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Tropical Plants - Australia

Growing Bromeliads from seed

21 years ago

Can anyone give me advise on growing Bromeliads from seed.Is it something that can be done easily. I have only just noticed the little seeds that can be squeezed from the tiny flowers of Neos when they are mature.

I'd love to give it a go,mind you my garden is always full of little experiments.

Have you come across any helpful sites??

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Comments (4)

gardenlen
21 years ago
you could maybe do a search for bremelaid sites/clubs and pose the question to them.

but i was buying some broms off a grower once and he had all these muslin type bags, like little pillows with what he said was the seeds from broms sticking out of them. the medium he used was a humusy type medium, so it can be done.

len
chris_rex
21 years ago
Try this one for a start
http://www.fcbs.org/ navigate to Bromeliad Information->Culture->Growing from Seed.
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Hi Nev. I agree about the quarantine laws, they're there for very good reasons. Unfortunately it becomes a bit ridiculous with bromeliads--you have to appreciate the irony of the situation: A person on one of the continents from which broms originated and still inhabit trying to get specimens from another person where broms were never native is met with prohibitive laws! A quick tangent here, always thought it was strange that for how prolific many bromeliads are they were almost completely exclusive to the Americas (exception being that Pitcairna species that made it over to Africa). If memory serves bromeliads are one of the newest plants on the block in terms of evolution, so that might have something to do with it. Back on topic, I'm in the US and I believe laws are more forgiving when it comes to seeds. The aforementioned B. hechtioides came from seed which came from France. Not sure if the vendor had much trouble, but at least on my end there were no issues receiving it. I'll have to do some more digging around to find some bromeliad seed sources, but if it turns out sending seeds from AU to US is a simple process I'd gladly try my hand at anything you have to offer.
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Spike110
21 years ago
I've had good success striking them on top of a comercial seed raising mix and then put the pot in a plastic bag till they germinate and start establishing.
During the 'Wet' I've just sprinkled a fine layer of river sand over the seeds and forgotten about the bag.
Also struck them on Sphagnum Moss and inside the husk of a coconut (these struck well but may be interesting seperating them out when the time comes).
cheers,
Peter
alisonoz_gw
21 years ago
I did try with some Aechmea and Neos a couple of years ago - squeeze the seed out into a little jar of water, shake around like mad to separate off the pulp, may have to do a couple of times. Spread out on paper towel and remove the seed from what's left over.
I grew them in a mixture of spagnum & sand just surface sown but I don't think they are very fussy. Just can't let them dry out so definitely need to put in plastic or under glass. Also the medium should not be too woody otherwise you may get fungus or lichens. They need a bit of patience, I didn;t have enough. Tillandsias and other winged seed can be attached to cork or wood and will germinate I have a lot that just germinated by attaching to paling fences or tree branches.

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