The general consensus is to never fertilize a dry plant, and it's probably good advice to follow, even though in the end it all depends on how strong the fertilizer solution is. If the level of solutes in the fertilizer solution is greater than the level of solutes in the plant's cells. it can restrict the plant's ability to absorb water and nutrients. In extreme cases, it can actually reverse osmotic flow and 'pull' water from plant cells and cause the cell plasma to collapse and pull away from cell walls, killing the cells. We call this fertilizer burn, but the tech term is plasmolysis. If the level of solutes in the fertilizer solution is low (fertilizing at 1/8 - 1/4 strength), and the plant is in need of fertilizing, there would be no harm in using low dosages of fertilizer solution to water with, even if the plant is dry; but if you're not confident in how things will play out, it's better to be safe and follow the adage because residual soil salts also enter into the equation. Mother nature doesn't shut off the availability of nutrients just because her plants are blooming. There are many horticultural manipulations we can undertake to make a plant do what WE want it to do, and manipulating the timing, amount, and ratios of the nutrients we deliver is one of those things. There is, however, no good reason from the perspective of o/a plant vitality to withhold nutrients from a plant because it is in bloom. Al

Hi Dan, First time I've really had the chance to sit down at the computer for a couple of weeks, so I'll give it a go. I'm sure others will add to it, and if they disagree, then I get to learn too! 1. I'm not really sure if overwatering can be a problem by itself, but two things might happen depending on other factors: First is nutrients. If you continually flush all the nutrients away with tap water, then the plant will be starved. Then again, if you keep adding new nutrients with frequent foliar feeding or occasional slow release, then this should not be a problem. Second is drainage of the growing medium. If the drainage is too slow for the amount of watering and the plant ends up sitting in a stagnant soggy mess, then you can be pretty certain it will rot, especially if the air circulation is poor. If the growing medium drains very quickly and does not get soggy, I would be surprised if any amount of periodic watering would cause a problem - although it would be interesting if people have found otherwise. 2. Main cause of limp leaves is not enough light. Some Neos won't develop their brightest colours if they get too much fertiliser and their foliage might be more elongate than if starved, but if the light is strong enough for that variety, then the leaves generally should not be limp. I have an Aech. nudicaulis v. aequalis that gets its cup flushed with fresh 1/2 strength liquid fertiliser every 2 weeks or so and little other watering in its cup, but growing in full sun all morning it is compact and brightly coloured. This assumes that the fertiliser or growing medium (or gunge collecting in the cup) has a reasonable balance of nutrients. If the plant is short of potassium and calcium then you can expect limp foliage, and this will be exaggerated if nitrogen is high. I've found phostrogen brand "all purpose" to be good for soluble (N:P:K=14:4:22 plus traces except Ca), but I don't know much about slow releases - mainly because I haven't been able to get my hands on one yet that has a nutrient balance that I like - all the ones I see have high N. 3. If it is just the very bottom leaves going tubular every so often as each one reaches the end of its normal life, then that would be normal ..... um, did I really type that? Anyway, I hope you know what I mean. 4. Like just about everything else alive, broms need to get some copper. The fertiliser I use has Cu at .0055%w/v and seems to work well. 5. Re the orchid fertliser, there are some around with very high nitrogen. If it is one of those I would not use it, otherwise as for 2. 6. I can always find a few scale around out in the garden if I look hard enough, but I would only worry about it if it became obvious enough to disfigure the plants. A major infestation could certainly cause a lot of damage but this is not something that I've ever had to deal with in broms (orchids? now that's a different matter). If it did happen, I would suspect that there is something about the growing environment that is putting the plants under stress and weakening their resistance. If the picture involves limp foliage as in point 2, then insufficient potassium and/or calcium (or maybe other nutrients?) could certainly be suspected. Anyway, hope this helps. Best of luck with the brom growing. Cheers, Paul

Pineapples flower when they have cool short days. "Cool" for pineapples means something like 10C to 15C minimums. But they are sometimes gassed (commercially) to make them flower at the same time. One of the gasses they respond to is ethylene, which is given off by fruit. So what you can do is enclose a few apples with your plant in a plastic bag for a week or so. Flowering should start in a few months. Don't let the plant cook in the plastic. It needs cool short days at that time.

I've just inherited a garden with two kangaroo paw plants. As advised on various websites,I've pruned the stems of spent flowers but I'm hesitant about fertilising the plants with normal fertiliser. Is it true native plants need special fertiliser? Could someone please advise me? I'd like to look after this garden properly.