# Flowering Brom



## Guest (Feb 16, 2004)

Here are a few pictures I took today:
















As far as I remember it is a Neo Fireball x lilliputiana cross.


Benjamin Green


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2004)

*and a few more.....*

and a few more....
















from a Bill. 'smokey rose'

Enjoy,
Benjamin Green


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

Very Nice! I had one bloom a long time ago, but most of mine just pup now instead (or I miss the bloom). I think one of my Vrieseas is starting to put up a bloom. Also my L. discolor is going to flower! I can't wait and plan on taking pics when it does. Thanks for sharing.


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## Kase (Feb 15, 2004)

*WOW*

Man those are some brilliant photos! I was wondering, how do you get a brom to flower? Also, when they pup, what do you do? Do you cut the root off? I've always wondered about this, never knew.
Thanks


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2004)

I would just be guessing if I tried to answer the part about getting them to bloom. All the broms I have that have flowered went through a dry spell, but that could be totally wrong. Now to remove the pups I just cut theh woody root near the adult plant. 

Benjamin


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

*propagating broms*

I would wait til the pups put on a little size and just cut the woody stem like ben said. This works for the Neoregelias, but the Guzmanias, Vrieseas, and
Cryptanthus are very different. The Cryptanthus pup off the sides and even the tops. Let these gain some size and they just pull right off, then plant then. The Guzmanias and Vrieseas also pup out of the base, but don't have the woody stolon like the Neoregelias do (at least from the ones I have worked with). These are harder to pull off the mother plant, but I think if you let the pups grow to a larger size then I would the other 2 types they might be easier to seperate from the mother plant (as they may be more developed and thus ready to be seperated). I am no expert and this is just what has worked for me.

You can use apples to make a bromeliad flower. Yeah, sounds wierd but it has to do with the scent they produce (scent... must be some chemical they release?). You put them with the brom, preferably in a confined area, and let them sit for awhile and it should work. I haven't tried it, but got the info from a book on houseplants (covered broms and orchids) I read awhile ago.


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## Kase (Feb 15, 2004)

*broms*

so it wouldn't be wise to put the apples in my tank with the frizogs right? Also, once they flower, do they stay flowered, or suck into that straight lookin thing.


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2004)

*Re: propagating broms*



jbeetle said:


> You can use apples to make a bromeliad flower. Yeah, sounds wierd but it has to do with the scent they produce (scent... must be some chemical they release?). You put them with the brom, preferably in a confined area, and let them sit for awhile and it should work. I haven't tried it, but got the info from a book on houseplants (covered broms and orchids) I read awhile ago.



I put apple pieces in my tanks to attract ff. Would that be confined enough?


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

*blooming*

From what I understand, Broms only bloom once. Once they are done, they begin to push out pups as a way to reproduce. If you want another bloom like the original, they only way to do it is to cut a pup when it is 1/3 growm and let it go. 

Awesome pics.


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## andersonii85 (Feb 8, 2004)

Beetle,

The apple must be ripe and this only works with some species of broms. I use this method to get my pineapples to flower. Take an apple, place it next to the brom. Next, take a plastic bag and cover the brom with the apple. Change out the apple for a new one every other day. Do this for like a week. The pineapple almost always flowers. The reason for the apple to be ripe is because the chemicals it puts out. Kinda like hormones that trigger the pineapple to flower.

Have fun!


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

Yeah, I read that you place the brom and the apple in a plastic bag like andersonii85 said. I have never tried it, but thought I would just mention it as a way of forcing some broms to bloom (not sure which ones it will or won't work on), as it is the only thing I have read about this subject. 

Melissa is right, broms only flower once and then they start to pup. I am unsure if cutting off the pups would cause the original plant to bloom again... but that method does work with a lot of other plants, so maybe.

As far as the apples in the tanks... I don't think it would be a problem to put them in there. I would consider putting them ontop of somthing so they aren't touching your substrate all the time. I am unsure if it would force the broms to bloom, but it would probably depend a lot on the ventilation and size of your tanks. Also, I think you use whole apples, not slices (is this correct justin?). But if it didn't work, at least the flies would gather around the fruit and your frogs could have some easy "pickens"  .[/quote]


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## Guest (Feb 18, 2004)

*Re: blooming*



melissa68 said:


> From what I understand, Broms only bloom once. Once they are done, they begin to push out pups as a way to reproduce. If you want another bloom like the original, they only way to do it is to cut a pup when it is 1/3 growm and let it go. Awesome pics.


Thank Melissa! 
Ok I want everyone to look at the top picture... The brom that is flowering in the second in a line of three. Has anyone else had this happen? I have heard about the apple before, but didn't do that with these... not sure why they started flowering. I have only had a few brom flower on me, but have got a lot of pups from broms that have not flowered.
Also what Melissa said about get a clone of the parent plant only work for non-hybrid plants 100% of the time. I will have to look for pictures of the Neo. fireball x tricolor. It gave me 2 pups, 1 looked like the parent plant with the white striping and red center. While the other pup was plain green with a few red spots in the center. Man I have to find the pics.

Does anyone know of a few good books on broms? 


Benjamin


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Is there a trick to getting more than one pup? I have only got one off any of my broms.


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

Just give them time Kyle - you get one pup... you're going to get more. I've got a fireball that has a chain of 4 plants on it. It's going into a 45g corner aquarium for my Green Pumilio. Should give them plenty of sites to choose from.

s



kyle1745 said:


> Is there a trick to getting more than one pup? I have only got one off any of my broms.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

I just placed a new order, hoping it comes this week.



Scott said:


> Just give them time Kyle - you get one pup... you're going to get more. I've got a fireball that has a chain of 4 plants on it. It's going into a 45g corner aquarium for my Green Pumilio. Should give them plenty of sites to choose from.
> 
> s
> 
> ...


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## andersonii85 (Feb 8, 2004)

*Brom- apple technique*

Beetle,

Yup- the apple must be whole and it must be ripe!I have tried pieces of an apple and it didn't work for me. Those of you who want to leave the apple in the tank- make sure to change it out everyday. The smell can be horrible and mold tends to run rampant on the apple itself and it can get onto the substrate.


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

*mold*



> *andersonii85 wrote:*
> Those of you who want to leave the apple in the tank- make sure to change it out everyday. The smell can be horrible and mold tends to run rampant on the apple itself and it can get onto the substrate.


This is why I suggested placing the apple on something, say a petri dish, instead of directly on the substrate because of the mold issue. Thanks for making more of a point out of it... as I kind of said it in passing. I would think the apple would get pretty nasty pretty fast lol.


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## Guest (Feb 19, 2004)

One of my Viresea broms is about to flower any time , im exited to see waht color the flower will be. I get pups all the time from all of my broms, I need to start a brom tank :lol:


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## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

Many of the stoloniferous Bromes such as the Neo in the picture produce offsets freely and produce they whether they bloom or not. I have seen huge colonies all interconnected and not a bloom in site. These are some of the best for the Vivarium since many are small and some are quite colorful. In my years of growing Bromes I have found that they tend to bloom on their own schdule but all og mine seem to do so repeatedly on pups that are produced after the parent plant has died. Be patient and let nature take it's course. I personally wouldn't mess with trying to force them.


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## Derek Benson (Feb 19, 2004)

If anyone wanted a little more in depth info, here you go. This is just like placing a ripened fruit in with some others to make thme all ripe. They release the hormone called *ethylene*, which is a simple, gaseous compund made up of carbone and hydrogen. This speeds the ripening of fruits, and or in your case bromeliads and pineapples. This gas is released during a specific stage of fruit ripening.


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## benmz (Feb 18, 2004)

I have tried forcing a guzmania once in the past. I thought it was large and healthy enough. It was a pup from a parent that I had bought 6-9 months earlier that was in flower. The spike/flower was an awesome burgandy red on the parent plant. Well, when I did the apple in a bag trick for a week. It took another month for the plant to flower, but the spike was sickly looking. It was more of a pale yellow pink puke color. It never got the color of the parent and then died shortly afterwards with no pups produced. I don't recommend this method unless your plant are truly healthy, in which case they will probably flower at their own time. Also Neoregelias have very small and sometimes inconspicuous flowers that we will probably never see unless we look into the funnel daily. Their biggest attraction is the awesome foliage. I love them. Their fairly easy to care for and smaller than the other genus'. As for good books, you can check botanical gardens, or who I think is the foremost authority on Broms is Tropiflora. There is a link to them in the links section of this forum. They also have other plants that are excellent for terrariums (bouncing little frog) If you check the website, go to the Cargo Report, it's their latest offerings.

-Ben Z.


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