Water the soil as well but don't keep it wet.
Leave your pups on until about 1/3 size of mother before taking off. You will probably get more pups come then.
It is still flowering so will be a while before it dies. Maybe a year.

Do you have to remove the pups? I wont have enough room for all the pups that its going to produce. I see some roots coming up from the soil is that the start of a pup?

You don't have to take the pups off, but when they are about 1/3 size of mum cut her out and your pups will fill in.
The pups will come up in the bottom leaves. I usually pull these leaves off once the pups are growing as it allows a better shape.
As your potting mix is a couple of years old it would be better to repot. Just cut most of mums roots away when you do as the pups will make their own..

I don't think it matters if the potting mix is old cause i thought bromeliads take up all their nutrients from the air and only use their roots for support. The thing that concerns me is the dry air of my home. Can it survive with misting and a small pebble tray that is nowhere near as wide as the plant? I'd say at the very lowest the humidity drops to about 8%. I heard that a lot of bromeliads readily adapt to the average home conditions but idk if that means dry air.the reason i got this plant is because it was $5 marked down from $20.

This post was edited by CactusBoss on Mon, Sep 9, 13 at 16:29

I can't help you with that as I grow my broms outside all year round.

I got by with my neoregelia indoors (W-SW window) for 4 months and saw no ill effects. I think the tank on neos goes a long way to keeping the plant prosperous even indoors. I did mist mine daily, heavily enough that the entire plant got a full coating of water every morning.

That being said I think it's fair to say most broms do better outdoors as long as the temps don't hit the lower extremes.

naoh123 did your bromeliad die of natural causes or did it show ill effects after 4 months? I live in zone 5 so weather does not permit growing these outdoors for half the year. I also mist mine 4 times a day heavily.

This post was edited by CactusBoss on Tue, Sep 10, 13 at 20:06

No death, no ill effects, the weather just got right 4 months after getting it so its been moved outside.

Does anybody know what's causing the leaf curl? Also what's with roots coming up from the soil?

The roots.

Hard to tell much from those pix. What kind of medium is it planted in?

"i thought bromeliads take up all their nutrients from the air and only use their roots for support"

Well, kinda. More important is that all media breaks down and if it doesn't drain well you may see the conditions you are seeing.

tj

It's in whatever the nursery grew it in. I checked the roots and they look fine. The condition of the leaves hasn't changed over the past 2 weeks or so. I got a little concerned when I looked up Neoregelia and I didn't see any that have the curled leaves. However somebody said it could be a genetic trait. There were 2 other Neos at the nursery and they both looked like this.

This post was edited by CactusBoss on Thu, Sep 19, 13 at 20:35

Dont worry cactus Neo's are tough plants and survive many diverse conditions