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saba82_gw

Guzmania

Saba82
10 years ago

Hi, I recently got a Guzmania and it was so beautiful and red.. I was told to water it once a week in the center.. seems I over watered it and the soil is starting to rot and the flower and leaves are turning yellow

I drained it but I really need help saving it.. what should I do

Comments (9)

  • subtropix
    10 years ago

    How do know the roots are rotting? Does it smell? The cup of the bromeliad should be filled and the potting medium should be VERY porous and well-draining so should be hard to overwater if it was only watered once a week.

    More details and a pic should help.

  • Will07
    10 years ago

    I'm going to assume it was in some sort of foil wrapper when you got your plant. What you should do is CHANGE the water in the centre vase ever week. As long as there is fresh water in the vase the soil can dry completely for short periods without any adverse effects. When the soil is dry take it to the sink and water until it drains through the bottom of the pot a couple of times.

    These plants are usually discarded after the colourful top dies off because they almost always only flower once. They start to produce new side shoots (the horticultural industry call these pups) which you can later cut off from the mother plant and pot on their own. It takes a long time for them to flower again which is why these plants are usually thrown out after they lose their beauty.

    If you have no patience in waiting three plus years for a new flower I'd just throw the plant out. If you want to experiment with it, take the plant out of the pot, let it dry out completely on some news papers for a couple of days and repot the plant. Wait until the pups are about half the size of the mother plant or when they have their own developed root system, cut it from the mother plant with a sharp knife and pot them on their own. In 2,3, maybe four years you will have a copy of the same plant with flowers!

  • petrushka (7b)
    10 years ago

    i just got guzmania lingulata and was reading up on culture.
    i have grown other broms successfuly, but not this one.
    they say the pups mature in one season and are farely easy to bloom. but they need 12-14 hours of good light - like diffused sun thru sheers in eastern window . and good 1/4 strength diluted acidic fertilizer ev 2 weeks. in soil and cup. they take more fertilizer then other broms but less light then aechmeas.
    if your soil is very damp - pull the ball out of the pot, wrap it in paper towels and let it rest for a day or two or more on a clay saucer - the clay will pull extra moisture out.
    peek inside the bottom leaves near the stem - very likely you should see the pup 'bud'.
    i do not cut off the pups i let them grow and cluster - the mother will continue for quite some time without declining.
    i don't know about guzmania, but my aechmea is still going strong and not dead after 4! years and has 2 huge pups that are getting bigger then the mother plant.

  • garyfla_gw
    10 years ago

    Hi
    I find guzmania the most difficult of all the broms. Best for me is mounted to a slab of cork driftwwod Tough to grow this way in the house but can be done gary

  • petrushka (7b)
    10 years ago

    gary, since you're in fl i assume you have hi humidity even indoors and warmth year round.
    so why then guzmania is more difficult then others?
    or to refraze it, what do you need to do differently that is problematic?

  • garyfla_gw
    10 years ago

    Hi
    I find them far more susceptible to rot than most broms .
    They seem to be true epiphytes and need a wet/dry cycle
    So I keep them in the shadehouse along with orchids that need similar requirements.. Most Broms are very tolerant
    those i grow in the garden either in pots or attached to trees. Of all the Broms I've tried this genus is the most sensitive IME and that culture has produced the best results .
    Only one small area of florida is truly tropical. I live in the north of ten so usually okay but can be too cold/hot /dry /wet So compensation is necessary for a lot of tropical plants over time. gary

  • petrushka (7b)
    10 years ago

    are you in 'old 10B' or 'new 10B' revised? coastal miami has been upgraded to 11!
    it's interesting that you say they need clear wet/dry - i did see this in recommendations - not to water until the medium is very dry.
    and then i came across this post in brom forum: see splinter post about mr Guzmania grower - this one says never to let them dry out...business as usual, i guess - many strokes for diff folks...
    i am underwaterer and letting them dry out happens naturally without trying..;) so i normally worry about 'do not let them dry out' comments more then anything.
    i can see why misting is especially good: noticed that papery leaves stiffened up noticeably - so it looks like they will need constant misting, which is somewhat bothersome. even the flower bracts apparently like misting?
    funnel water: normally they say do not put water in the funnel with flower (will shorten it's life) - but for this one they say put it in.
    so may be just watering the funnel and leaf pockets will be all it needs to deliver water to roots? some water will always percolate down.
    i guess i'll have to experiment.
    saba, i hope we are not boring you. since this one is new to me too, i figured it's ok to ask more questions?
    did you get yours out of the pot to dry up yet?

    Here is a link that might be useful: mr guzmania broms

  • garyfla_gw
    10 years ago

    Hi
    Love the way they revise those zones lol Seems ma nature never reads them. Over the years I've ranged from
    an 8 to solid 11 lol. Had snow in 78/ low of 27 in o9 last year low of 42. This year set 5 record night time highs followed by 4 consecutive days below 60 as highs
    I live near the ocean so on average my lows are 5/10 above 5 miles inland. On average about 5 degrees below Miami Ten below Key West. The only frost free place in the cont. US. In 09 they set an all time low of 40 while my low was 27
    have averaged about 15 above in the present cold front.
    Last night had a low of 40 while it frosted 3 miles north and 5 miles inland.
    Until ma nature starts reading the "zones " I'm going to depend on my thermometer lol gary

  • tropicbreezent
    10 years ago

    Guzmanias are mainly tropical rainforest plants, constant humidity even when it's not actually raining. Not usually very hot, but neither too cold, rainforests tend to be more moderate. They're mainly epiphytes, so up in trees with lots of air movement and usually good light, though not direct sun. So that's the sort of environment that keeps Guzmanias happy.

    That link to the other thread on Guzmanias is really good, "Splinter" (Nev) is amazingly knowledgeable on broms.

    I got a number of Guzmanias (mail order) last November, start of the wet season. November and December weren't particularly heavy with rain. But there was more than enough to keep the vases full of water. January started off slow but has now become quite heavy, approaching 500 millimetres of rain so far for the month. The Guzmanias are still looking very happy, one even has a flower spike. So I suspect it's more of a temperature issue rather than overwatering. Most probably too much water when it's too cold.

    On the issue of revising climate zones, the recent changes were based on readings during a warmer period and left out later colder records. Conspiricists say that was done deliberately to give support to the global warming campaign. Also, a lot of the weather stations have been swallowed up in urban expansion, "The Concrete Jungle", creating "heat islands" around them. Of course, within those concrete jungles the heat increase is real. Outside them, as Gary says, your own thermometer is the best indicator.

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