Aechmea

Before After

I was given a pot full of  Aechmea that were in need of some TLC, after a long hot summer they had been badly burnt and looked rather neglected. I had not had anything to do with these plants before so I searched the net for a facts sheet to help me decide what I needed to do.

After my search I am sure that the variety of these bromeliads is Aechmea going by the description of the leaves. "The stately plants generally have wide, strappy green leaves that sometimes appear to be lightly powdered."

After a close inspection of these plants I found some of the original Aechmea had thrown off several pups. Once again back to the net for a fact sheet to find the best way to separate the pups and re-pot them all.

The fact sheet stated mature bromeliads should not be re-potted, the pups can be removed and potted up individually into small containers/pots until they are established, or left to form a new clump of plants. So everything came out of the pot and all the old soil was discarded and new potting soil replaced it. Very carefully I separated the new pups and potted them up, some of the older bromeliads I cut off sunburn effected leaves and re-potted them too. Nothing to loose by trying to safe as many of the older plants as I could. Some went back into the original pot, some in other pots I had and some I put into the garden in the fernery. I am happy to say that I lost none of the Aechmea and they all all looking very happy and healthy today...

Pups growing well

In the ground - In a pot