Bromeliad Pests – Bugs, Critters and Things That go ‘Bump’ in the Night
President – Linda Stagnol – 386/760-6842
Vice President – Jay Thurrott – 386/761-4804
Secretary – Calandra Thurrott - 386/761-4804
Treasurer - Ted Nuse - 386/673-2648
________________________________________________________________________
This Month’s Meeting: Bromeliad Pest Control
July’s topic for our meeting was fertilizing your bromeliads for optimum growth. This month we are going to follow up on that topic with discussion about pests of bromeliads. Compared to most other plants bromeliads are remarkably pest-free, but there are some problems that you can run into…and that’s what we’ll be discussing this month. Have a pest problem with your bromeliads? Bring them in (either the bromeliad or the pest) and we’ll do our best to identify the problem and offer some suggestions for control.
Cold Weather in September?
I know it’s hard to get very excited about preparing your plants for cold weather when we’re in the middle of what seems like a very long, hot summer – but this is when you need to start making your plans for what measures you will need to take when that first icy cold wave sweeps through the state in December. What plants will be affected? What can you do to keep these plants from freezing? What works well? What should you avoid trying? We’ll discuss all of these things for our September meeting. Bring your concerns, your questions, and comments to the meeting on September 11.
For All You BSI Members …
The BSI would like to know what you like and what you don’t like about that organization and, to this end, have mailed a survey form. If you have received one of these forms, please take a moment to complete it and return it in the envelope provided. It’s very important that your comments be received – they could very well influence the direction BSI will take in the future.
Things to watch for…
What’s Blooming?
It seems like we’ve had a lot of bromeliads in bloom lately. A walk through the yard shows the following:
T. xerographica
T. mallemontii
T. recurvata
T. streptocarpa
T. stricta
T. fasciculata
Ae. ‘Jackson’
Ae. chantinii ‘Gray Ghost’(this is the only form of Ae. chantinii that I can grow without it being hurt by cold weather)
Ae. fulgens var. discolor and Ae. fulgens discolor marginata
Ae. fasciata (a good year for several forms of this old favorite)
Ae. pittieri
Ae. ramosa var. longifolius
Ananas bracteatus
Catopsis sessiliflora
Catopsis nutans (but it’s well past its prime)
Pitcairnia undulata
Vriesea flammea
Vriesea ‘Sceptre D’or’
What’s blooming in your collection? Let us know for our regular ‘Show and Tell’ session!
Looking ahead:
August 20 & 21-
Bromeliad Fantasy, with display and sale. 9 AM - 4PM at Sanford Garden Club, 17-92 & Fairmont Drive, Sanford.Oct. 9th – FECBS monthly meeting. Guest program speaker Dr. Terrie Bert. We’ll have more on this in the next newsletter.
October 14 -17, 2005 Out of the country? Check out
Bromeliads XIII - Australasian Conference. Hosted by The Bromeliad Society of Queensland Inc. in Brisbane in. The Conference will be held over four days from Friday 14th October, to Monday 17th October, 2005, inclusive.October 14-16 A little closer to home is the
Caloosahatchee Bromeliad Society 2005 Standard BSI Show & SaleFriday – registration, exhibit entry and standard judged show
Saturday, October 15, 2005 - open to public 9:00am to 5:00pm
Sunday, October 16, 2005 - open to public 10:00am to 4:00pm
For further show and sale information please contact Diane Molnar at (239) 549-3404 or capebrom@aol.com and Brian Weber at (941) 355-2847 or brianweber1b@aol.com respectively.
October 22 – Bromeliad Extravaganza, Sarasota Garden Club, 1131 Blvd. of the Arts, Sarasota. Banquet and rare plant auction will be held at the Helmsley Sandcastle – 1540 Ben Franklin Dr. Lido Beach, Sarasota. Call 941/388-2181 for reservations.