Neoreglia Bromeliad and Pups

Some months back, the Outlaw Gardener showed us a couple of Bromeliads that were on a sale rack that he considered buying. At the time, I thought it best that he passed up these really good buys. They looked something like this:

or maybe a little worse, like this.

Both the above are my same plants, weeks apart. One of these two is my first plant, the other was a pup. The original has continued to throw pups as it slowly declined. I went from one Neoregelia to 8, just potting Pups.

Here's what could have cinched the deal, had Peter looked underneath the leaves:

After a Bromeliad blooms, it commences to die but during the dying process, it makes Pups. This one has 5, the other has 3. The first time my original Neo had Pups, I removed them and thought the plant would die but it went on producing new plants.

 These 6 Neoregelias were in too much sun and some leaves suffered sunburn. I made them portable so they can follow the shade until we find the ideal spot.

Usually a grower takes the pups off the mother plant when they are about 1/3 the size of the parent. If they're left in place, the old plant dies off, the leaves can be pulled or cut and the Pups fill the pot.

I left the Pups when my original Guzmania died off, 3 pups filled the pot very well. I left them in a single pot because, as you can see, my house of Bromeliads commenced to fill very quickly.

The Tillandsia pot has 3 or 4 pups. They were interesting to see develop as pups started from within the thinner leaves of the Tillandia cyanea rather than beneath. My luck ran out with the Vriesia. Developing Pups declined and died from neglect and no more appeared. I like Neoregelias in separate pots, or maybe I could put 3 in a row in a long container before winter. None of these Bromeliads can winter where there is frost.

 I wish the Outlaw Gardener had thought to check under the leaves of the Neoregelias he saw on sale. There may have been a whole family of Pups under there.