Hi Carol,

I personally only fill the vases on my plants when I water which is every two weeks in summer and once a month in winter.

Having said that, you also need to know I live in an area which is just one street back from the ocean with a reasonably high humidity and my plants are all either in the open or beneath shade cloth so they also get any rain or dew as well and consequently their vases are rarely empty.

I watered more frequently when I first came here to live but have since found out that my plants do better with less water.

All the best, Nev.

Thanks, Nev. I'm going to cut back - I am very, very new to broms/Neos - and I'm pretty sure I am over-doing it. Thank you for your schedule! I'm only five miles from the ocean and my conditions are not too different from yours.

Carol in Jacksonville

Carol, I have just the opposite experience. I get a good bit of rain and always have my bromeliads full of water. The ground drains well. My yard is full of many different genera and they all do well with a lot of water. The only problem I have encountered with overwatering is with potted bromeliads if the soil gets soggy.

Hi Carol,

You now have two conflicting sets of cultural methods which just shows that all areas are different and what works for me won't necessarily work for you or Tom.

Although my methods work for me and Tom's work for him, you are probably better off asking someone in your own local area to get an answer more suitable for your conditions.

All the best, Nev.

Interesting info, Tom. I wish you had your USDA zone or city in your profile. Hard to know how to compare without that info.

I'm keeping an eye on mine - I just want to avoid rot. That would be no fun. :(

Carol

In my potted neo's I flush them twice a week...to keep mosquitos from breeding. If you have a lot of potted neos its hard to over water the pots...the ones in the ground need to be raised beds and well draining soils.

I flush my neo's about once a month,I water them every week because the clay pots dry out so fast, all my brom's are in pots so I can move them inside for the winter

Bear

I'm in central FL and am also new to broms. Mine seem very low attention. Sprinklers run twice a week for the grass & that is enough. Mine are in part shade under the canopy of an oak. Mostly they need no special attention.

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The exception is one wide leafed variety (forget the name right now), that seems to need some extra water dumped into it when its cup runs dry. In that second picture, it is the large red one to the left behind the tree trunk. Kind of hidden here sorry - don't have a better pic. Anyhow, I can tell when it needs water not because the cup is empty, but because the leaves start to curl in on themselves a bit, as if something was rolling up the leaf lengthwise into a tube. My matchsticks show this same behavior too when they don't get enough water. I've been experimenting with how much sun those can take, and the ones that are in too sunny of a location show obvious signs of drought stress. I'd say if the plant isn't showing any stress symptoms in its leaves, then it is fine.

What do other's think?

gardenbear, how does the flushing process work?

Thanks!
Carol in Jacksonville

Just use teh garden hose or a heavy rain will do it for you