How to not kill these?

Hi all,
I have never owned bromeliads but they are so beautiful. Our grocery store is famous for letting things almost die then putting them on clearance.
I paid $26 for all of these. It was an huge markdown so I am assuming I ended up with a good deal. The large square one was marked 49.99 most others were 20-30 each. They all came in the pots in the picture.

This is what I know...
Let them dry out pretty good, then water well.
Water into the flower so water sits in the leaves.
Dont let them stand in water.
No direct sun, but light is good.

What I dont know is...lots
Do I have to do anything to them?
Does the flower ever die?
What month do they usually bloom?
Do I cut the flower off?
Do they have to go dormant?
Fertilizer?
Mist?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
chris

I don't know a whole lot but I do know DON"T cut the flower off. It will die out by it's self and when it does you will start seeing what they call pups and then the whole thing will die and you take the pups off and plant them and have a whole new plant . The mother plant only lives long enough to produce the little ones. I call them recyclers LOL cause you never have the same plant all the time . From what I understand you have to give the pup awhile to develope and the you lift the plant and cut the pup off and then set the mother back and she should produce maybe a few more pups. Or at least this is what I have been told to do with mine.

They are all Guzmanias and Vreiseas. The Guzmanias are the ones that look more like actual flowers on the end of a stalk. The Vreiseas are the ones that look like feathers.
I grow a few of these Guzmanias outdoors under canopy here but its too cold to do that where you live, so keep them in BRIGHT LIGHT (near a very sunny window) and mist them a few times a day in the warm heated dry house over the winter. Put small amounts of water in their cups (where the bloom emerges out from the plant). Water the soil too, but maybe only once every week, if it stays too boggy cut down to once every 10 days or 2 weeks in the house.

You certainly CAN remove th eold flower spikes once they dry up and get unsightly. The inflos will die back on these types well before the entire plant dies and you want to keep it groomed and looking nice if its a houseplant.

Once one of the whole plants starts to die, you can remove it either by plucking off or cutting off each individual leaf to keep it looking nice, or wait til the whole plank kicks it and simply twist that one off at the base and remove it.

I just want to clarify one thing that you wrote. Don't let water sit "in the leaves" at the leaf axils (where the leaves meet the stalk). Make certain the water goes in the CUP. And, if its at all possible, you need to take them all outside every 2 weeks or so and completely dump out all the water in the cups and start over with fresh. If the water stagnates in there too long, it can potentially rot the plant from the inside out. You want to keep FRESH water in the cup. You should NOT let the water in the cup dry out. Only the soil.

Bromeliads come in 2 forms: Epiphytic, and terrestrial. The ones you have are naturally epiphytes. In nature they would attach to trees, rocks, etc or grow in leaf litter on the forest floor. The soil or moss they are sitting in is for YOUR convenience as a gardener in keeping the plant sitting upright in a pot, not for any need the plant actually has. They uptake almost all of their water and nutrients through the CUP in the middle of the leaves, not from their roots in the soil. But if you keep the soil or moss to wet around the base of the plant you can rot your plant and kill it.

No they don;t go dormant

I would not fertilize these in the house

Many bromeliads that you buy in stores are not blooming at their normal time that they would in nature. Like orchid growers, bromeliad growers have ways to force bloom for plants to get them to the market at certain high-sale times (like Christmas and Easter). You as a home grower just have to wait to the plant decides to bloom. But, for many broms, fall and winter are the bloom times naturally.

Thanks for all the info. They seem to be much more involved than I originally thought. This info gives me a great start at keeping these alive. I never would have emptied the water out of the "cups", I will now.

The moss is just sitting in a ring around the top of the plant hiding the soil. I am glad you mentioned how they grow in the wild, it gives me a good vision on what they may need.

I had no idea that they were going to give "pups". I am going to do a little more research and reading but I will probably be back here asking what to do with the pups when and if I get them.

Thanks again.

It looks like you got a really good deal. I, too, would have bought them. You now have an instant collection. Good luck with all.
Pam

You lucky duck! What a lovely colllection of plants you got, and for a great price! You will find they are not such hard work really, and that with a well drained soil and no overwatering, they will do quite well. I find mine can go without water for about a week in mild weather, and need nothing but rain (in my climate) over winter, as they do seem to stop growing then (foliage that is) I have to empty mine out over summer as we get summer rains and humidity that turns the water green very quickly. Rot is definitely one of the major causes of Bromeliad loss, in my opinion.
There is alot of information out there for Bromeliad growers, so I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding out what you need for successfully growing your new babies! Also, Bromeliad societies are a great way to get information, and to meet other people, just like yourself, who have an interest in these lovely plants!
Be prepared, you are probably hooked now! LOL
Sue