Propagating bromeliads couldn't be easier. The plants reproduce themselves. Your only job is separating and transplanting the new additions to your plant collection.
The Neoregelia 'Fireball' underplanting this Cape Honeysuckle tree has produced so many pups that the pot they are growing in is barely visible.
There is no shortage of propagation material here!
A bromeliad plant's goal in life is to produce one spectacular bloom. Once it achieves this goal, it dies.
But not before producing several offshoots commonly called pups.
You'll see these pups emerging from the base of the mother plant within a year after it blooms. Each one of these is a new bromeliad plant. You should let them stay with mom until they are quite large--maybe about 1/3 her size.
Right: An Aechmea blanchetiana encircled by pups.
At this point, you can slip the whole cluster (mom and pups) out of the pot, or dig it up if it's growing in the ground, and gently pull or cut the offshoots away. Try to do this so that each pup has its own roots.
Place each offshoot into a small pot of fast draining soil. Keep them moist and shaded until they begin to grow. Then you can place them in stronger light and begin to feed them.
Bromeliads growing in the boots of a palm tree.
To do this at home, set a pup into the pocket between the pruned palm stalk and its trunk. Tuck a bit of Spanish moss in around the pup's roots to stabalize it, if necessary.
The bromeliad will eventually attach itself to the palm's trunk.
Transplanting bromeliads is even easier than propagating them.
Don't let this plant's exotic appearance fool you. Bromeliad plants are tough cookies.
You can dig them up and move them around at will. They will not go into shock at all.
Just try not to forget to water them after you've moved them. As long as they don't dry out completely they'll be fine.
That's all there is to transplanting bromeliads.