There is an area on the island that has many lovely Bromeliads, growing on trees. The property is undeveloped and I'd like to collect a few of these & move them to our garden.
I am new to Bromeliads...are there secrets to moving them from one tree to another?? Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Kitty
Moving Bromeliads from trees
Well, my first question...is what kind of tree is it in? Does the tree have fruit, or fleshy seed pods? Some of them like the fumes the over ripe material emits... (something gas)...I forgot ...I'll wake up at 300AM remembering what I'm trying to describe. Second question, are there bromeliads in the tree you want to move them too? If not, are there any examples you can observe- such as same type tree in another location with the bromeliads?
If you move the bromeliad, try placing a banana with it- I feed all my non terrestial broms bananas..they love them..and bloom very nicely.
rjuddharrison,
Thanks for your helpful reply...The answer to the kind of tree they are in--I don't know...but will definitely find out.
I want to put them in a Gumelemi Tree. The ones in our garden don't have bromeliads. I will look, when I go to the area on Wednesday to see if there are Gumelemi's there with bromeliads. If there are...what does that mean? That those are the ones I should move.
And tell me more about the bananas...what do I do with them??
Thanks again!
Some of the plants have a symbiotic relationship. Like certain trees here harbour these small ferns, but they only grow on a certain type of tree- I'm not sure what the relationship is, but noticed I could not transfer the ferns to another type of tree- that was the thought behind my question. Wondered if there was a symbiotic relationship with the bromeliad.
Re the bananas - a friend once told me to get some of the bromeliads to bloom, was to put them in a plastic bag with a banana or apple and the type of fumes get them to bloom. I have a tropical garden, so I have bromeliads perched around in trees (until the hurricane) Every month I would slice up apples and bananas and place them around and in the sides of the containers I had them in. I have never had so many beautiful blooms, and numerous bromeliad pups. I'm still muddling my way through the experience, but am pleased with the success so far. There is alot more to learn on this bromeliad forum I think, and some realy uber gardeners that really know their stuff. This was the other reason for the question..does the tree the bromeliads are in now, have fruit or alot of soft seed pods that would produce the necessary gas?
Rj..computer going down now..will write later
This message was edited Oct 4, 2005 7:26 PM
This message was edited Oct 4, 2005 7:27 PM
Okay..sorry about that. What is the name of the gas that decomposing fruit (mulch) puts off. I'm wondering if that tree they are now in produces fruit or a source of decomposing materials, and the one you want to put them on has anything simlilar. Rj
Finally...I just remembered the name...it's methane gas that the decomposing fruit creates. This is largely what the non terrestrial (epiphytes ) bromeliads thrive on. There is a lot of info on http://bsi.org/ but I haven't had the fortune of coming accross alot of data for natural habitat information. There is so much data, I haven't sifted through it all. I grew up in Africa, and spent some time in Costa Rica- so my experience and observation with natural habitat and cultivation of epiphytes is limited to these regions.
rj
This message was edited Oct 4, 2005 7:59 PM
rj--thanks for your reply! I have more questions: You mention your bromeliads perched around on trees--and also the containers they are in.
How do you attach the container to the tree?? The ones I see are growing directly on trees, no containers. Could you send me a photo of yours in a tree??
I'd hoped to collect some tomorrow...but we're having heavy rain & lots of wind, so it will probably not happen until next week.
Thanks again. Kitty
I've become very resourceful with my attaching containers. I usually use a bungie cord. I still am not confident enough to actually attach the bromeliads to the tree for the reasons I listed in my questions above. By keeping them in a small pot I can control the enviornment a wee bit better. Your location is a natural habitat, where as mine is not. I'm going to post a couple of pictures on how I put the bananas or apples with the pots and hopefully I have a picture of one I have in a yucca tree.
You can see a slice of apple stuff down in the side of the pot.
This message was edited Oct 4, 2005 9:27 PM
This is the full view of the bromeliad.
I started out by making a bromeliad trellis, then graduated to putting them in shrubs and trees. Like I said I'm hesitant to trying to attach them to trees here because of weather, critters and care, so I've been strapping them with the pots.
Here is one I have by the pond in the yucca, over to the right under the bird of paradise leaves..Unfortuneatly the ones I had in higher trees were removed because of Hurrican Rita, and are in the greenhouse where they will remain over winter. This has been my most sucessful year for Bromeliads. There are so many pups, I'm not quite sure what to do. This is my next phase of learning. The one in the Yuca tree, are actually 2 pups from last year that I let grow together.
Rj
Here is my pond from spring. It does pretty well until may, then I had to start shifting things around because of the shade from the former pecan tree. Now I won't have that issue. Pond is in the shadows on the right.
Woops - this was for an email to someone else...had too many windows open...sorry.
Rj
This message was edited Oct 4, 2005 9:37 PM
Your plants and garden is wonderful. Thanks for the pictures and knowledge.
senlarrs
i'll say, beautiful pictures for sure.
greenink, just be sure not to use copper wire if you want to wire them into the trees. copper is deadly to broms. those trees you mentioned, is that the same as gumbo limbo in south florida? debi
Oh thanks....say..do you know if that copper applies to orchids? I just propped one of my ochids up with a copper ornament stick, and that thought passed thru my mind. I think I'll remove it just to be safe. I didn't know that about bromeliads and copper.
How is your move going along Debi?
rj
I was trying to find what kind of tree this was..
I found this description
Noun 1. gum elemi - fragrant resin obtain from trees of the family Burseraceae and used as incense
elemi
incense tree - any of various tropical trees of the family Burseraceae yielding fragrant gums or resins that are burned as incense
gum resin - a mixture of resin and gum
If it's like that tree, it sounds good.
Rj
Yes! Debbie, the Gumelemi evidently is the same as Gumbo Limbo. Thanks for teaching me that. A Bahamian friend confirmed it.
Gumelemi/Gumbo Limbo is my most favorite tree...they are like living sculptures. The bark peels, and some here call them "tourist trees". The photo is of our front garden.
In reading about Gumbo Limbo, I read that the birds were not attracted to the berries. But here in Abaco, they seems to love them!
Tomorrow I plan to collect Bromeliads...and I've found a few places to put them (without copper--thanks for that tip!)
Kitty
Finally--I collected 5 Bromeliads last evening. It was harder than I imagined. First, when I've seen them they appear to be "right there" just off the path. But when I went to take some I realized they were actually further into the bush...which contains a lot of poisonwood--not something I want to get near!!
But I did find some that were accessible. However, I had imagined just plucking them off. Nope, each one of them held on for dear life! I finally broke off two small branches and left them clinging. One branch has one medium sized plant; the other small branch has two tiny little ones.
When I looked at them this morning they are tightly wrapping their roots around the sticks. Help--what do I do now?? Should I leave them on their branches and put everything in a tree?? The larger one has a bit of tree foliage, that you can see.
The other two, one large and the other tiny, I have put in trees. I fear that I pulled them away from their roots. Will they survive??
Do they need anything under them, or just the bark??
Thanks for your help.
The first photos are of the largest of the five. Obviously the string isn't attractive. I'm considering fishing line.
Oops, sorry I didn't rotate the earlier photo.
This is the tiny one, with my finger to show scale...it is sitting in a cavity in a Gumelemi Tree that is just the right size. I haven't attached it at all...will see if it's in the tree or on the ground tomorrow.
Next, the two tiny ones on a stick.
And...the medium sized one, on a stick.
As you can see, these are not nearly as dramatic or beautiful as yours!
Finally, the last one...which shows the roots of the medium sized one...which is why I fear taking it away from the stick.
Yes, but to go out into the woods and collect them! That is cool!
If it were me, I would leave the roots attached to the piece of wood. You can always cut the wood down on each side. As far as putting something underneath them, I would experiment with some mulching leaves, just a few. Those look as though they would be fine with nothing around them but the air. Like I said, experiment with one of them.
I know what you mean by the string. I've done all of that before. I can't tell how many hours I've spent trying to attach them..it's comical now, but I was cussing a blue streak then.
I'm going to go check out the picts again...rj
rj and greenink, i forgot to watch this thread! the move is at a standstill. we are finishing the house we will be in, haven't done anything in the one we are in. it seems to be the project that never ends (or starts).
i love the gumbo limbo too. some bark is red while others are silver. we too call it the tourist tree!
when i found out about copper and broms i quit thinking of it altogether in terms of other plants. i think you were wise to take it off of your orchids. when people here want to clean the spanish moss off of their trees they spray with a copper mix. that tells you something!
both of your brom pictures are great looking. greenink, sounds like you are having a ball. debi