day. Stan

Yeah, but what part of Florida are you in? A bromeliad grower friend in central FL says they're pretty marginal there. If it gets so hot where you are that water boils in the cups of bromeliads, I think rotting is the least of your problems! :-) Boy, I don't know. No, I don't think oak leaves would do it, although they do contain a lot of tannins, but most broms enjoy a little leaf tea. What they really don't like is anything containing copper, and that includes water dripping off treated wood. As far as putting insecticide or fungicide in it, I'm kind of opposed to indescriminately nuking things with chemicals, especially if you don't know what's going wrong. If the rot is bacterial, neither of those things is going to do any good, and you run the risk of burning the foliage if it's too strong (especially in that boiling water!) On a side note, Ae. blanchetiana is from coastal Brazil, and is one of the most salt-tolerant bromeliads-- good for beach-side plantings.