I’ll admit it: I’ve killed one of the easiest plants to cultivate, Tillandsia, the air plant. These hardy pineapple relatives require little care, but like any indoor plant, they can’t withstand complete neglect. And, despite the fact that I should have known better and given the plant a good washing more frequently, it appeared to be doing OK. It was till it wasn’t.
It was difficult to tell if it was alive or dead. The miniature Tillandsia arrived as a present, nestled in a painted glass globe suspended from a ribbon like a Christmas ornament. The plant was a steely gray color when it arrived, and it stayed that way until it died. Despite being a gardener, I knew very little about Tillandsia and did not educate myself.
So the coldest month of the year, when nothing grows in so many locations, seems like the ideal moment to talk about a plant that survives on air rather than love. It doesn’t, in fact, and it’s the term that gets people into problems.
There are between 400 and 650 species of Tillandsia worldwide, according to estimates. They are Bromeliads that can be found in portions of the southern United States, Mexico, Central and South America. Some live in humid surroundings, while others live in deserts.
Tillandsias are known as “air plants” since they do not require soil to flourish. Instead, they cling to tree and rock crevices with their roots, hanging on for dear life, and absorbing water and nutrients through their leaves. As a result, they are epiphytes, or plants that do not require soil to thrive. Planting one in soil, in fact, is a good way to kill it.
Can air plants die?
- What is the best way to look after an air plant? To survive, air plants require light, air, and water. The type of atmosphere in which you are housing your air plants, as well as the type of tillandsia you have, will determine how well they are cared for. Xeric (silver-leaved) plants prefer drier circumstances and more sunlight, whereas mesic (greener-leaved) plants prefer more moisture and lower indirect light levels. On our Air Plant Care Page, you may learn more about how to care for them.
- What is the origin of air plants? Tropical regions of Mexico, South America, and Central America are home to the majority of air plants. Some plants can even be found growing in the wild in Florida and other parts of the South.
- What is the best way to water an air plant? Watering your plants can be done in a variety of methods, including dunking, soaking, and misting. Our post Tips for Watering Your Air Plants has more information on watering air plants.
- Is it necessary for an air plant to be exposed to sunlight? Without a doubt! Air plants can also thrive in the presence of artificial light. Take a look at our post on how much light air plants require. You can easily swap plants every couple of days if you have a location that doesn’t get enough light so you can still appreciate their beauty while the plant continues to thrive!
- What are trichomes, and what do they do?
- Trichomes are what give some air plants their silver/grey fuzzy appearance, and the number of trichomes on a particular air plant type might affect how well it is cared for. Trichomes may appear to be little hairs, but they are actually microscopic water containers. Trichomes are made up of many little cells, some of which are alive and others which are dead. When water comes into touch with a trichome’s dead cells, it swells up like a sponge and is absorbed by the living cells, which subsequently utilise the water. In our articles All About Trichomes and Trichomes in Depth, you may learn more about trichomes.
- Why are my air plants dying so frequently? Air plants are relatively easy to care for, but they can be finicky at times. Your air plants could be dying from a lack of water, excessive water, rot, fertilizer burn, or too much/insufficient light. In our article “What’s Wrong With My Air Plant,” we go over some of the most prevalent air plant issues. The most common problem individuals have with their air plants is that they are overwatered!
- After flowering, do air plants die? Yes, most air plants die after flowering, however they will almost always produce pups or offsets before dying. The mother plant, on the other hand, can live for a long period and produce several offsets. Learn more about the flowering process, what occurs after the bloom, and air plant multiplication in our blog articles.
- When it comes to air plant blossoms, how long do they last? The majority of air plant flowers survive a few days to a week, although some plants with larger blooms, known as “inflorescences,” might last for months. The xerographica, harrisii, and fasciculata tropiflora are among these plants. To learn more, see our post about what happens after the bloom.
- Is it necessary for me to fertilize my air plants? Nope! Fertilizer isn’t absolutely necessary, but it can help your plant bloom faster and produce more offsets/pups. On our site, you can learn how to fertilize your air plants properly and buy a bottle of our specially made air plant fertilizer to help your plants thrive!
How hard is it to kill an air plant?
For three months, get unlimited digital at a 50% discount. Air plants are perfect for persons with limited space because they and their pots take up very little space. Living greenery is frequently displayed in odd containers by creative gardeners.
Can you bring an air plant back to life?
How can I revive my air plant is a common concern that most people have at some point during their tillandsia growing adventure. The first step in revitalizing any air plant is to figure out what’s causing the problem. Then you can take the necessary steps to address the issue that is causing your air plant to die.
It’s possible that your air plant will turn quite white or gray at times. While a covering of white or gray hair or trichromes on your air plants is typical in most situations, a naturally green air plant that is going excessively white or gray could be an early symptom of your air plant drying.
The good news is that if your air plant becomes very white or gray, it is not dying. When the air plant lacks water, the trichromes simply become more apparent, causing the plant to appear paler than usual.
A dry air plant can be revived by immersing it in water for 5-8 hours. After the soak, shake off any excess water and allow your air plant to dry within 4 hours of watering. Rep the long soaking every 2-3 days until the plant no longer seems to be dry.
If your air plant is drying up again after being rejuvenated with a series of extended soakings, check the light, temperature, and humidity levels of the surrounding environment.
To assist your air plant maintain moisture, keep it away from direct or very bright indirect light. Air plants enjoy temperatures between 50 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. If you expose your air plant to severely cold or hot temperatures, it may be difficult to revive it. Extreme temperatures can dehydrate the air plant to the point where it can no longer thrive.
Root rot is usually indicated by brown or black leaves on the air plant. When air plants are not thoroughly dried out after watering, they might get root rot. When the air plant’s leaves are persistently damp, fungal infections can develop, causing lasting damage to the plant’s cells. The air plant would eventually turn brown or black as a result of these dead cells.
You may resurrect your air plant by gently plucking the brown or black leaves as soon as you notice them to prevent the infection from spreading. To avoid root rot, keep the air plant in a location with sufficient air circulation and allow it to dry quickly after each watering.
Severe occurrences of root rot that spread to the plant’s center can cause the air plant to die. If the root rot is severe enough that the plant begins to fall apart, you’ll need to start over with a new plant.
Growing air plants is a trial-and-error procedure that can take some time. While air plants might wither due to dryness, lack of light, or a lack of nutrients in the water, the most common cause of death is root rot, which is caused by the air plant not drying out correctly.
To avoid the risk of root rot in the future, try other approaches and situate your air plant somewhere with more air movement.
Why would an air plant die?
If your air plant died recently, it was most likely due to rot. It is the most common cause of death in Tillandsia plants. The main cause of this harmful problem is overwatering your plants. Air plants, like succulents, store water in their leaves, which can keep them alive for up to two weeks.
What is the lifespan of an air plant?
Air plants, often known as tillandsias, are perennial plants. This indicates they survive for an average of more than two years (source), with a lifespan ranging from two to five years. However, the length of time they live depends on the type of air plant as well as the growing conditions.
How do I kill air plants?
Although there is no clear answer as to why any given air plant perished, here is a list of points to consider when considering the health and care of your tillandsias.
Over & Under Watering
An air pant can be killed by too much or too little water. It might be difficult to keep a plant hydrated at times. Soak your plant for 20-30 minutes, shake it off, then let it air dry for a few hours before repotting it. We’ve had the best luck making our weekly water baths a habit. The state of the leaves the day following a good soak is a decent rule of thumb. Curled or folded leaves should be avoided in favor of open, flat leaves. After each watering, aim for this look and adjust the frequency as needed so that your air plants look this way the majority of the time. Aeranthos Major is an excellent hydration indicator for air plants. Depending on the plant’s moisture, the leaves of this species coil and open drastically. In smaller species like Ionanthas, the distinction is more subtle.
When plants are not allowed to dry out fully for several days between water baths, they will die from over-watering. When the air plants are misted with water while inside a terrarium or enclosure, this happens frequently. The enclosure’s tightness retains moisture, which might cause rot at the plant’s root.
Exposure to Salts & Chemicals
Water softener salts may be good for our skin and hair, but they are bad for air plants. Have you ever had a house plant that developed a white crust on the top of the soil after a few waterings and allowing it to dry? These are salt deposits that are particularly detrimental to plants that live in the air. Because air plants don’t have soil to filter their salts, they wind up accumulating on the ends of their leaves. This will eventually suffocate the plant since the trichomes will be unable to absorb water and nutrients. Chlorine, which can be found in certain municipal water, is bad for plants and should be avoided if at all feasible.
Rain, well, pond, lake, or non-carbonated mineral water are the best options. Although free of hazardous salts, most minerals are removed from store-bought bottled and filtered water. Although bottled water will not hurt the plant, if it is the only source of water, it will deprive it of essential nutrients.
Extreme Heat and Light
Plants will dehydrate more quickly if they are exposed to direct sunshine. Sitting near to a hot window or in a hot room has the same effect. Direct sunlight can occasionally cause plant leaves to burn. Air plants should not be kept in glass enclosures with direct sunshine since the enclosures can become very hot (like a miniature greenhouse) and the glass can function as a magnifying glass, concentrating the sunlight on the leaves and causing them to burn quickly. Most air plants like temperatures that you prefer, as a general rule. If you wouldn’t sit near your window for several hours at a time because it’s too hot, your air plant is likely to dislike it as well. The majority of tillandsias like temperatures between 55 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
Several species of air plants, however, are adapted to extreme temperatures in their natural habitat. Xerographica, Harisii, and Stricta are all xeric plants that grow in hotter lowland climates. These species can thrive in hotter temperatures and brighter environments as long as they have access to water. In general, the hotter the weather gets, the more watering is required.
Too Little Light
Air plants require many hours of indirect natural light or intense artificial lighting every day. Air plants that are kept in dim restrooms or dark inner halls will soon wilt and perish. Because the lights are on for several hours each day, office settings usually provide adequate lighting. If you have enough light for other typical houseplants like potho vines, spider plants, and philodendrons, then tillandsias should thrive.
Cold
Although many types of air plants thrive natively at high heights, frost or freezing temperatures are extremely unusual. Most air plants are sensitive to frost and temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Spanish moss and various forms of ball moss, which can be found naturally from Texas to Florida and up into coastal Virginia, are the principal exceptions to these guidelines. Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) can survive nights in the teens and twenties Fahrenheit, as well as a few days a year when the temperature does not rise above freezing. This, on the other hand, would be a death sentence for most air plants, especially those that are commercially available.
We continue to give our 30-day guarantee for plants that arrive DOA due to the cold over the winter. We don’t utilize heat packs to ship the plants right now because they run out quickly and aren’t particularly effective near the conclusion of their life cycle, when they’re most needed. We’ve also discovered that they can actually burn the plants. When ordering plants in the winter, the best option is to have them delivered to wherever you are when mail is delivered (for example, your place of work or school) to limit their exposure to the cold.
If your air plants are exclusively outside during the summer, we recommend bringing them inside as the temperatures drop below 45 degrees. Indoors, any air plant will thrive. There are certain key winter care issues to evaluate during the winter months, especially at higher latitudes. Here’s a link to a different blog post about air plant winter care.
Fertilizer Burn
Higher fertilizer concentrations in the water and more frequent fertilizing may cause your air plants to burn. If you prefer to water by misting, you may want to include fertilizing in your routine as well. However, it is critical that you thoroughly combine and dilute the fertilizer before spraying the plants (at the same one-quarter teaspoon per gallon of water).
Moisture & Poor Air Circulation
Arid deserts and chilly, dry, and windy highlands are home to the majority of air plants. Some air plants, but not all, thrive in extreme humidity. After you’ve soaked your plants, make sure they dry quickly. When they’re drying, we prefer to place them in front of a ceiling fan. This will help to avoid wet bases, which are prone to root rot. We still recommend that you remove your plants out of their enclosures for watering, even if you mist or spritz them. Spanish moss should be hung in an open area with plenty of air. If placed flush against a wall or used as stuffing in a terrarium globe, it will eventually brown.
Their Natural Life Cycle
Nothing lasts forever, and air plants are no exception. Growth, blooming, and reproduction through pups and seedlings are all part of the life cycle of air plants. Although flowering is one of the high points in most air plants’ life, things do not always go worse after that. Smaller air plants, such as Ionanthas, have bloomed for us a number of times every year. The mother plant, on the other hand, will eventually devote the majority of her resources to producing little offsets. The offsets will be the same size as the mother by the time the mother plant has totally given up, and the cycle will resume. Some species appear to prefer producing pups before the mother plant has bloomed, therefore a pupping plant does not always imply that the mother plant’s bloom has been misted! When an air plant begins to produce offspring, you have two options: divide the young air plants or allow the air plants to organically clump together. For further information, see our blog on Dividing Air Plant Pups.
Should you touch air plants?
Another way to water your air plant is to spray it until it is dripping wet. It’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t a light sprinkling. To be properly watered, your plant should be totally soaked. While spraying your air plant is an excellent technique to water it, the frequency must be significantly higher than soaking, which provides a deeper re-hydration.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? 2-3 times each week, spray until dripping wet. This will be more if you live in Arizona, and less if you live in Hawaii. The two most significant factors in determining when and how much to water your plant are whether it is indoors or outside, as well as the type of light it receives. They will welcome more water if they have a lot of sun. Regular watering is required indoors where there is heat, air conditioning, and generally dry conditions.
How do you stop air plants from killing?
I know you thought spritzing your tilly every few days would suffice, but it won’t. Air plants, on the other hand, require a little more attention. In these parts, I’m known as the air plant whisperer, and this is what I do: I put them in a container large enough to fully submerge them once a week and leave them there. For a long time. I always intend to soak my plants overnight, like Airplant Man said. On Fridays, however, I do it for a few hours (I keep mine at work and don’t see them on weekends). It varies, but a weekly dunking for several hours hasn’t harmed any of them, and they’re all prospering.
Can you save a rotting air plant?
A purplish/black hue creeping up from the base of the plant into the foliage is the first sign of a decaying air plant. The air plant will begin to come apart as well; the foliage will begin to fall off, and the plant’s heart may fall out.
If any of these symptoms appear, the answer to the question “is my air plant rotting?” is a loud yes. What can you do about it, is the question. Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do if your air plant is dying. On the plus side, if the air plant rot is limited to the outer leaves, you may be able to salvage the plant by removing the infected leaves and adhering to a strict watering and drying routine.
Can air plants get sunburn?
Air plants benefit from both direct and indirect light, but they can also get sunburned. If you place your air plant near a window, make sure it isn’t exposed to direct sunlight for more than 20 minutes at a time, as the sun moves throughout the day.