Bromeliad Society Vol 53 No 5 MAY ANNOUNCEMENTS May 2020 UPCOMING EVENTS WATCH THIS SPACE Plantastic May by Earthstar Designs Hello Bromeliad Buddies, Things seem rather harsh everywhere but we can be positive about an outstanding spring and our bromeliads are looking quite splendid. In fact, the bromeliads (and other plants as well) have grown and duplicated like mad. So, to that end, we have a fun Show and Tell included. You will see a lot of beautiful plants in this edi- tion and contributors are always welcome. We all love to see the successful plants around the club. It’s really uplifting and we sure need a push of good things these days. Cheers, Mary, Cherie and David P.S. Enjoy the Show and Tell... PRESIDENT’S fer a refund, you may receive a full refund PAGE through the end of 2020 by contacting the Bro- meliad Society International (BSI) Membership I missed seeing Secretary at [email protected]. everyone last month, but we need If you would like to register for the 2021 WBC, to stay safe and registration is $315 per person through the end healthy. I hope you of 2020. You must be a BSI member to regis- all are well and tak- ter. If you are a current BSI member, please ing precautions to register at https://www.bsi.org/members/. If stay that way. We have no idea when we will you are not a member, you may join the BSI be able to meet in person again, but we will try and register for the conference at https:// to stay in touch and keep you informed with the www.bsi.org/new/join-the-bsi-or-renew/. You Bulletins, website, and emails. should be able to make hotel reservations for the 2021 WBC through the BSI website shortly. With social distancing still recommended and If you made hotel reservations for the 2020 West Gray Metropolitan Multiservice Center WBC, please remember to cancel them. closed at least through the end of May, we have canceled our May 19th meeting. We will keep If you have not done so already, please renew you updated on the status of our June meeting. your BS/H and Cryptanthus Society member- Should this continue, we are looking into hold- ships. Allyn Pearlman ([email protected]) ing virtual meetings as an alternative to face-to- would be happy to help you with this. Also, face meetings. This is new for most of us so, please go to https://www.bsi.org/members/ to we need to determine whether-or-not this is renew your membership for the BSI online or possible and if it would be useful for us. We will https://www.bsi.org/new/join-the-bsi-or-renew/ keep you informed on our progress. to join the BSI on line or to print a form to re- new/join by mail. The Officers and Board of Directors have also decided to totally cancel the Show and Sale for Don’t forget there is a new electronic Journal 2020. We had discussed a possible fall show membership option for only $25 for individual and sale but with no location available or identi- memberships, $35 for dual memberships. There fied and the virus outlook unknown, we did not is also a new low rate of $15 for the first year for believe the options were viable. We do have an electronic Journal membership for first time some other ideas for the Fall should conditions members, $25 for first time dual memberships. improve like a possible Fall ABC’s, Fall Sale, Please let me know if you have any questions. and of course our VP Linda Whipkey is still working on programs. I hope you all are enjoying spending time with And as for next year, don’t forget the 2021 your plants. Please be careful, don’t overdo it, World Bromeliad Conference (WBC) in Sara- and stay healthy. I hope to see you all in June. sota, Florida planned for June 8-12, 2021. It will be held at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota with a trip to Selby Gardens and optional tours for pur- chase to Tropiflora and Michael’s Bromeliads. Take care, There will be speakers, plant sales, show, rare Cherie plant auction, and a banquet. If you registered for the 2020 WBC, your registration will be transferred to the 2021 WBC. Should you pre- 2 Whipkey’s Word May 2020 Acclimate The balmy days of spring are almost over. Plants still in their winter quarters need to be moved to their summer homes soon. But be careful. Plants (like people) don’t like things to change too fast. They need to acclimate to their new surroundings. Let’s make acclimate our word of the month. Google defines acclimate as: “to become accustomed to a new climate or to new conditions. First let’s consider people. COVID-19 has changed our world in a multitude of ways. I don’t know about you, but I have been staying home and avoiding crowds. When I do venture out it is to a world of isolation, masks, closed stores, and little traffic. Strange terms like self-quarantine, social distanc- ing, SARS-CoV-2, pandemic, community spread, flattening the curve, and personal protective equip- ment (PPE) have become common in conversation. Meetings have been canceled; people are not working, or working from home. Isolation has become the norm. Yes things have changed, but so will our behaviors. Things look bad, but remember that we, like our plants, in time we will acclimate to our new normal whatever it may be. Hopefully we will soon be back to having some form of monthly meetings. Hang in there and take of yourself and your plants. Speaking of plants, you need to think about your winter growing conditions. I bet they are similar to mine. The plants have low light, they are crowded, and there is less than ideal air circulation. Not a good situation. The growth, if there is any, is weak and lanky. Plants under these conditions are sus- ceptible to pests and diseases. But be careful when you move the plants to a better location. They will need time to acclimate. Putting the plants in a place where they will get better air circulation will help matters considerably. Most pest problems, including brown scale, will probably disappear when there is better air move- ment. However, black fly speck scale (Gymnaspis aechmeae ) is a more serious problem. If the in- festation is bad, it is probably best to put the plant into the garbage can. If you wish to save it, you will probably need to quarantine it and treat with an appropriate insecticide. Carefully read the com- plete insecticide container label. Make sure the chemical you choose is approved to treat scale. Read and follow all instructions carefully. Your plants summer home should allow it to get optimum sunlight. But, this can be tricky. Remem- ber that word acclimate? Plants don’t need much time to acclimate to better air circulation, but bright- er sunlight is a whole different matter. A wise “old” nursery man, Dennis Cathcart, once told me that in order to acclimate a plant to brighter light it should be moved multiple times. Each time the plant is moved the light should be 20% brighter than the previous place. To complicate matters the plant should stay in each location at least 1 month. So if the plant has been wintering in your garage or other dark location, it might take several months to get the plant acclimated to bright sunlight. In my case the winter location for my plants is under plastic covered by 50% shade cloth. The plants only get about 40% of the weak winter sun. To get the plants acclimated full summer sun will take at 2 possibly 3 months. Oh you can speed the process up and move them directly from low light directly to bright light, but the plants will pay a price. Remember in your younger days when you headed to the beach or pool for the first time after a long dreary winter? What happened? You remember. You received a bad sunburn. Plants are the same. Too much sun too quickly and they get sunburned. Unfortunately once the damage is done, it can’t be undone. In my experience, once a leaf is burned, it will never heal. Take your time and do it correctly. If you give your plants time to acclimate, the move from winter to summer home should be unevent- ful. 3 Show and Tell (sans John Schmidt’s bon vivant) Alicia Baker This is the one I did first. Last year. I have always loved the color of the strawberry pot. Everything I potted in it died. I finally dumped out the soil and noticed there were no drainage holes! Geeze you would have thought I would have noticed that BEFORE. Bob told me to use a cement bit and go slow. Drill 3 holes and put my brom mix heavy on perlite in the pot. I also use plas- tic screen to keep the soil from coming out the holes. The plants are between the pot and the screen, but can root through the screen. Seemed to work. <=== strawberry pot with Neoregelia ‘Donger’ ===> Neoregelia punctatissima x Neoregelia ‘Night Spot’ Two pictures together show the concept. It was planted in the spring. Mixture of pups from Cherie and plants I bought from the sale last March or May. (Left) This was done also last spring after the sky blue strawberry pot.