Growing Bromeliaceae from Seed

[Wolfram1]

Here is the progress so far:




Sadly the berries were picked by yours truly from within a huge collection of Bromeliaceae at one of the botanical gardens in Budapest, so nether do i know the exact species, nor if they may be hybrids. I am kicking myself for not taking pictures of the mother plants.

Anyway, am hopeful that i will be able to thell the genus in time as they develop, but we will see.


If any of you have experience with growing these or relatives of their cousins (Tillandsia) from seed let me know.

I just started some Tillandsia seeds recently and pictures will follow if successful.

For growing them in an adequately ventilated space i just reused some of my Poecilotheria sling boxes for them XD, doesn't having spiders come in handy : ).



Anyway feel free to add pictures of your own seedlings, pups, or even full plants. And ofc ask questions if you have any.

Cheers

 

[Wolfram1]

Tillandsia sp. seedlings, wow these grew fast, i could barely see the seeds and must have spread them out unevenly, but just a month later most of them already have 3-4 leaves at about 1-2 cm in lenght.

I was expecting them to take much longer than that.

 

[The Snark]

I wish I could take you back a few decades and introduce you to the botanical gardens huge epiphyte greenhouses and the team of fanatical keepers of what I termed 'the jungle'. At first glance the place was overgrown chaos. It turned out the overcrowding was intentional. They, especially the bromeliads, love company, the more crowded together the better. They create their own miniature ecosystems aiding and enabling their neighbors to flourish. Sort of the antithesis of most plants - the more dense the foliage, the more nutrient rich air and moisture becomes available. Quite similar to many molds where a poorly ventilated damp environment is their preferred playground.

 

[Wolfram1]

I wish I could take you back a few decades and introduce you to the botanical gardens huge epiphyte greenhouses and the team of fanatical keepers of what I termed 'the jungle'. At first glance the place was overgrown chaos. It turned out the overcrowding was intentional. They, especially the bromeliads, love company, the more crowded together the better. They create their own miniature ecosystems aiding and enabling their neighbors to flourish. Sort of the antithesis of most plants - the more dense the foliage, the more nutrient rich air becomes available.

interesting, i would have certainly loved to see that

 

[The Snark]

interesting, i would have certainly loved to see that

My memory fails me somewhat here but approximately in less than around 1000 square feet of floor space and 15 foot ceilings, they had over 1000 species or sub species of plants.

 

[Wolfram1]

the only sad part about collections like that is that many of the plants are still fairly young in evolutionary terms and can hybridize, & if you don't keep track of the original lines you end up with lots of unknowns

other than that awesome

 

[The Snark]

the only sad part about collections like that is that many of the plants are still fairly young in evolutionary terms and can hybridize, & if you don't keep track of the original lines you end up with lots of unknowns

Thanks. I got to have a good laugh at myself with that. While I'm functional rudementarily biological and botanical wise, with plants the bus stops there, dead in it's tracks. I call it my botanical brick wall and gazing beyond it my brain starts whimpering and preparing to go into a nervous decline. Me being the last person on the planet to place your plants care under.
IE I can relate to what you said but can't even imagine what the long term hybridizing effects would be.

Wife gone for three months I was entrusted to the care of her one little inside houseplant. In spite of everything I did it slowly turned brown and was at deaths door when the boss returned. Then in one week it's solid green and making up for lost time. A Chinese herbologist explained it as too much yan. Hot fierce hands that plants tend to hate.