Crown rot, solutions?

[andersonii85]

Hello all. I just wanted to start off by saying that this is an awesome forum!

I made the mistake of leaving some of my neoregelia's outside this summer and paid very little attention to them. I believe two or so have crown rot. Does this spell death for a bromeliad? Is there anything I can do to save my beloved Neo. "Grace"?

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Thanks!

[Timm Stolten]

I believe two or so have crown rot.

Hi Justin and a warm "Welcome" to our forum !!!!!
(and THX for the compliments)

You said, that you believe that your Neo. start rotting.
My dad used to say, "believing" means "not knowing".
So, what makes you believe, did the center leaves turn brown or
did the whole center die allready ?
In case you have a picture of the patient, try to post it here, it would
help a lot.
As long as the center bud ist still vital, there is a chance.
Anyway, my best way to keep bromeliads generally from rotting in
the center is to dry them, hang 'em upside down and no watering for the
next weeks. A Neoregelia should handle that easely.

In addition to that you could try to remove as much of the dead leaves as
possible. Any wounds can be sealed with some charcoal powder from the
pharmacy around the corner.
When the rotting process ist stopped, set it back into a small clay
pot with only a little soil, just spray the leaves and remove the water from
the tank from time to time.
Even if the mean plant might die, there is allways a good chance
that it will produce some offshots before it passes away.

Lets hope for the best.

Greetz to New Jersey,
Timm

[andersonii85]

Timm,

Thanks for the welcome!

I have been keeping bromeliads for years and have never had a problem. This was my first year putting them outside and not in a greenhouse. The "crown" leaves have brown spots on them that look like rot to me.

Thank you for the suggestions as they are greatly appreciated! I will try them out and see if that's the fix.

Thanks again!

[Timm Stolten]

If the leaves just have some spots, it is propably either sunburn or simply
the cold temperatures. Don't worry about that, she'll get over it soon.
When you keep the plant permanently inside and bring them outside
the first time, some leaves are too soft to stand that much sun.
Next time choose some cloudy days for that so they can accommodate
or use some shade cloth for a few days. At fall bring them back in on time.

I suppose New Jersey is pretty much the same climate like central europe so
I would suggest the end of september, early october is i good time for that.
Avoid temperatures below 10°C (dont know how much it is in Fahrenheit, sorry).

A typical sunburn mostly accures at that point of the leaves where
they start bending downwards or at their tips.
It looks like this:



If it has faced low temperatures some brown spots accure all over the plant.

Generally tank bromeliads start rotting mostly in the very center or at the
base of the leaves, easy to notice when they have a "bad breath".

Hope thats helps a bit.

CU, Timm

[andersonii85]

Timm,

Thanks for the visual!

I believe that one of my neo's is just sun scorched and the other possibly has rot. The one with rot has it at the base of the leaves.

I actually had all of my brom's out from early May until the last week of September. I brought them in when the overnight lows got below 50 degrees F. I actually have them growing under compact fluorescents on a homemade rack.

Here is a picture of one of my racks
http://www.dendroboard.com/coppermine/d ... at=0&pos=0

Thanks,

[Andrew]

Hi Justin,

I keep a number of Neo's outside, including some of Grant Groves hybrids, although do not have 'Grace' in my collection. Have had a few Neo's develop rot in the centre of the cup. For me, this is typically early spring, or late autumn. When the central leaves turn black at their base, can be pulled out easily, and there is a bad small in the cup of the plant, you have crown rot.

If I get onto it early enough, I have had success with flushing out the plant using a strong jet of water, then sraying a weak fungaside solution into the cup, & putting it in the plastic house.

The plant will most likely not flower, but will produce pups to carry on the line.

All the best,

Andrew.

[andersonii85]

Thanks all for the response!

Hopefully I can keep them alive or at least alive long enough to produce some nice offsets.

Thanks!

[aprilrayne]

I have a beautiful Neoregelia Devroe that was given to me by a friend. However, I have never owned a bromeliad before and am just learning how to care for it. It is a mature plant and was already near the end of its flowering phase when I got it. After the flowers died off, I began to notice a foul odor near the plant. A couple of days later, I noticed that it was actually the plant itself that smelled foul and the cause was that the flower in the center had rotted and become mushy. I removed this, and flushed it out, but the innermost leaf has begun to bleach and shrivel up. I am concerned that it will not produce any more new growth if the center leaves die. I know that since it has flowered, it will begin to die anyway, but I would like to keep it beautiful for as long as I can until the pups are mature enough to separate. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

[Andrew]

Hi,

I have grown a few plants very similar to Neo 'Devroe'. As the flowers die they slowly rot, if the centre is not flushed out, a foul smell can develop. However, this process is quite normal. The plant is still very likely to produce a number of pups for you. I would remove the old dead flower head by just twisting it out. Then give the plant a good flush out with fresh water. To improve your chances of the plant producing pups, I would carefully remove some of the lower leaves, repot the plant into a slightly larger pot with fresh potting mix. Put the plant in a location where it will receive bright light, provide regular watering, and some slow release fertiliser. While the condition of the mother plant will slowly deteriorate, you continued care will be rewarded by the production of pups.

[Craig]

This is pretty normal. I prefer to leave the flower head in place until it has totally rotted away as I find it's removal tends to hasten the death of the plant. Having said that, my Broms are all grown outside so the smell is not a problem. They all get a good flush with the hose every day.
As Andrew said, take off some of the bottom leaves, give it heaps of light and prepare for lots of pups.

[Constantino Gastaldi]

... a little boy, to convert centigrades to farhenheit and vice-versa. Easy task!
I do not know why the broms of yours so easliy rots but I try. Water and low temperatures are dangherous to most of the broms. Just a few brows, in nature, stands low temperature and even so this is no more than a few hours. Freezing temperatures or close to that for days plus water in their roots is a call for problems. No polar bear would feel at easy here so give the poor plant a little care and knowing. In New york I would have some nice popies, peonias and tulips. What di I mean? I mean, leave the polar bear where it is unless u have the knowing or the ways (artificial and expensive. To warm or refrigerate is costy anywhere) to care. Broms in a general mean hate freezing cold temps for more than just a very few hours even those that stands some light snowing in winter in my place here in Souhern Brazil.
Kisses.
Be nice, be, cool, behave and be blessed
From Brazil, where the broms are everywhere