Hetty, I thought the mama broms will keep blooming and growing bigger as long as you take out the babies*. I have seen some huge ones blooming. I don't know how easy it is to look up some old National Geographics but I have a favorite one, March '75, it has an article "Hidden worlds in the heart of a plant" and it is absolutely amazing, all tiny crabs and frogs, mosqito larva and all the other Fauna that lives in the cup of the bromeliad. Broms get their nourishment from the creatures that live and die in their cups. A regular universe contained there!
* cut off the babies and just stick them in a pot or sand...
