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Bromeliads

nepenthes gracilis

Nepenthes Specialist
Hey guys I bought some Bromeliads and it appears they need to be repotted. It looks like they are in reg. potting soil. I just want someone with expirence who knows if this is OK and they can be repotted bigger in the same soil or should they be in something different. Thanks! Here's a few pictures too!

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Here is the water in the plant's "water basin" You can see the shine a little bit and the flower stalk coming up through the center of it.
 
Regular potting soil is what I always used and it seemed to work fine, I would go with a bigger pot and new soil to help with any root binding and get rid of all of the commercial chemicals.
 
Thanks man. That is what they appear to be planted in. I thought it would be right to use it anyways as they are just like a normal plant, nothing like what we specialize in.
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Actually, not all bromeliads are "normal" plants, although most of the ones that you see for sale can be grown like that.  I tend to avoid those though since everybody has them.
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However, I suspect that you could also do away with the regular potting soil, and put them in peat or gravel maybe, if you give it some other source of nutrients. After all, bromeliads evolved their leaves for use as resevoirs, and sometimes for absorbing things that decompose in them. Then again.... what the ####, use regular potting soil, it won't do them any harm!
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Joel
 
Very nice Broms Nep G.
I have over a thousand Bromeliads which I grow in either bark chips, wood shavings and even gravel/ pebbles. The important thing with Broms is that the media drains easily. They rot pretty quick if you try and grow them in clayey soil that doesn't drain. You could even leave the plant in an empty pot (I leave mine lying on the ground sometimes for weeks) as long as there is water in the middle.

Cheers, fatboy.
 
Soo I should mix ALOT of perlite in right? And thanks for the kind words Fatboy!
 
Hi again Nep G

Lots of perlite is good, you could even grow them in 100% perlite. Broms don't seem touse their roots for anything other than holding on to things, they are often epiphytic. Like I said, if you fill the pot with bark or even stones the plants will be fine. Just keep them warm as they don't like cold, and keep some water in the middle.

Easy!

Cheers, fatboy.
 
Wow! Cool! I may get a large piece of Tern Fern Bark and mount them on it in my soon to be up Greenhouse! I mixed in with reg. potting soil alot of perlite so I would say the ratio is about 60perlite/40soil It drain nicely! SO it should work out! Thanks again man!
 
Nep G I can't wait to see some pics of your greenhouse when you finally get it up. I'm sure I don't need to encourage you but make sure you get some pics of it.

I grow all my plants, including my Neps, in my HUGE pergola. It is wood and shadecloth and I have mounted quite a few Tillandsias and other Broms on the posts of my pergola. Yesterday I spent all day installing micro-misters so now, when I turn the tap on, the entire pergola gets all misty and cool. I wandered around in there for about an hour looking around at how pretty it all is!
I got a new scanner last week so I'll get some pics and post them later in the week. I'll try and get some of my better Broms to but I have sooo many, hard to choose. One of my favs is called shwakeana or something like that (I lost the name tag), it is almost 2m (about 6 feet?) across.

Cheers, fatboy.
 
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I know metric fatboy. So I know how big that is and that is almost as tall as me! Huge! And congrats on wandering around for 1 hour. :cheesy:
 
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