Aechmea fasciata

[PalmatierMeg]

This last weekend I found this flowering Aechmea fasciata for 1/2 price at a local big box store. It looked okay but had only a few roots and appeared that a harried employee had just jammed it into a 6" pot of soggy peat before sticking it on the clearance shelf with the wilted begonias. When I got home I planted it in a 3 gallon pot of my own potting mix. Does anyone have further suggestions on upkeep for this bromeliad? I know it is common as dirt yet pricey anyway. I see no signs of pups yet but hopefully will get some before the mother plant withers away.

[Kim]

Half price is good price, nice score. Yes they are common, but so pretty, who could resist? They always seem to come in small pots which tend to tip over, so it was a good idea to repot it in a bigger, heavier pot. I grow mine outside, just flood the center cup once a week so the water spills out onto the potting soil, enough to keep it moist. The pink flower spike lasts a long time and you should get two or three pups as it begins to fade. The offsets seem to take forever to flower, and just when you are about to give up, the flower spike emerges. Wonderful plants. Your photo reminds me I need to clean up and divide my old plant out under the Dypsis lutescens, it's a mess.

[chris.oz]

Half price is good price, nice score. Yes they are common, but so pretty, who could resist? They always seem to come in small pots which tend to tip over, so it was a good idea to repot it in a bigger, heavier pot. I grow mine outside, just flood the center cup once a week so the water spills out onto the potting soil, enough to keep it moist. The pink flower spike lasts a long time and you should get two or three pups as it begins to fade. The offsets seem to take forever to flower, and just when you are about to give up, the flower spike emerges. Wonderful plants. Your photo reminds me I need to clean up and divide my old plant out under the Dypsis lutescens, it's a mess.

Meg,

After a couple of years you will have so many of these you will not know what to do with them. Flowers last a lot longer on the plant [ 2-3 moths] than if used as cut flowers

The secret is to remove the pups as they become viable. Then the dying mother plant will produce more pups.

I once induced one Aechmea frederike [ very spectacular flower] to produce about 7 pups in this way. However, none of the progeny have flowered yet.

There is a way top induce flowering using a chemical.

[Dave-Vero]

I need to try Chris.oz's method of pulling pups. My Aechmea fasciatas flower predictably in the summer, but don't proliferate anything like the assorted Neoregelias and other bromeliads in the bed.

[Gonzer]

I'm betting that the leaf margins are smooth, making this possibly Aechmea "DeLeon".

[chris.oz]

I need to try Chris.oz's method of pulling pups. My Aechmea fasciatas flower predictably in the summer, but don't proliferate anything like the assorted Neoregelias and other bromeliads in the bed.

Dave ,

It works a treat. From the start of my Brom collection 4 years ago, when I bought one large A fasciata in flower, I now have about 12 plants with 3 flowering at present. The original plant is still alive, because I left one of the pups on it ....

[PalmatierMeg]

My research indicates that I shouldn't remove any pups until they are almost as big as the mother plant or they might not be viable. I also saw the "chemical" way of forcing flowers somewhere on the web but didn't mark the site.

[peachy]

My research indicates that I shouldn't remove any pups until they are almost as big as the mother plant or they might not be viable. I also saw the "chemical" way of forcing flowers somewhere on the web but didn't mark the site.

My dear old granny always used to put a banana peel inside the vase section of her bromeliads to make them flower. It must have worked because she had been doing it for decades. All mine here flower regularly so I dont have to play with various methods to force them into flower. Thanks for the tip about removing the pups though, that is something new to me.

Peachy

[Gonzer]

It's not wise to use an ethylene product (stuff used to induce flowering) since it is the horticultural equivalent of steroids. You might get a flower bud in 6-8 weeks after use but it wreaks havoc on the plant's physiology. No need to wait till your pups are the size of Mom for removal, 1/3 the size is fine.

[Dave-Vero]

I've generally let the bromeliads proliferate on their own. Neoregelias turn into crowded clumps pretty fast. My one recent case of pup removal was, I think, an accident--I pulled a grassy pup came out of a massive Vriesia imperialis. I probably thought it was a weed. The little pup got plopped in a pot, ignored, and it's already growing.

[chris.oz]

It's not wise to use an ethylene product (stuff used to induce flowering) since it is the horticultural equivalent of steroids. You might get a flower bud in 6-8 weeks after use but it wreaks havoc on the plant's physiology. No need to wait till your pups are the size of Mom for removal, 1/3 the size is fine.

Yep Gonzer, I agree with the 1/3. Any smaller and its that much slower and riskier.

As to pup removal, its somewhat akin to the practice of removing eggs from breeding pairs of birds. It induces them to produce more eggs

that way its possible to get a breeding pair of parrots for instance to produce much more than one bird per year.

Dave, I generally remove even neo pups, because they look better IMO when separated and spaced out, rather than growing on top of each other.

Neos just multiply like weeds in my garden, but I am going for Alcantarea imperialis mainly these days. BIG impact. !

[Kim]

Dave, I generally remove even neo pups, because they look better IMO when separated and spaced out, rather than growing on top of each other.

Neos just multiply like weeds in my garden, but I am going for Alcantarea imperialis mainly these days. BIG impact. !

I find this true for some, but not for others. I love to see large clumps of the smaller stoloniferous neos, but the larger concentrica types definitely work best separated. I have both clumps and singles in the garden -- and several clumps awaiting division.

I do wish I had more Alcantarea of various species, love the BIG impact, as you say.

[Kris]

Nice visuals..!

Love,

Kris

[Jose Maria]

Very nice plant you have there Meg!

Since it´s a bromeliad, the potting mix is not that important, nutrients in nature in the case of bromeliads, are absorbed tru the leafbases. Always keep some rainwater in the "funnel"....with foliar fertilizer carefully diluted..

The ethylene is a naturally occuring product in bromeliads that induces flowering( among other results), all pineapples ,the world over are produced this way, nothing that compares to steroids!!!!

Dont worry about it...they wont take your olympic medal away if you use it.

Other chemicals have the same effect, like acetylene.( mix some in cold water and put some of the mix in a bromeliad!)

This allows farmers to make accurate proyections about when their pineapple crop will be ready for harvest.

Once the flower finishes blooming, there might be some seeds, anyway, but if you want pups, cut the flower off, and because the dominating meristeme is gone , every leafbase has a meristeme that can turn into a pup ( in theory).

I worked with pineapple , I´ll be glad to answer any questions .