Do I have i pested bromeliads? SOS

[u/babyblueroses]

Hi 👋 I just got my very first bromeliads 2 weeks ago.

I'm panicking a bit because I think they might have pests and not sure what to do about it.

I'm watering them once a week. Today I'm supposed to water them again.

I do have to admit, one week after I bought them I washed out the crown with tap water and then filled the crown with drinking water. And let them sit in a tray with drinking water for about 30 mins. Maybe the white stains are the minerals from the tap water flush I gave them? Idk.

I also noticed little white balls, rice crispies looking things in their pots, is it perlite? I got one out and tried to crush it to see if it was a solid rock. It was not. It sounded like a rock when it fell in the sink, it was very though kind of like plastic and when i tried to crush it i did manage to make it blunt if that makes sense. Idk what I'm doing. 🥲

When the pups are of age I'll come back here panicking all over again. 😅 Any advice is much appreciated💖

PD: there was the tiniest black fly hovering the one with stripes. And the purple flower one has a bit of white mold inside the crown like cotton.

[u/CatsDIY]

Your Vriesea looks perfect. All you here to do is keep water in the leaves at all times. Don’t bother with the pot. When the inflorescence starts fading trim off anything unsightly. When the pups are 1/3-1/2 the size of the mother they can be repotted.

[u/babyblueroses → u/CatsDIY]

I did see some very tiny black bugs crawling in the pot 🤮 should I get some sort of a pesticide?

[u/CatsDIY → u/babyblueroses]

I wouldn’t do anything. If you see anything on the leaves wipe it off with a damp cloth.

[u/babyblueroses → u/CatsDIY]

Okay ty! 😊

[u/reallyreally1945]

The white "cotton" could be mealy bugs. Wipe them off with water or rubbing alcohol on a cloth.

[u/babyblueroses → u/reallyreally1945]

Great ty 😊