Puya

I am growing a three species of Puya now;

P.mirabilis...........


Puya coerulea var. violacea................




Both of these are a couple of years old from seed. As you can see the barbs on the leaves are evil! Hopefully they will both bloom this year.

I also have (thanks to @Ian Taylor ) some young Puya berteroniana seedlings. These will take a few years longer to bloom.

Is anyone else growing Puya or have you grown them in the past?

I also have a question. Is it easy, apart from the obvious issue with the barbs, do remove the offsets and pot them up successfully? Any tips?

 

Never tried them but they are my kind of plant, particularly the hardier ones.

Inward facing thorns, lovely, kind of plant you could really get "hooked" on.

 

I have, several times. The little sods break off in your skin too!

 

I've got a couple Dasylirions, never able to move the pots without at least half a dozen cuts on my arms.

 

Dead easy from seed. I have a few seeds left of Puya coerulea var. violacea if you want them.

Have you ever got them to bloom Pete?

 

NO, might need a few more years.

A few seeds would be welcome thankyou.

 

I had one years ago sent by a former member Walnut (do you remember him @pete)?
The main problem was repotting as the leaves curled over the pot and I couldn't get it into another pot unless I cut most of the leaves off!!! I was stabbed many times and the plant which I kept at work succumbed later to Mealy Bug and sadly was dumped in the end.

 

Yes I remember Walnut, must be a reasonable sized tree by now.
I've got a few agaves that come into the same category, almost impossible to repot.

 

They're yours!

I keep looking at mine a thinking about that
I want to divide one as well - the same technique as for succulents?

 

I have to confess @longk I still haven't done anything with my seeds yet

 

Pull yer finger out

 

I do have about 5/6 variety , they all doing great in the cold greenhouse , I will try to plant outdoor and cover for winter , I don`t thing they are so cold hardy , but love them all , it`s scary the fact that is called sheep eating plant , is a sheep will get stuck in there will die and the plant will get the nutriend out of it .

 

VERY FUNNY, @longk I was waiting for some comment like that

 

Here is a rough guide to Bromeliad hardiness.

 

I think the key words there are, "for several hours".

I've noticed lots of borderline hardy stuff survives if it thaws the following day.

Its those years when we have continuous frost that lasts 2,3 or more days, it don't happen that often, but when it does it can wipe out a good few years of growing.

Which is one reason I completely ignore any minimum temperatures quoted as regarding hardiness of any plant, its not about a couple of hours at minus 5C, its about three days at minus 2C that counts.