Has anyone else seen the pitiful bromeliads they have at WalMart these days? They have a bunch of them with dead flowers and dying main plants, but most of them do have the little offshoot for a new plant. How easy (or not...) would you think they'd be to save? If I picked one, what should I be paying attention to? and what should my first steps be to saving the plant? Should I disconnect the plantlet from the main plant as soon as I get it, or let it grow for a while? I think the ones I've seen are in 4 or 6 inch pots, with plants being about half a foot to a foot tall, and plantlets mostly not more than an inch. Some of the pots actually just have a brown stump where the plant used to be with a new green baby poking out from it. Would these be good or bad choices? Or should I not even try? Hehehe.
Now is the time to purchase bromeliads. Most of them, as you mentioned, are nearly finished flowering. However, as you mentioned, this is also the time when most bromeliads will also send out their offsets or "pups". The "mother" plant will be at the end of its life cycle, but if you just wait it out, the pups will grow and if you are lucky, there may be two or three. Eventually, you will cut off the dead foliage of the mother plant and be left with the new plants, that will, in turn, flower in a year or two. The cycle repeats itself. Many nurseries will have these "shaggy" and "sad" looking bromeliads on discount sale because they appear to be dying to unknowing customers. Look for plants with more than one pup, and if they look healthy, then you just purchased more than one plant at a discounted price. No need to separate the pups from the mother. As mentioned above, just cut off the dead foliage of the mother plant when it is time. The pups will grow and eventually, they will take up the space where the mother plant was. You could have quite a display in a few years. Mark
Yay, thanks! The thing is, I'm a little scared to keep them in the same soil they come in... I think there have been out of the nursery and in the WalMart for a long time, and they look overwatered. Should I maybe try to transplant right away, or wait for the soil to dry and then transplant? And if I do transplant, what soil? I definitely saw some with more than one pop, might go back tonight if it's not way too freezing cold out to carry them to the car.
Good advice from Mark. I would give the plants a couple/few weeks to adjust to their new environment before attempting to re-pot, though. Did you go back and purchase? (Ü)
Namawa, I never did go back there in time to buy the old plants.... now they have the new ones out, and I don't really have the space for a full-size bromeliad right now, hehe. I'll be moving in May, maybe then! =)
