Editorial Comment: (Bob Reilly) Reprinted from Bromeliaceae, 1992, volume XXV (3), pp6-8. Sometimes it is a real struggle to keep a variegated plant which has arisen as a sport or mutation from a non-variegated one. In this article, John Catlan describes how he dealt with this situation.

Aechmea ‘Aztec Gold’ is really the story of trying to produce a desirable plant, by swinging the odds in the grower's favour.

One day in 1991 a friend of mine, Ian Sellars, found a plant in a group of my Aechmea recurvata plants, with a good clear yellow stripe on one of its leaves. The variegated leaf appeared on a fully mature plant, that had failed to flower that year.

It was the unanimous lament that many plants of friends as well as our own had shown partial variegation, that had not been passed on to the pups. The low averages were definitely against success, but with this plant we hoped it was possible, as the variegated leaf was low down in the butt of the plant where the pups originate.

After researching the material available, looking for a magic wand, I found that there were none, or more precisely, none that I could find. Now was the time to put into action three lessons learnt while observing our plants.

One day while sitting on an old stump, with a shovel in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, trying to get inspiration, I noted just how hardy bromeliads really were. There were dozens of discarded plants lying on their sides with their pups happily sitting up ready to grow into new clumps.

LESSON 1. If a plant falls over and a pup forms, nine times out of ten the pup will start on the top side of the plant.

Like most bromeliad growers, being short of room, I would take pups off and sit them in a pot in a very open mix to keep them upright till I had time to tend to them. If you are too long, you would end up with a solid ball of roots. This resulted in tearing them apart and damaging the roots. Gradually in dawned on me that the root system initiated from one side of the pup. The opposite side from the heel piece torn from the mother plant. The rule became face the wound side to the centre of the pot. The roots all grow to the outside of the pot and are easier to separate. This explained to me why in a clump of bromeliads the pups are generally grown on the mother plant furtherest from the grand-mother. I reasoned that the roots on that side absorbed the nourishment and gave slightly more food to that side of the plant. I foliar fed the plants on one side only and this resulted in a very high percentage of pups from that side.

LESSON 2. If you liquid feed a plant, by foliar feeding it on one side, you increase your chances of getting a pup from that side.

I remembered one year, there being not enough bench space for all the plants, so some were placed under a bench. Being winter, the sun was low in the sky and light penetrated very well in under the bench as it faced north. Spring arrived and busy- busy - busy then well into summer, lo and behold there were the plants with all their pups, like soldiers - facing the path. At the time I thought it was rather convenient for the removal of the pups.

LESSON 3. If the plant is denied light on one side, it will throw its pups on the side facing the light source.

The time had come to bite the bullet. We lay the plant at an angle of 45 degrees facing away from the sun with our yellow stripe being on top, facing to the sun. A few weeks later at an angle of 90 degrees to the yellow stripe appeared a green pup. This was removed with a sharpened screwdriver. Our theory was that the pup had started its growth cycle prior to our meddling with nature. Be patient and wait. Success immediately followed by disaster. The pup was there but it was pure yellow. We only had the one variegated leaf and the pup was right under it. So all we could do was leave it as an interesting experiment.

A few months later and the pup had grown and we looked and wondered, for there on the upper side of the leaves was a solid green stripe. A phenomena of this plant is all pups appear as plain yellow, but as the leaves develop the green stripe improves and it turns into a sturdy vigorous grower for a variegate.

To promote the growth of ‘Aztec Gold’ we left it attached to its parent, this promoted vigorous growth which resulted in a mature plant which produced 10 pups over 3 years. Any pups appearing on the green side were cut off so the ‘Aztec Gold’ received all the energy.

Over the years ‘Aztec Gold’ has never produced a pup for me that has reverted to green. In the first couple of years we only had to destroy about 6 plants that did not grow strong enough for me.

Our climate is described as sub-tropical but 'Aztec Gold' has not been adversely affected by our heat. In 1985 our winter produced 16 frosts in a row and that year the flowering was the most spectacular we have ever witnessed.

‘Aztec Gold’ was grown in 7" hanging baskets potted in a very open mix and hung 18 cm from the roof. They had plenty of light and 9 month Osmocote as a fertilizer. They were watered regularly, but they were very well drained and had plenty of air movement. They grow in full sun on a wire bench 1 ft. from the ground now and they are doing fine.

Some people who have had trouble growing ‘Aztec Gold’ are probably giving too much water and not enough light and air movement to keep up with the watering.

Aechmea orlandiana ‘Ensign’. After our success with ‘Aztec Gold’ I acquired a plant of Aechmea orlandiana Ensign. This plant had a good variegation on one side. The other side was only slightly varie-gated. We faced the slight variegated side against a fibro wall -the strong variegation facing the light source. Pups came out all over the place, but we did eventually get a good ‘Ensign’ which we left on the parent plant till we got a good sturdy plant.

We wondered whether as Aechmea orlandiana was a climbing bromeliad more than a dumper, maybe our rules for this type were not as applicable.

I hope the proceeding information will help along your collection of bromeliads. Don't forget to let us hear of your results.