Contents of Newsletter

• Details for this coming meeting.
• Report on the July Meeting:
• Information Session: Mounting Tillandsias with Steve Molnar. 
  Plant of the Month - Orthophytum with Barbara Murray.
• Guest Presenter: Lyn Wegner on the Bromeliad Society International.
• Mini Show Vote Winners.
• Upcoming Events.
• 2021 Meeting Information.

Editor: Maxim Wilson maxim.wilson@internode.on.net.

President Pam Butler opened the meeting and welcomed new members.
A Special General Meeting considered spending a further $4,180 on the printing of the new edition of ‘Starting With Bromeliads’ by Robert Reilly.
In the AGM earlier this year, $6,000 was approved.
It is now A4 size, and will cost more. 2000 books have been bought,
700 have already been sold for $7,000. 
The motion was carried. Pam closed the Meeting.

BSQ is offering members this special discounted price until the end of 2021.
Members Special – 1^st book $5, Additional books $10 each
From January 2022 the selling price will be $20
Purchase from BSQ Monthly Meetings or Spring Show, or contact sales@bromsqueensland.com.au to order and have books posted to you, additional cost for postage is –  1 book = $6, 2 books =$12.50, 3 or 4 books = $15.50 5 or more books $20.
 
We have updated the cash register to a POS System

Information Session.
Mounting Tillandsias with Steve Molnar.
Steve showed his range of tools/pliers used to make labels and aluminium wire structures to hold Tillandsia, large and small.

Steve buys aluminium Venetian blinds from Bunnings, and with a craft guillotine, cuts them into lengths for labels.
He then makes a right angle near one end of label, then curls it around the aluminium wire used to support the plant.
Or, he punches a hole in one end, that will permit the aluminium wire to pass through.
Spiral mounts:
He rolls aluminium wire around wooden dowling:



He generally uses 2mm aluminium wire, but 1.4mm for small plants, and up to 4mm for Tillandsia fasciculata.
Steve makes a loop at the bottom end of the wire so he can link together other mounts, creating a daisy chain effect.
Suspending Tillandsias in these aluminium mounts permit air circulation, essential to healthy plants.
These mounts are effective for mini Neos. too.
Steve gets his aluminium wire from Badger Wire, N.S.W. wiresales2144@badgerwire.com.au
He uses a Stabilo 8008 pencil obtained from an orchid equipment supplier.
He cuts back the bristles of a small paintbrush for use in brushing dirt and scale off bromeliads.

Thanks Steve for your useful demonstration of aluminium labels and mounts.

Plant of the Month was Orthophytum with Barbara Murray.
Orthophytums are a genus of bromeliads that come from restricted area in Central and eastern Brazil.
They are hardy, cold resistant, prefer good light, and are exclusively terrestrial.
Vegetative reproduction occurs in two ways: offsets develop on the flower, and at the base of the plant.
They are succulent,ie, the leaves store water.
They are spiny, but not severe.
Left alone, a plant will clump, or you can pot out single plants.
Green is their dominant leaf colour, while flowers are always white.
Cultivation: fertilise when potting the pup, not after that.
They prefer bright light, and can acclimatise to full sun.
They need adequate water, don’t like to be dry. 
They have no tank to store water, unlike most bromeliads.
Barbara got seed from Eric Gouda, in Utrecht,
and succeeded in growing them.
Pam showed a selection from her large collection.

Thanks Barbara for sharing your passion for Orthophytums.

Guest Speaker was Lyn Wegner who spoke to us on Zoom
from New London, South Africa. Lyn is President of the Bromeliad Society International (BSI), and told us about the operation of the BSI.

Lyn joined the BSI in 2004 to be part of the world of bromeliads. Lyn found the BSI journal rather technical, but since then, the Journal has aimed for a balance between the technical, and articles for the general collector. 
She recommended everyone to join the BSI.
The BSI has 756 members, 497 are in the USA. 
Australia has the next largest membership with 82, then 22 from Japan,
19 from Germany, 18 from South Africa,13 from Holland, 11 in the UK.
All receive the BSI journal, 599 receive the hard copy,
the rest get it online for only $15 annually.
Lyn complimented Geoff Lawn from Perth who operates the Bromeliad Cultivar Register (BCR). This is a BSI initiative. Geoff took over from ‘Uncle Derek’ Butcher from Adelaide.
The BCR is a valuable resource for identifying hybrids and cultivars.
The BSI management is international, with the journal editor in New Zealand (Andrew Flower), the webmaster Eric Gouda in The Netherlands, so management meetings are held on Zoom.
The next World Bromeliad Conference is to be held in Sarasota, Florida in June 2022.
Lyn referred to exporting bromeliads by seeds, and this drew attention to our own seed bank run by Peter Ball. Members are invited to see Peter for seeds.
Lyn attempted to show us around her garden, but the wifi did not permit that.

Thanks to Lyn Wegner for an introduction to the World of Bromeliads,
and to Rob Murray, whose computer skills enabled the session.

Mini Show Competition Winners
Novice:
Class 1:
1st Billbergia ‘Coconut Fizz’ by Coni Smits.
1
2nd Billbergia ‘Talbot Evita’ by Greg Macleod.

3rd Billbergia ‘Bubblz’ by Denise Ball.

Class 3:
1st Neoregelia ‘Shamrock’ by Sue Hall.

2nd Neoregelia ‘Taser’ by Sue Hall.

3rd Neoregelia ‘Hail Storm’ by Sue Hall.

Class 4:
1st Orthophytum sucrei by Melindie Hunt.

Class 5:
1st Tillandsia recurvifolia var. subsecundifolia by Denise Ball.

2nd Tillandsia lorentziana by Denise Ball.

Intermediate:
Class 1:
1st Billbergia nutans by Alfonso Trudu.

2nd Billbergia species by Gilda Trudu.

Class 2:
1st Catopsis berteroniana by Pam Butler.

2nd Catopsis compacta by Alfonso Trudu.

3rd Goudaea ‘Tiger Tim’ by Maxim Wilson.

Class 3:
1st Neoregelia ‘Tiger Tot’ by Gilda Trudu. 25
Class 4:
1st Tillandsia ixioides var. occidentalis by Gilda Trudu.

2nd Tillandsia ionantha Guatemala by Alfonso Trudu.

3rd Tillandsia stricta hybrid by Gilda Trudu. 30

Class 5:
1st Tillandsia edithae by Alfonso Trudu. 46
2nd Tillandsia andreana by Peter Ball. G6
3rd Tillandsia streptophylla by Graeme Nolan.

Advanced:
Class 1:
1st Billbergia ‘Kolan Spirit’ by Barbara McCune.

2nd Billbergia ‘Hallelujah’ by Barbara McCune.

3rd Billbergia ‘Hallelujah’ by Barry Kable.

Class 2:
1st Catopsis compacta by Barry Kable.

2nd Pseudoalcantarea ‘Silver Candelabra’ by Ron Jell.

Class 3:
1st Neoregelia ‘Moondust’ by Barbara McCune.

2nd Neoregelia ‘Groucho’ by Barbara McCune.

3rd Neoregelia ‘Jewellery Shop’ by Barry Kable.

Class 4:
1st Aechmea recurvata ‘Zeta’ by Barry Kable.

2nd Neoregelia pendulata eleutheropetala by Barbara McCune.

3rd Tillandsia ‘Holm’s Rose’ by Ron Jell.

Class 5:
1st Tillandsia chiletensis by Ron Jell.

2nd Tillandsia tectorum by Ron Jell.

3rd Tillandsia recurvifolia var. subsecundifolia by Ron Jell.