That one looks to be developing into a nice plant Jack.

I've got a couple of questions re hybridising with Vr spendens, or Vr 'Splenriet' that I hope you can answer.
1. Do they ever self pollinate?
2. Have you found that the hybrids produce grass pups?

Thanks, Andrew.

Hey Andrew

Both those plants don't self here...

Not sure I have seen grassies on either.

Dennis

Hi Jack,

Very nice 'Splended Pleasure'. Look like painting on it's leaf.

Splenden is an easy to grow here in Thailand. There are so many plants sale as pot plants, imported from Natherland. I think it's a good pot plants.

Cheers Yong

HI everyone,yes all forms of 'splendens' do self pollinate but not to readily ,no grass pups on the species or the hybrids ,its a bit reluctant to cross with other plants ,even with its close relative Vr.glutinosa it does'nt work all times, there are few hybrids with it ,Wurthman did the origenal 'double pleasure' me included)have done the same since.I only use Gulz's clone 'splendens major' wich is a big robust plant,very boldlymarked with big blocks of blackish red and a very pale whitish background,its not very cold sensitive and has a massive tall red spike, will make 4-5 pups on the plant.Vr,Karlsbad (sometimes Carlsbad)is another nice hybrid ,but shows no blocks of colour,it can go a beautifull glowing orange colour ,spike misses colour a bit ,i have some seeds germinated with VR.gigantea -Vr.fost, seideliana - Tillandsia 'creation' to name a few ,you can allways tell if the seed is correct as the seed is white ,not brown or cream ,these are strictly experimental to sort a few things out,I do feel thet splendens can and will give us a different coloured plant with a bit of cross breeding,we have to get away from only scribbly patterns.Other nice clones of splendens are 'juno' has a white centre.'splendriet' 'favoriet' 'splendide' 'flammendish shwerdt' (flaming sword) these are all horticulteral forms,but there are now yellow flowered forms,some with spotted leaves .good thing is you can get a red spike and coloured leaves . Bye Jack

GÂday Jack, I was kinda hoping youÂd say these plants, or their hybrids wouldnÂt produce grass pups. The reason I asked the question is because of this Âproblem childÂ, a Vr. Splenriet hybrid.

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ItÂs supposedly Vr. Splenriet x Alc. vinicolor, but IÂve always suspected it to be just a self of Vr. Splenriet. The cross was done in 2004, & I managed to get a couple of pods to set seed from the many flowers pollinated on the Splenriet spike. I seem to recall the seed being somewhat pale (but donÂt think it was white?), and the 100 or so seed had a very poor germination rate. The few that did germinate proved to be incredibly slow growing, & by the time the batch was ready to move into the plastic house I only had 2 left! Then one rotted out after being potted upÂleaving this as the sole survivor of the batch.

It produced a couple of grass pups, that were big enough to remove towards the end of last year, this one survived & is now potted up & growing well.
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IÂve had Vr seedlings of hieroglyphica & fosteriana produce Âgrass pups but only 1 or 2 & once these were removed, no more developedÂso do you think the continued production of grass pups is a sure sign that it does have Alcantarea bloodÂor will I just have to be patient & wait for the plant to flower before knowing for sure? (And of course I imagine it will have a spectacular flower spike!)

Cheers, Andrew.

Gooday Andrew ,I've been away, your plant in question is NOT a selfing of 'Splendriet' the pattern and the leaves are wrong, a selfing of 'Splendriet' would look like itself and at that size the banding is very red and pronounced, it may well be a cross with 'Vinicolour' so keep an eye on it,as if so the will not be easy to grow ,i would be interesed to see how it pans out.as for the other cross you mentioned ;those type of plants can produce grass like pups But? i have found if you leave them alone they finish up like ordinary pups, they are not true grass pups in that sense, best of luck with the others ,i have a feeling that the given parents are correct or A,the seed would be white,B ,you would have grown at least 50 out of the hundred C ,the base of the plant in first photo is totally wrong for a 'Splendriet' selfing (it is only a different form of Splendens) the given cross would need high light and not to much water,but high humidity i feel, guard the last plant well.bye Andrew

Me again Andrew, as i did'nt answer your other question,Yes the fact that it continues to produce brass pups is a sure Alc, trait ,the flower spike will be different to say the least.i will be interested to see it ,part of the growing problems are that the Alc. is a allmost to full sun grower and the Splendriet is a medium light grower that requires ;warmth,humidity,moisture so its a soft grower , what dominates and what does.nt? and as pod parent influences shape and size ,(why it looks like Splendiet) and pollen parent influences colour (why you lost most of the pattern) it should once big enough ,take very good light and colour up,and possible resemble a very good 'Carlsbad) i'd be happy to look after them,that sort of thing is on my agenda .Bye Jack

Thanks for your replies Jack, I'm now optimistic that this hybrid is indeed a bigeneric, & has been worth all the effort to grow it on over the last few years. I could give you a page full of attempts where this sort of cross has not worked, so to get even just this one seedling makes the journey fruitful. Hopefully the current batch of grass pups will be large enough to remove by the end of this summer, and then I'll have a few to play around with, & be able to grow them in differing conditions to see how they perform. And if you lived a little closer, I'd be happy for you to look after them!
I'll give you an update when a flower spike is produced.
Cheers, Andrew.

Hi Andrew ,with this type of hybridizing most is doomed to failure ,allthough they are related its a bit like crossing a domestic cat with a lion, at best use the pollen of the Alc,. onto the flowers of the others ,its about long stigma flowers versus short stigma flowers, the pollen of the short stigma flowers is not capable of sending the thread of pollen all the way into the ovary as that pollen has evolved to do a certain flower size, now the lenght of the 'Splendens' group is quite long(you just dont see it) but its still to short,on top of that 'splendens' is like 'hieroghlyphica' very reluctant to cross breed outside itself, and both plants would rather initiate a selfing than accept something else, so outcrosses with these is almost a must.Alc onto every thing else Ok ? you can get lucky i guess but its rarely so.Just look and see how many crosses there are between Alc's and anything else ? see how many hybrids there are from 'splendens'and'hieroghlyphica' with other Vriesea's ? many people try, so do a lot of flowers to get a little seed is the go, BUT you only need one to get the ball rolling , keep up the good work Bye Jack