# When to remove Brom Pups



## B&Y (Mar 10, 2007)

I'm hoping that someone on the board will be able to help me out. I have a couple of Brom pups that are starting to get fairly big. I am wondering when and if I should remove them? Also how do you remove them? Any help would be extremely appreciated. Thanks for your help! I've attached a picture of one of the Broms with the pup to give you an idea of how big the pup is in relation to the mother plant.


B&Y


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## Groundhog (Dec 17, 2006)

*Not yet!*

First, some bromeliads are naturally stolonifeous--meaning they form colonies via their stolons. There is no need to remove them, unless you want to start another planting (or maybe impress a babe). 

These include:

--many small neos, e.g., N. liliputina, ampullacea, pauciflora;
--Any clump forming tillandsia;
--Vriesea flammea, guttata, lubbersei, vagans;
--Aechmea farinosa, orlandiana;
--Guzmania musaica...

...The list goes on...

For those that are NOT stoloniferous, the rule is to remove the pup when it is 1/3 the size of the mother plant. 

So either way, you have time to think about it...


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## USCraig (Jul 25, 2007)

Your brom is Axel - You should let it get another inch or two taller before you remove it. 

It looks to be a 3rd to 1/2 the size of your mother, however, it still looks tight


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## Corpus Callosum (Apr 7, 2007)

Would this be considered 'axel'? It's got 3 pups that are coming out from inside the leaves.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Here is some good brom pupping information I got from a bromeliad society article...

"There are a number of types of offsets:
- Basal offsets. Most bromeliads produce these offsets directly from the base of the plant.
- Stoloniferous offsets. These are produced on stems from the base of the plant. They often make good hanging basket specimens.
- Central pups. Some plants offset from the centre of the cup, making it difficult to remove them without destroying the plant.
- Adventitious offsets. Produced out of unusual or abnormal places, such as some roots or buds, or from stems or leaves. Most commonly this refers to seedling-like growths that are common on such bromeliads as most species of alcantarea and some species of tillandsia.
- Viviparous offsets. These are produced from either the scape bracts (flower stem) or from the actual inflorescence."

They also recomend the 1/3 of mother size as the pup will continue to grow well after seperated from the mother, where pups taken smaller may "sulk" and not grow for a year or longer! Generally this is also the size in which the leaves for a nice rosette mimicing the adult plant. Do not pull off pups whose leaves have not started to develop into a rosette! The first pup pictured is definately not at this stage...

Going by the pic, I would argue that the pup is stoloniferus... just on a very short stolon (but still an easy to manage snip/slice when the pup is large enough). The base of the pup is not attached to the base of the mother plant like I associate with basal pups (and shown in your basal graphic). Truely basal pups are a pain to get off in my experience just cuz I always worry about hacking up the mother plant accidently  ESPECIALLY when the pups are between the mom's leaves! Ugh! The Neo. marmorata from the graphic is a much easier basal type to work with!


Corpus Callosum - yes, yours are basal.


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## B&Y (Mar 10, 2007)

Thanks everyone for all the information. Extremely helpful info you've all given me and it will come in extremely handy!

Thanks,

B&Y


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Just remember... you might need to invest in a good pair of hand pruners. Stolons have killed a few pairs of my scissors


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