I did miss it sure hopefully next year

Well we have cooled down to 95 and it will be even cooler this week so I am diving in. I tied it to a tree and still could not get the styrofoam pot out so out came the sawsall. God bless styrofoam. I used to stick my nose up at it as tacky but it gives some cold protection, It is light ( a good thing for a plant this large). I have had this pot for about 20 years. I repoted this plant many times. It makes babies prolifically. I finally cut the pot off. The roots had grabbed the surface but I was able to crobar the fragmnts off. I have heavy clay pots and I think I need light pot for this . Come our coldfronts , I need to transport it. I also need to lift it up to a perch because of the flowers. Too bad these styrofoam pots are only available at auctions now as far as I can tell from a quick google. I just shoot the hose at it to water it. It is somewhat terestial and not picky. I use a bark filled medium that I mix up. Those flowers are a good 2 feet..

If you are watering primarily in the cup, and supplying a dribble here and there to roots. All fertilizer salts are accumulating in the grow medium, which makes it continually more difficult for the plant to take up and move water efficiently. Eventually, as the level of dissolved solids/ salts in the grow medium continues to increase, water absorption will become impossible, or even act to pull water out of cells, reversing the normal process of osmosis and pulling water OUT of plant cells via the same mechanism curing salts 'pulls' water from the cells of meat destined to become bacon, jerky, ham, ..... . The technical name for what is occurring is 'plasmolysis', but more commonly it's known as fertilizer burn. The fix: Flush the soil on a regular basis. The grow medium looks very dense, so you might need to use something that allows you to flush the soil regularly w/o the need for concern the medium will remain wet too long and cause root issues related to either function or health. Al

I am certainly no expert, but it sure looks a lot like a Bromeiad. The only thing I see that is a bit troubling is the bloom spike does not come out of the center of the rosette of leaves as most Bromeliads I am familiar with do. I'll be watching for the answer to this one too. Bill