Tillandsia

[phatty]

orchids broms Tillandsia

just wonder if you any of you mob have orchids broms/ tillandisa if so put up some picks
i have just finished my shade house went to me dads and stole some orchids and broms
but i love the little bromeliad tillandisa so unusual

 

[phatty]

not my pic but i want one of these

 

[Bluetongue1]

What an exquisite piece of nature. A Flying Duck Orchid (Caleana major). A lot of the Australian terrestrial orchids are difficult to maintain in cultivation. The literature says you might get one or maybe two seasons out of this species. I wonder if you can grow it from seed.

I have not grown Tillandsias as they didn’t seem much of a challenge (mist twice a week) and were expensive for what you get. I have grown quite a few other broms but am down to the hardy ones only now due to neglect over a summer when I was not well and had spent a month plus in hospital.

Blue

 

[phatty]

growing by seed would be good but very time consuming and difficult i believe.
broms seem fairly easy to grow up here some even seem to be like weeds
at the moment i am trying to grow eucaluptus deglupta (rainbow eucalyptus) and boab trees which i hope goes well.

 

[Klaery]

Hornet, as he is known on here (and a buch of other forums), has a heap of orchids. Don't know if he is still around though.

 

[Bluetongue1]

Phatty,
A couple of specky plants you have chosen there to have a crack at. I know nothing about boabs other than the size of the external shell on the nut. I have grown a lot eucalypts and they vary from dead easy to very frustrating. They tend to be susceptible to damping off (not as bad as Banksias) if planted too thickly or not freely drained. It is easily cured with fungicide such as Benlate (nasty stuff). If you do have problems, try putting a thin layer (about 5 mm) of gritty sand over the seedraising mix. Drop the seed on top and jost water it with a soft, fine spray and keep moist. Do not bury it or it will probably not germinate as most fine seed needs light to germinate. As for extracting seed, you probably have your own tecnique. I put mature fruit in a brown paper bag, folded and sealed with a paper clip, and leave it on the parcel tray at the back of the car for a couple of weeks. Usually works a treat. Apologies if I am telling you stuff you already know.

Blue

 

[phatty]

Phatty,
A couple of specky plants you have chosen there to have a crack at. I know nothing about boabs other than the size of the external shell on the nut. I have grown a lot eucalypts and they vary from dead easy to very frustrating. They tend to be susceptible to damping off (not as bad as Banksias) if planted too thickly or not freely drained. It is easily cured with fungicide such as Benlate (nasty stuff). If you do have problems, try putting a thin layer (about 5 mm) of gritty sand over the seedraising mix. Drop the seed on top and jost water it with a soft, fine spray and keep moist. Do not bury it or it will probably not germinate as most fine seed needs light to germinate. As for extracting seed, you probably have your own tecnique. I put mature fruit in a brown paper bag, folded and sealed with a paper clip, and leave it on the parcel tray at the back of the car for a couple of weeks. Usually works a treat. Apologies if I am telling you stuff you already know.

Blue

blue there are so many ways to do thing every bit of advice counts, as you well may know your a very respected member on this community any knowledge that you pass on is invaluable
i have two boabs that are seedlings at the moment I scratch the external shell to promote sprouting they are now 60-70mm high
i am trying the method you describe to sprout the eucalypts but it is only 2 days in