Mine too. They germinate fast.....5 days

Bills grow quickly. I've never had any luck with Hallelujah as a seed parent. Of course, I never tried billbergia pollen!

With such good looking parents there's bound to be at least one or two beautiful babies.

Rick66 - It's realy good to see the babies when they have just started out into life. I have found this is only the start of a most interesting journey. Let's hope they grow into good looking kids for you. All the best, Nev

As I'm learning Rick, they do grow fast. Here's my cornucopia of Bill seedlings. The parents include Ole, Domingos Marten, Darth Vader, Halelluja, The Artist, Pink Champagne, Paniolo, Pipeline and some others. Trick or Treat.

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Gonza, You have something good to really look forward to. I find the part that gets you hooked is that you never know exactly what you will get and you always seem to get some unexpected surprises, both good and bad. On the down side, I have a difficult time dumping any plant that doesn't live up to expectations as it hurts to dump something you've created. Looks like you will have to expand in the very near future due to your incurable hybridizitis. All the best, Nev

"I have a difficult time dumping any plant that doesn't live up to expectations as it hurts to dump something you've created."

It may hurt the first couple hundred times, Nev, but after that, the pain subsides. ;-)

Yeah, it gets easier, too easy. Heck, I crossed this B Kyoto with blanchetiana knowing that Lisa says they'll all be albinos and die, but I thought it would make a good picture so I spent the 5 minutes passing around the pollen.

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Good luck with yours Rick. I hope you get some beauties.
Bromadams - thanks also for sharing your blanched Kyoto pods, and Gonz your cornucopia.

Keep us informed of their progress please Rick, Gonz and Bromad?

Question - I have some "straight" B.zebrina seedlings romping away, and it looks like they need potting up. Some are in plastic take-away containers, and some are in a seedling tray. They are about 10cm high (4"). What type of potting medium do others suggest, and in community pots like Gonz, or in separate little pots? Pros and cons?

Cheers,
Kerry

Sounds like it's about time to pot them up individually, Kerry. You can either go into smallish pots and then repot them later, or directly into a larger pot. Normally if they would require a cull, I'd recommend the smaller pots so as not to waste media, but for a species I'm assuming you'll want to grow them all out, so you can go either way. If you choose the larger size pot, be very sparing with the fertilizer or you will get an ugly growth spurt and ruin the form.

We use the same potting media for Bills as for Neos, which for us is mostly black cinder with some peat, perlite and vermiculite added, but any well-draining mix is probably fine.

kool like those seedlings weel after a month or so my vrisa hazzal seedling finly germinated yippi so happy thought they must have been sterile.

oh yea i found out to day if i get ethylene gass and give it to my bromeliads that it would make them flower in 6-12 weeks i wonder if i cut a piece off apple up and put peices in my bromeliad cups will it make them flower. and can this harm my bromeliads

Hate to wreck a party, Rick if you do not get those seedlings out of your fresh sphagnum moss then you will most likely loose all of them as the sphagnum usually grows faster and covers the seedlings killing them (just my experience).

Kerry if you have lots of space then you could re pot them singularly, though would select out the fastest and most colorful (though this may not be to obvious at this time) and multi plant seedlings in 3 inch pots to start with.
A compost of course composted pine bark including 20% fines, with time release fertilizer (is my preference ). allan :o)

I'm sure Rick will correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure the sphagnum is the dried up dead kind. I've been using it for Neoregelia seedlings and haven't run into any problems.

Hello all,

Thanks for the replies.

Allan, I have over a dozen containers filled with seedlings and the sphagnum moss, I can see how it could take over - I'll try picking out the growing pieces until the seedlings are large enough to transplant. I have found that the sphagnum moss growth slows right down once I open the container to atmosphere.

Mike, I was trying to use compressed sphagnum moss as per one of Lisa's posts on seedling raising - my sphagnum moss is alive and does grow well if encouraged within a closed container (the little out of focus green bits are the moss growing).

I never thought that growing bromeliad seeds would be so much run, I would like to try and keep them alive.

Rick

If , as in my case, you fertilized your Billbergias (single plants) and were rewarded with 2-3-4 leggy pups instead of the usual solitary offset, AND, you knew this would affect the color pattern but just wanted plants faster, does separating the pups now enhance their chance for a "normal" life? My Gro Power experiment gave me tons of pups but many have yet to take on the mother's characteristics such as numerous spots and bold colors. I knew what was going to happen when I fed them but I just.... wanted....more plants!!

Gonzer, sounds like you achieved your goal. Maybe those over-fertilized plants will have decent pups one day!

Gonzer you will only have to wait about a year and color will come back if you grow them hard

An interesting thread - thanks to all contributors.

Lisa and Allan - thanks heaps for your excellent advice, duly noted and soon to be heeded.

Phil - see link below for information from past GW threads on inducing flowering with the 'apple in the bag' trick, and other suggestions to promote blooms. Also, Allan sells a liquid product especially for that purpose, and he lives north of you near Byron Bay...Allan? Can you help brom_phil?

Cheers,
Kerry

Here is a link that might be useful: promoting blooms

A word of caution using growth regulators to bloom broms...it can if used incorrectly deform you bloom or destroy your plant...

Can you put a fertilizer pellet into the bottom leaf cups of billbergias to encourage pupping? I've had good luck doing that with Nidulariums. I usually take the pellet out once I notice the pup forming. So far the pups have all been normal.

Hello all,

These are some Bill. FredRed x Halleluyah seedling put down about the same time as the top lot. The fertiliser is starting to wear off and some look like they might work out OK.

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Rick, looking good. I'm glad this post got resurrected since some of my Bill x's are getting nice size.

Hi guys

I have found that its far more difficult to get a nice Bill hybrid than with Neo's
Out of hundreds there aren't any I will unleash on the unsuspecting public.
Yes there pretty ones but they look like already registered Bills. I am going to keep trying though.

Rick your pinky one has some potential. Maybe Lisa can help us out on how to get a beaut Bill!?

I dunno, Dennis, I would disagree that Neos are easier. I find it increasingly difficult to come up with Neo hybrids that are both attractive and distinctive, just because there are so many more of them already out there than any other genus, and the bar is being constantly raised by the competition.

Having said that, I think the range of expression may be more limited in Bills. There's just not as many different directions you can go with them without starting to see similarities.

I'm not sure I can give much advice without knowing what you're trying to achieve. With any genus, if you want to create something new and different, you first have to figure out what that "something" is, and then try to determine the best way to get there, rather than just crossing any two things that happen to be in bloom and hoping they will give you something interesting. Mind you, I'm not knocking experiments at all. They are a great learning experience and will often give you some nice looking plants. It just depends on whether or not that is enough for you. If it is, fine. If it's not, then you have to go about it in a more methodical way, and think outside the box!

I would say that the bar is constantly raised in all fields Lisa ,but i know where you are coming from in that regard ,still i do think the throw out rate is higher for Bill's than Neo's it certainly is low for foliage Vrieseas , the other thing i see with Bill's is that in the hybrids you often get very poor flower spikes ,perhaps that is one direction that you could go in ,certainly its crucial to select parent(s) plants ,and we do have a lot of information now so with a bit of research you can increase your chances of success ,and to combine shape ,colour ,pattern in your offspring is not easy ,but certain plants are consistant in what they do ,so that should guide anyone ,having seen the results my friend Tamera had in the hundreds of Bill seedlings ,i can say there where a lot of nice plants , a good quantity of acceptable plants ,and a handfull of " keepers " , but thats the risk(s) you take in hybridising ,if all seedlings where champions ( other than in our own eyes ) we would be up to our eyeballs in them ,and as the years go by ( and am sure you find this Lisa ) we as breeders also become more critical of our own product(s) as well as others , there is so much more to take in consideration ,if it where easy ? the whole world would do it ,i would encourage anyone, but if they ( the seedlings ) are no good ? then at least realise that and ditch them and start again , now thats a hard thing to do ,but( we all) do some experiments ,and that can teach you a lot ,
Jack

IÂve always been tempted, but to date have not done any hybridising with BillsÂ. I see huge potential for a miniature rangeÂjust imagine a large clump of stoloniferous mini billÂs with the colour of some of those DM hybrids, and a nice full flower spikes. Hmmm may be IÂve just given myself a projectÂ

When all my Bills are all in bloom, Jack, it's very tempting to breed for showier flowers, and I have made some pairings with that in mind. From a commercial standpoint, however, it's almost a waste of time unless you have access to a market of collectors who are willing to buy the plant just for those few days of the year it will be blooming. When I take my plants to a local sale they are usually not in bloom, and it's the foliage that sells them, not the flowers. For example, Kumu Hula blooms regularly and has a very nice flower, but the foliage is kind of low-key so it has never sold well out of bloom. On the other hand, its sibling Alaka'i never blooms for me at all in this climate but I can sell it anyway because the foliage pattern is eye-catching. Of course if you can combine both, so much the better, but even the showiest inflorescence is only going to last about a week.

How small is miniature, Andrew? It seems to me there are quite a few smallish ones out there, including some DM hybrids, but if you have something in mind that you're not seeing, then go for it!

If you want to expand the pool, starting crossing with the Billbergiopsis subgenus of Quesnelia. DNA tests are showing that they really do share some close relationships with some of the Billbergias. I have two of the Billbergiopsis and as soon as they flower I'll start making some crosses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Billbergiopsis

Some of the Aechmeas are fairly close too, like Ae. filicaulis.

Hmmm Thanks all.

Some food for thought.

Will have to plot a new stratergy....

CHeers

Dennis

I guess I'll be crossing sooner than later. This Q. marmorata caught my eye this morning. I hope it doesn't self.

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I've never known Q. marmorata to self.

It was no-go using Q marmorata as a seed parent. I tried pollen from several genera including two Billbergias. I also put the pollen on two plants but haven't got the results yet on those.

I found an old article in the BSI archives (1983). Apparently, Q liboniana is a good choice for crossing with Billbergias.

à Billque (Billbergia à Quesnelia)
Perringiana (Billbergia nutans à Quesnelia liboniana)
Rancougnei (Billbergia sp. Ã Quesnelia liboniana)
Sebastian Laruelle (Billbergia viridiflora à Quesnelia liboniana)

But there has been Aechmea crosses with Q marmorata.
Quesnelia marmorata à Aechmea chantinii
Quesnelia marmorata à Aechmea fasciata: Hans Gulz

Q. liboniana may be a closer genetic match to the Bills than some other Quesnelias but you have to ask yourself what it's going to add in terms of the finished product. It's not very showy, either in flower or foliage.

Some time ago I managed to cross Q. marmorata with both Ae. fendleri and Neo olens, but didn't consider the offspring of either worth saving.

I agree, not much point in doing those crosses.

I'm looking for some of the Lisa Vinzant hybrids for trade or sale. Anyone out here interested? I'm in San Clemente.
drpalm@cox.net
~Dean

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