posted
Hello, I am very new to houseplants. Bought 2 fairly big bromeliads and one little coffee plant. Book I have recommends a humidity tray for each of them. Consists of a tray filled with rocks and also water. Pot sits on top of that and water evaporates creating humidity for the plant. I bought some little rocks in the plant section that are nice and polished and for this. Problem is, after 2 days, rocks and water have developed a bad odor. Not REALLY strong but if you are within a couple feet, you can smell it and I dont know if it will get worse with time. So my first question is, how to create a humidity tray with sitting water without it smelling. Second question is how to take the little "pups" from one of the bromeliads and extract them and plant them. They are between the large outer and inner leaves of the plant. Do I just pick it out of there? They are about 2 to 3 inches high but I cant see how I can get it with its own roots separate from the mother plant. Then what do I plant it in, anything special?? Thank you very much for any help!!!! dave
Plants: 2 | From: LA, California | Registered: Aug 2003
| Seeded: 63.64.30.146
posted
Echo welcome to the forum. Can't answer the ? but Will Creed should be on any day now and can probably answer your ?. What part of L.A. are you from? Moved from the basin LA basin little over a year ago. Catlover
* * * * Plants: 7129 | From: California | Registered: Mar 2003
| Seeded: 68.66.244.106
Will Creed
guest
posted
Hi Dave,
You need to learn the source of the odor. It may be your local water. If so, use filtered or distilled water instead. The additiona of baking soda might also help. It may be that the odor is coming from the tray or the stones, although this is not likely. Just make sure they are good and clean. Finally, if the water sits for long periods of time. it may be picking up odors from the surrounding air. Sometimes circulating the air with a fan can help.
If none of the above work, then consider doing away with the pebble tray. Both of your plants can do just fine in low humidity, even though the books say otherwise. In addition, humidity trays are really only necessary in the winter months when the artificial heat dries out the air.
The Bromeliad pups can be left on the mother plant or they can be severed and potted up separately. If you choose the latter, then wait until the pups are about one-third to one-half the size of the mother. This takes about 6 to 9 months.
Remove the soil where the pup attaches to the mother plant. Most of the time the pup can be pulled away from the mother with a firm but gentle tug. Otherwise, cut the pup low on the woody part of the stem that attaches the pup to the mother. Allow the severed pup to sit in the open air (out of the sun) for a day before potting it. Pot the severed pup in a small pot filled with a mix of peat moss and perlite. Keep this mix damp and place it in bright light away from direct sunlight. Keep temps above 65 degrees. You may want to place it inside a clear plastic bag to help maintain high humidity for the first month after it is potted up.
posted
Wow, Thanks everyone for the advice. Its cool to have a place to ask questions. The hardware stores have plant people that really dont know answers to many of my questions.
Anyway, So far no bad smell from the tray. I smelled the one when I was changing the rocks and water from a temporary tray to a more permenant one. But since then not moving it, no smell. I like the way they look too. As far as humididy, I just know I run the air cond a lot as Im in the valley and today for instance, its 102. So I thought it may be too dry.
I guess my other questions are (since I have people who actually know something): should I be repotting these? They came in 6 inch-ish pots and all Ive read is that the bromeliads really dont need more pot space. These plants are about 1 to 2 feet high so I dont know how much bigger they will get. I repotted one in a slightly larger pot (7 inch) which leads me to the second question. What kind of soil. Books say combination of stuff but it was bought in what looked like potting soil. The one I repotted is peat moss, perlite, and potting soil mixed perhaps with slightly more peat moss than soil. Is this ok?? One of these is a (closest pic I could find on the web) "Vriesea Annie" and the other is a large "Guzmania Ostara" FYI. At least I think thats what they are. The second may be a "Guzmania Orangeade". I cant tell the difference from the pics Ive seen. I really like them esp since I went to the Big Island recently for the first time to Hawaii in my life. These remind me of that (not to mention the little coffee plant I got). Well see how they do. Thank you again all of you!! dave
Plants: 2 | From: LA, California | Registered: Aug 2003
| Seeded: 24.126.93.139
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