NEW MEMBER:
A very warm welcome to our new members Sandra Carnie and Pam Townsend who joined at our February meeting. We wish you both a long and happy association with our Society.

MONTHLY RAFFLE PRIZE ROSTER:

WORKSHOPS:
The second of our three workshops for the year will be held on Monday, May 12th, at the Light Rail Museum, 48A Tongarra Road, Albion Park. The third, dealing with preparing plants for competition, will be held on Saturday, August 9th at Sharyn Baraldi’s home at 25 Antrim Avenue, Warilla [Phone (02) 4296 2166]. These have been very popular in the past and it is an opportunity for you to bring along any plants that you may be having problems with—or need an identity for—and also to meet and to chat with other members on a friendly, informal basis in a lovely garden/bush setting. The usual hours apply: from 10.00 am until 2.00 pm and anyone interested (particularly if you are a new member) is invited to attend. Bring your lunch—and something for morning tea would be appreciated—tea and coffee will be supplied.

VALE - JOHN CARTHEW

It is with the greatest sadness that I report the death of John Carthew, who died quite suddenly on Sunday, March 23rd, but after a battle with ill health over the past couple of years. John and his wife, Carol, joined our Society in October 2004 and John was always the first one to put up his hand to help out with any jobs that needed doing, including as Vice President for a number of years (2008-2011) and President during 2011-2012. He was the sort of member societies would like to have more of--always willing to help even when he wasn't well; in fact his friend Neville remembers that he often had to make him sit down and take it easy. John will also be remembered for the most beautiful plants which he brought to our monthly competition tables, to our sales tables and to our Shows. John loved his family and his plants, being interested in African violets and orchids as well as bromeliads. He was very much a hands-on family man, very actively involved with his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. He loved to play Santa at Christmas-time and was also very interested in their sporting activities. He particularly loved rugby league and, in his earlier days, worked with local children to get them interested in this sport. John, you will be sadly missed—and our thoughts are with Carol and your family at this sad time!

GARDEN VISITS – SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2014:
On the next page are pictures taken by Steve Wain in Steve and Edwina’s beautiful garden where lunch was supplied for our members.
Many thanks to Max and Helen, Ted and Sylvia, Steve and Edwina and Eileen and John who opened up their gardens on the day, March 15. About 30 members travelled ‘up north’ for this chance to explore the gardens and luckily the threatening thunderstorm held off until later in the day, although some folks, unfortunately, were caught in it on the way home! However, a day enjoyed by all!

UPCOMING EVENTS :

NOVICE
1st = Max Williams = Hohenbergia correia-araujoi
2nd = Max Williams = Vriesea ospinae var. gruberi ‘Tiger Tim’
3rd = John Toolan = Billbergia vittata

TILLANDSIA
1st = Jan Stammers = Tillandsia leiboldiana
2nd = Jørgen Jakobsen = Tillandsia flabellata
3rd = Steve Morgan = Tillandsia duratii X stricta

March 1, 2014 PLANT RESULTS
OPEN
1st = Jørgen Jakobsen = Nidularium campos-portoi
2nd = Jørgen Jakobsen = Guzmania conifera
3rd = Yvonne Perinotti = Neoregelia Fosperior- ‘Perfection’

NOVICE
1st = Steven Dolbel = xNeophytum ‘Galactic Warrior’>
2nd = Steven Dolbel = Neoregelia ‘Wee Willy’>

SOME NOTES ON PLANTS BROUGHT TO OUR FEBRUARY/MARCH MEETINGS:

Neoregelia ‘Kiko’: John’s lovely plant is a fairly recent hybrid made by Lisa Vinzant of Hawaii who does some exquisite crossings. ‘Kiko’ is a cross using Neoregelia correia-araujoi as seed parent and N. olens as pollen parent. It was registered in 2007.

Vriesea ‘Tiger Tim’: Max’s lovely plant is a cultivar of Vriesea ospinae var. gruberi [native to Colombia], selected as a superior clone and registered [in 2003] by Peter Tristram. It is named for his son. Peter and Bruce Dunstan have done more work with ‘Tiger Tim’, coming up with at least another 3 beautiful cultivars which have been registered: V. ‘Sons of Tiger Tim’, ‘Scaredy Cat’ and ‘Smudge Grub’, all showing the greater mix of white in the leaves than the species V. ospinae var. gruberi. Vriesea ‘Tiger Tim’ is a fantastic plant; however it is cold sensitive. Peter’s advice to grow it well is to make sure the root system stays moist and that some K, Mg, Ca and a bit of P and trace elements are available (i.e., a big pot and a normal mix with a bit of food). There appears to be lots of seed-grown ‘Tiger Tims’ on the market at the moment, which have varying appearance, and do not match up to those produced vegetatively from Peter’s select clone.

Small Vrieseas: Laurie brought 4 beautiful examples of the smaller type vrieseas to our March meeting; these were all mounted and elicited admiration from many of our members.

• Vriesea scalaris [scalaris = ladder-like, referring to the placement of flowers on the stalk]: This is a dainty miniature with a small rosette—20 cm in diameter—soft, light-green leaves and a distinctive pendulous spike about 25-30 cm long, with flowers branching off left to right. The brownish-red floral bracts are shorter than the green sepals and this feature, and the smaller size, distinguish it from Vriesea simplex. It grows as an epiphyte in the shady forests in southern Brazil, usually at 1000 ft elevation [about 300 meters]. There are several forms of this vriesea: var. scalaris, which has bright red floral bracts with yellow tips; var. viridis, which has green bracts; and var. rubra, which has leaves that are suffused with red, faintly on the upper sides and strongly underneath. The petals are always yellow. Laurie reports that V. scalaris is easy to grow [prefers shade] and pups very well, while the flowers on his var. rubra seem to be larger than those on the straight species.

• Vriesea racinae [racinae refers to the discoverer of this plant, Racine Foster, who along with her husband, Mulford B. Foster, found this plant in Santa Teresa, Espirito Santo, Brazil in 1939 growing high on treetops at an altitude of 2,400 feet [around 730 m]: It is a miniature plant with numerous leaves forming a dense rosette, about 25 cm in diameter. The dark green, leathery foliage [10-12 cm long] has brown spots near the apexes and is brownish violet underneath; the leaves tend to curl. The 25 cm scape is slender and erect, bearing dark, spotted green bracts. The flowers, with greenish-white petals, have a slight fragrance that has been likened to both ripe apples and Ivory soap.( Padilla, Victoria. In: Bromeliads, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York) With its dark spotting, V. racinae will take extra sunlight and prefers a well-lit position. As Laurie noted, it has very big petals and a heavy inflorescence for the size of the plant.

Tillandsia-Like Vrieseas:
• Vriesea poenulata: Native to the states of Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil where it grows as an epiphyte attached to rocks and trees. It looks like a tillandsia and can be cultivated either as an epiphyte or as a terrestrial in pots with good drainage. It grows to 30 cm tall including the inflorescence. It has many thin, recurved leaves growing from a modified-bulbous base. If kept fairly dry the leaves develop dark speckles which are attractive. Flowers are yellow and fairly large for so small a plant. The plant blooms regularly and produces pups well. [In the past had sometimes been confused with Vriesea flammea.]

• Vriesea plurifolia: There is little information that I could find on this interesting little plant but with its brown tomentose-like base [short hairs matted in appearance] Laurie was reminded of Tillandsia dura. Endemic to Brazil. Laurie gives his plant the same care as he does his V. poenulata.

PRECAUTIONS TO OBSERVE WHEN ACQUIRING A NEW PLANT
By Neville Wood, Illawarra Bromeliad Society, Inc.

Although these notes are written mainly for the new grower, some rules never change it doesn’t matter how experienced you are. When acquiring a new plant by whatever means, the underlying aim is to never compromise the integrity of the plants you already have by introducing some type of disease or insect pest into your collection. To avoid this, where possible it’s necessary to carefully inspect all proposed new purchases carefully to identify any problems. This is easily said, but for the new grower who has no prior experience and doesn’t know what to look for, it can be a daunting task. With these notes, which are based on my own experience of treating new plants, I hope to explain some of the things you need to look for when acquiring a new plant.

Initial Inspection
Basically, when a plant is offered for sale it should look at its best; if it looks untidy, has dirty leaves which are broken or cracked, dead flowers, or is in a dirty pot with the level of the potting mix lower than it should be, treat it with suspicion as this plant is suffering all of the classic signs of neglect. With the initial inspection of a plant, don’t just look at the flowers or the coloured markings on the leaves which may be what attracted you to it in the first place. Look past these things: look under the leaves as this is often overlooked but is an area where insect pests are often found; there should be no remnants of dead leaf growth around the base of the plant as this is a hiding place for various types of scale insects as well as mealybug and should have previously been removed.

When buying direct from a grower or a bromeliad society you are usually secure in the knowledge that most growers will give you sound advice and replace a plant if found to have a problem. It’s when you buy plants from other sources that you have to be on your guard. A lot of general nurseries, large department stores and combined hardware/nursery businesses also sell bromeliads; however they are rarely the growers, but are just “on sellers” and very often the person doing the selling has very little (if any) knowledge about the cultural requirements of these plants. The other thing to consider is that plants bought from these types of businesses are often neglected and left sitting inside on a shelf, or outside sometimes in unprotected full sun waiting to be sold. Sometimes they are in this situation for many weeks and often without water. This type of treatment can stress a plant and affect its health. Often plants bought from these businesses are unnamed or occasionally will have a “generic name tag” informing you that the plant is a “Bromeliad” and provides some basic cultural information on the back of the label in a “one fits all” format, which we know is wrong for a start as different genera of bromeliads have different cultural requirements.

When you are first attracted to a particular plant, have a good look at the “total plant”, not just the flowers or the coloured leaves but look at everything. Don't just concentrate on the obvious; be critical, be a “nit-picker” and look for any possible problem/s at all. Generally speaking the plant should look clean with strong leaves and be firm in the pot. Beware if the leaves are droopy, yellowing or have dead tips as these are all signs of possible problems. If the central leaves are yellowing this could indicate that the plant has crown rot and if you smell the centre of the plant you will know immediately as the smell of crown rot is a terrible smell you’ll never forget.

Feel the weight of the plant and pot; if it feels abnormally heavy it’s possible that the mix is poorly drained and is water-logged: if it appears unusually light, it may have been starved of water for a considerable time which could cause the plant to be in the early stages of dehydration. Bits of dead leaves around the base of the plant demonstrate that the grower of the plant wasn’t too fussy about plant hygiene and indicate the possibility of other hidden problems. If you are in any doubt about the plant’s condition then don’t buy it, it’s as simple as that.

What To Do With A New Plant When You Bring It Home
For the most part, bromeliads are rarely troubled with serious diseases or insect pests; however once you have bought, swapped or been given a new plant as a gift, it’s a good idea to keep it separate from other plants in your collection. In other words, quarantine it just in case it may have some type of disease which isn’t yet obvious. By following a firm rule of keeping all new plants quarantined you are protecting your other plants and preventing the introduction of possible disease or insect pests.

Different growers follow different approaches at this point: some can’t be bothered to take the precaution of quarantining a new plant and just take a chance and add it immediately to their collection. Others will quarantine a plant and adopt the “watch and wait” method to see if any problems develop and then treat accordingly. Personally I like to take the preventative route, and although I don’t advocate spraying poisonous substances over whole collections on a regular basis like some growers do, I have no problem treating individual plants with a fungicide or systemic insecticide if there is evidence to suggest the plant requires it.-

You are only able to “half examine” any plant at the point of purchase because to examine a plant thoroughly you must knock it out of the pot so that the roots can be examined just as closely as the foliage. I shall call this the secondary examination and this takes place when you get the plant home.

Once the plant is removed from the pot, look at the state of the potting mix: is it excessively wet or dry? This may explain why some of the leaves look like they do--e.g., brown leaf tips often mean not enough water while yellow leaf tips mean too much water. Examine the roots themselves and remove any that are dead.

The next step is to look for evidence of insects or other creatures that may cause problems
--e.g., worms may block up the drainage holes with their droppings as they break down the potting mix, but this is mainly apparent when the pots have been sitting directly on damp ground. By simply repotting the plant and relocating it to a position up off the ground you can rectify this problem.

The main problem to look for around the roots is “Root Mealybug”. This is an insect which does its damage unnoticed beneath the surface and is similar in appearance to the mealybug we occasionally see which is usually covered in a white woolly substance [refer to article on these types of pests in the January 2014 Newslink]. It likes dry conditions and is sometimes seen when we remove remnants of dead, dry growth from the base of a plant. Root mealybug may attack any roots but prefer the dryer areas of the mix just below the level of the soil, especially where the root and the stem meet. Although they can occur throughout the whole root system, they are most obvious around the edges, and can sometimes appear on the inside walls of the pot. Even if they can’t be seen, evidence of their presence is often seen as a fine white coloured web on the inside of the pot. Root mealybugs are sap-sucking insects, and it’s this that causes the problem as they weaken the plant by sucking the sap while working beneath the surface of the mix and out of sight.

Precautionary Treatment
When I acquire a new plant, it doesn’t matter what its condition is like or where it came from: all new plants get the same precautionary treatment, because even with no evidence of any insects there can still be eggs which need to be dealt with and nullified. I remove as much of the old potting mix as possible and thoroughly hose off any remaining mix not adhering to the roots. I then mix up a reliable systemic insecticide in a container large enough to accommodate the whole plant and completely immerse the total plant for at least half an hour and until air bubbles can no longer be seen rising to the surface which indicates there are no air pockets preventing the insecticide from contacting the whole plant. I then hang the plant upside down and allow it to air dry after which time it’s re-potted in my own fresh, damp potting mix.

The plant is then moved to a semi-shaded area where it is thoroughly watered the next day. It will remain there for a week, after which time the light level is gradually increased over a period of a month. Even though leaf colour is a good indicator of what light levels the plant was previously exposed to (with light green leaves suggesting high light and very dark green leaves suggesting low light), it’s not often that you will definitely know the plant’s previous growing conditions, and as a precaution it’s far better to increase the light gradually to be on the safe side. Under no circumstances should you put a newly introduced plant in direct sun.

Transport Considerations
I now want to suggest some things you should consider when buying plants by Mail Order from outside of the local area. These plants will have to be sent by Australia Post or some other courier service which usually requires a combination of road and air transport, depending on where the plants are coming from. I, personally, always use Australia Post which is a combination of air and road transport and as far as delivery times go I find Australia Post as good as any other courier service and better than most.

If plants are being sourced from tropical areas such as Far North Queensland, it’s not a good idea to buy them during our winter where they will be coming from a hot tropical environment to our cold winter. If this is the case the difference in temperature will stress the plants somewhat and it will take possibly twelve months for them to become fully acclimatised to our conditions. During this period while they sit in dormancy they are more prone to fungal attacks which may cause rot. It’s far better to purchase them in the middle of summer when the temperature difference isn’t so great and plants are actively growing. Also, plants coming from tropical areas are sometimes carrying “Flyspeck Scale” or its eggs as this pest is prevalent in the warmer tropical climates, so be vigilant when checking your new plants from northern areas.

There are other risks when plants have to come by air from interstate and these can be the effects of excessive heat or cold. Sometimes plants can be left sitting out in the hot sun for long periods, resulting in them being “cooked” if they aren’t packed correctly: in fact you will get the same result as you would if you left a plant in the boot of a car during a hot day.

Likewise, if they are in a plane cargo hold which isn’t pressurised, the temperature at high altitudes can sometimes fall below zero and if they aren’t completely dry, they may suffer damage from the extreme cold. I have only ever had one problem with mail order plants and that was when a nursery sent plants that had been wrapped while they were still partially wet. When they arrived they had scald-type marks on the leaves which I suspect was a result of exposure to extreme heat. The best insurance against this is to stipulate that you want the plants packed in a polystyrene box as the extra insulation will offer the best protection possible against excessive heat or cold.

If you do receive plant/s that have suffered damage of any kind, immediately contact the seller, as any reasonable seller will usually replace the plant or compensate you in some way. In my case (mentioned above), I immediately sent the nursery an email with accompanying pictures of the damaged plants and had an answer within the hour and replacement plants were sent the next day. The owner admitted liability stating the plants had not been thoroughly dry when wrapped.

When new plants arrive, you must consider they have been wrapped up and confined in an unnatural and cramped position for often 3-7 days, and even with careful packing they will still be somewhat dehydrated. The leaves will appear compressed into an unnatural shape where they have been confined for so long and look much like a butterfly’s wings as it emerges from its “cocoon” for the first time. To quickly rehydrate these plants and help the leaves regain their original shape, I stand the whole plant for a couple of hours in a sugar/water mix at the ratio of one cup of sugar to one bucket of tap water. I occasionally immerse the whole plant and pour some of the liquid into the central vase of the plant. After this they are then treated as mentioned above in “Precautionary Treatment”.

Having followed the above precautions, you can rest assured you have treated your new plant to the best of your ability and it should quickly progress and re-establish itself in its new environment. If at any time you don’t think a plant is performing to expectations, don’t be frightened to ask for advice from other growers as I’m sure they will be only too willing to help.