Giant Bromeliad blooms

[redant]

This monster is probably about 15 years old, about to give up it's life for future generations. 

 

[Darold Petty]

Alcantarea imperialis ?   

[redant]

1 hour ago, Darold Petty said:

Alcantarea imperialis ?   

My daughter found a bunch of these on the roadside about 8 years ago.  Does look like that. Never had a brom go so long before blooming.

[Darold Petty]

Perhaps Gonzer can offer a more positive ID.

[Tracy]

On 4/11/2023 at 8:22 AM, redant said:

My daughter found a bunch of these on the roadside about 8 years ago.  Does look like that. Never had a brom go so long before blooming.

I have been growing Alcantarea imperialis for probably close to 15 years now but my living ones are all 1st, 2nd and now 3rd generation offsets of my original plant which is dead.  My original one was in my Carlsbad garden, and I removed an offset from it to bring to the new house.  The original plant died from lack of overhead watering by my tenants, as did most of my bromeliads in that garden.  My 1st generation has given me some 2nd generation plants that are in turn producing their own offsets.  That original pup is starting to get close to flowering size based on input from Gonzer when I asked him on this forum.  A couple of the larger 2nd generation offsets that are now producing the 3rd generation. 

That said, I'm still looking forward to the flower on mine with added motivation from your video.

[redant]

3 hours ago, Tracy said:

I have been growing Alcantarea imperialis for probably close to 15 years now but my living ones are all 1st, 2nd and now 3rd generation offsets of my original plant which is dead.  My original one was in my Carlsbad garden, and I removed an offset from it to bring to the new house.  The original plant died from lack of overhead watering by my tenants, as did most of my bromeliads in that garden.  My 1st generation has given me some 2nd generation plants that are in turn producing their own offsets.  That original pup is starting to get close to flowering size based on input from Gonzer when I asked him on this forum.  A couple of the larger 2nd generation offsets that are now producing the 3rd generation. 

That said, I'm still looking forward to the flower on mine with added motivation from your video.

Mine has had strange little pups that don't seem to thrive. I'm guessing the ones after it flowers so be more hardy. I'm going to guess this ones at least 15 years old.

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, redant said:

Mine has had strange little pups that don't seem to thrive.

Do they start out looking almost like grass size pups?  That is what mine are like but they do continue to grow.  This is generation 2, which I planted around 2015, but probably removed it from the parent plant a couple of years prior.  I have removed some when they are about cigar width or similar in size to a lot of Neoreglias with pretty good success and shared them with friends once I got them established.

[iDesign]

Yep, “grass pups” tend to grow glacially slow, though some grow faster than the siblings. My alcantarea julietta broms have had pups of various sizes for a couple years now, and most have stayed at “grass” size. On the plus side, the brom types that make these (slow growing) grass pups tend to live much longer than other brom types. 

Another thing that’s odd about the “grass pup” making broms is that the pups come much sooner in the lifecycle. The broms above are barely more than pups themselves, and already have grass pups at the base. I just leave the pups on the plant and forget about them until they’re much bigger (years later).

Alcantareas (and similar “grass pup” producers) sometimes put out a few more pups at the end of their life cycle, but most seem to form during their “teenage” years. Here are two of my older juliettas, which are starting to make a few more grass pups after being barren for a couple years (the more red one gets more sun). These ones are closer to mature, but hopefully still far from flowering...

 

[redant]

The beast is now about 6.5 ft tall and just amazing.

[Tracy]

On 4/19/2023 at 10:23 AM, redant said:

The beast is now about 6.5 ft tall and just amazing.

Based on photos of mature inflorescence,  you still have a ways to go.  Really spectacular as it is so hard to imagine it will only get bigger and better. 

[redant]

Up to over 7 ft now, just more beautiful every day.

[redant]

Probably getting close to the grand finally.