Dan any copper will kill your broms. You can fertilize your broms with Organic Extra. 2 pellets per pot.

I don't know if the waxy slale is mealy bugs that could be caused by being too damp.A week solution of white oil but keep them out of the sun for a couple of days. The other one is fly speck. I use 1/2 strength Rogor. Spray it on in the morning and hose out your broms completely especially the cups next morning. No longer than 24hrs.

Can't help you with the leaf problems.

3 times a week seems a lot of watering. I only hose mine once a week. I am in Caboolture.
Have you thought of joining a Brom Society? The Caboolture one meets 4th Sat of month 1pm at the showgrounds. Rick goes to a different club meeting that may suit you better.
What suburb are you from?

Hi Dan,

First time I've really had the chance to sit down at the computer for a couple of weeks, so I'll give it a go. I'm sure others will add to it, and if they disagree, then I get to learn too!

1. I'm not really sure if overwatering can be a problem by itself, but two things might happen depending on other factors: First is nutrients. If you continually flush all the nutrients away with tap water, then the plant will be starved. Then again, if you keep adding new nutrients with frequent foliar feeding or occasional slow release, then this should not be a problem.

Second is drainage of the growing medium. If the drainage is too slow for the amount of watering and the plant ends up sitting in a stagnant soggy mess, then you can be pretty certain it will rot, especially if the air circulation is poor. If the growing medium drains very quickly and does not get soggy, I would be surprised if any amount of periodic watering would cause a problem - although it would be interesting if people have found otherwise.

2. Main cause of limp leaves is not enough light. Some Neos won't develop their brightest colours if they get too much fertiliser and their foliage might be more elongate than if starved, but if the light is strong enough for that variety, then the leaves generally should not be limp. I have an Aech. nudicaulis v. aequalis that gets its cup flushed with fresh 1/2 strength liquid fertiliser every 2 weeks or so and little other watering in its cup, but growing in full sun all morning it is compact and brightly coloured.

This assumes that the fertiliser or growing medium (or gunge collecting in the cup) has a reasonable balance of nutrients. If the plant is short of potassium and calcium then you can expect limp foliage, and this will be exaggerated if nitrogen is high. I've found phostrogen brand "all purpose" to be good for soluble (N:P:K=14:4:22 plus traces except Ca), but I don't know much about slow releases - mainly because I haven't been able to get my hands on one yet that has a nutrient balance that I like - all the ones I see have high N.

3. If it is just the very bottom leaves going tubular every so often as each one reaches the end of its normal life, then that would be normal ..... um, did I really type that? Anyway, I hope you know what I mean.

4. Like just about everything else alive, broms need to get some copper. The fertiliser I use has Cu at .0055%w/v and seems to work well.

5. Re the orchid fertliser, there are some around with very high nitrogen. If it is one of those I would not use it, otherwise as for 2.

6. I can always find a few scale around out in the garden if I look hard enough, but I would only worry about it if it became obvious enough to disfigure the plants. A major infestation could certainly cause a lot of damage but this is not something that I've ever had to deal with in broms (orchids? now that's a different matter). If it did happen, I would suspect that there is something about the growing environment that is putting the plants under stress and weakening their resistance. If the picture involves limp foliage as in point 2, then insufficient potassium and/or calcium (or maybe other nutrients?) could certainly be suspected.

Anyway, hope this helps. Best of luck with the brom growing.

Cheers, Paul

Sunshine, looks like we were typing at the same time. Re spraying for scale, as well as Rogor I've found aerosol cans of Folimat (omethoate) work well and are really convenient for small jobs.

Thanks for that info Paul. If I buy a plant and there is fly speck I usually put it under a tree out in the weather for a couple of months and find this normally gets rid of it.

I thought white oil was a 'no-no' for broms? Is this correct?
BA

Hi everyone,

Brom adorer: On many occasions I have seen it written that White Oil (because it has a petroleum base), is harmful to brom's as it suposedly coats the leaf surface and virtually smothers the plant. However, I have used it on plants I have bought which have a bit of fly speck scale on them and have found no adverse effects from its use. I must stress however, that I don't spray the whole plant as such; I take a small 'artist' type paint brush and use it to apply the white oil directly to each individual scale. It seems to work OK with no damage to the plant, although I must say, I'm speaking about just a few bits of scale here and there and not a serious infestation. Another thing to remember is that once the scale is dead it usually won't just fall off the plant, it still has to be manually removed and I find that a cut down tooth brush is a good tool for this. Like sunshine_qld, I've also just quarantined these plants (without any treatment) under a tree in the garden well away from other brom's and the scale just seems to magically disappear after a few weeks. Maybe the small birds that frequent the garden eat them, who knows?

Another alternative is to make your own spray. If you Google 'Canola White Oil' you will find an article "Oils Ain't Oils Soll" written by Rob Smythe, a well known Qld. bromeliad grower. It describes how to make a non-toxic spray from Canola Oil and other common ingredients which is effective against all types of scale.

Dan2805: Regarding a suitable fertilizer for brom's, there is a chap in Qld. who makes fertilizer specifically for brom's.It comes as a soluble powder or in a slow release form and is a good product.The N:P:K of the soluble powder is 3.0: 8.0: 25.0 and it also has the added trace elements.The slow release is 14.0 : 4.2 : 24.0 + Mg.(4.2) and Fe (0.1). I believe it is also sold through the Gold Coast Bromeliad Society from memory but if you or anyone else on this forum likes to send me an email address, I can send you the fact sheets with all the details, as we aren't supposed to advertise specific products on this forum.

I hope this is of some help, all the best, Nev.

Ok i will put my 10 cents in ,for scale i use Yates 'Scale gun' works like a treat on all scale,but the small fly speck scale does not fall of when dead so you think its still alive and so spray again ,Oils aint Oils ? all oils have the same smothering affect and all oils are both good and bad depending WHEN you use them , no oils is best . Most insects do not like to get wet,thats why they hide under leaves etc, lots of scale is a sign of to much drought, but you can allways find some if you look hard enough .Root mealy bug does not care if the pot is dust dry or sopping wet ,it just keeps on going,soak pot (with plant in it) in a bucket containing a systemic and make sure its the right strenght ,no half measures .Most times i water/mist over every day ,winter and summer cold or warm ,and dispite my best efforts to the contrary ,most plants grow ,'Brunnings' rose planting food is very low in nitrogen 2.6 % i think it is . but only that brand,the others are very high in nitrogen,Copper is very bad and Broms are very sensitive to it,but Zinc can be just as bad in high doses,most domestic plumbing is based on copper pipes so there will allways be some if you use tap water,but some of the crap that leaches out of the plastic piping when exposed to heat (as in sunlight) is just as bad ,so dont kid yourself,despite everything the bulk of plants are tough ,to much kindness kills more plants than not ,Broms like water,thats obvious by the shape of the plants,but not floods,i have found that many growers will get quality plants and then grow in absolute s--t cause its cheap, and then blame the plant ,but its cheap for a reason.No one can tell you how YOU should grow a plant,but many can tell you how it can be grown, every area is different,if you keep a balance between light,food ,water and air one should not have to many problems ,Well i 've been on my soapbox ,bye everyone ,Jack

Ipswich Bromeliad Society also sell this fertiliser. Meet 1st Sunday of each month.

There's low amounts of copper in all fertilizers even organic ones. Copper is an essential nutrient for all plants and all living things. Bromeliads are sensitive to higher copper levels than most plants. You don't need to worry about the trace amounts in fert, just don't use copper fungicide.