What Do I Do if My Bromeliad Bloom Has Rotted?

Retire the Plant

• Your spectacular bromeliad probably had a prominent place in your decor or greenhouse while it was flowering. Now that it looks less than impressive, put it in a less noticeable area that still provides the growing conditions it needs. Let it stay there and care for it as usual. If you wish, cut off the dead flower stem and adjacent dead leaves. It does not hurt the plant to leave them on. However, do not remove any healthy leaves, since these are still producing food that helps grow the offsets. Use a sharp, clean pruning shears and wear protective gloves when pruning a bromeliad.

Watch for Offset Formation

• As you care for the plant, look at the base of the stem. Sometimes offshoots (also called offsets or pups) are already present when the plant blooms. More usually it takes several weeks to several months before the offsets appear. Let them grow.

Harvest the Offsets

• When the offsets have reached one-third to one-half the size of the mother plant, they can be taken off. Unpot the mother plant. Using a sharp, clean knife, sever the offsets from the old plant's stem. Remove leaves from the mother plant if necessary for good visibility in cutting off the offsets. Wear protective gloves. If there are any roots showing on the offsets, try not to harm them. When all the offsets are removed, discard the mother plant.

Root the Offsets

• Put each offset into a pot that will just fit the size of the individual plant. The pot should contain bromeliad potting mix that has been moistened. A good bromeliad potting mix is loose and very fast-draining. A mix might contain perlite or pumice, charcoal, peat or sphagnum moss, and humus. An alternative is to use packaged orchid potting mix. The offset should be shallowly seated in the soil until it grows its own roots, which takes a month or two. Use twine to tie around the plant and pot to hold the offset in place if necessary until it roots, or put some wooden skewers into the soil around the plant to prop it up until rooting occurs.