Back in February 2012 I potted some Neoregelia sp ‘Fireball’ pups (or offsets) in three different mediums (orchid mix, perlite, and propagation mix) to see which might suit them best. Yesterday I took them out of the pots and concluded that it probably doesn’t make much difference what you plant them in.
On the way to checking their roots I toured them around the garden trying to find somewhere to take their portraits. Here they are in the sunshine (left to right: orchid mix, perlite, propagation mix):
And in the shade:
What you probably can’t see is that on one of the plant tags it looks like I’ve written “Ned Fireball”. (I think that’s a much better name for them, too. “Hey, Ned! How’s it growing?”) And they each have little sticks standing beside them as stakes, by the way. Maybe it’s hard to tell what they are or what they’re doing there.
During the winter I kept the pups in the house and they got about one hour of direct sun in the afternoons. Probably. For weeks at a time I forgot they existed and didn’t think to check on them, which means I really have no idea how much sun they were getting, and for large amounts of time they weren’t getting any water.
They survived the neglect but went quite green. I expect this is related to the amount of sunlight they were getting, but their parent plant (which was getting 4 or 5 hours of morning sun every day) went green too. So, maybe their colour relates to temperature? Or day length? I don’t know, obviously. But both the parent and the pups started to go red again when the end of winter arrived (late August).
Anyway, here’s a look at the pups:
– in orchid mix (large particles e.g. bits of bark):
– in perlite (round balls of lightweight stuff that resembles polystyrene; and please note that the roots all emerge from the base of the leaves even though the photo makes it look like some come from the end of the stalk too):
– in propagation mix (small grains, heavy, probably mostly sand):
The roots were clinging to the medium, regardless of what it was, so I think if you were growing lots of plants it would be easier to transfer them safely from a small-grained medium (the larger particles of the orchid mix move around more when you’re handling the plant, which could break the roots that are stuck to them). Also, I think the weight of the propagating mix was helpful in keeping the plant stable; the lighter pots (orchid mix, perlite) could have blown over in a wind.
But, overall, I think you could probably grow them in anything. And maybe they don’t even need a medium to grow in; maybe the roots will grow in air? I don’t know.
I’ve planted the three pups into the ground now. Two are in permanent shade (probably… unless the mid-summer sun shines closer to the house than I remember it doing) and one gets half-day morning sun. Fingers crossed for healthy lives.
The Loneliest Island 