How To Dry Air Plants After Soaking

It is best to provide air plants with water that is rich in minerals and nutrients because they obtain many of their nutrients directly from the water. The best water is rainwater, although spring water is a close second if you don’t have a convenient way to collect rainwater. Alternatively, you might utilize well, lake, or creek water. Never use filtered or distilled water. Less minerals and nutrients are present in distilled and filtered water. Many municipal water systems include fewer minerals and nutrients and more contaminants. If you are concerned about your pH level, air plants enjoy slightly acidic water. The ideal range for alkalinity is between 5.5 and 6.0. Most frequently, tap water from the city is higher than this range, making it unsuitable for air plants. Do not worry yourself too much about PH levels. Any good, pure water would do.

After watering your air plants, thoroughly drying them off is the second most crucial step. To ensure that your air plants completely dry, put them down on a dish towel on their side or upside down. For the larger species like Xerographica, Streptophylla, and Sparkler, this is especially crucial. Within two hours of their bath, they should be completely dry to the touch. Wait until your air plants are completely dry before putting them back in terrariums and vases. If you water your plants and then put them in an enclosure right away, your plant can get rot. Your air plants will be content and healthy if you follow these straightforward watering guidelines.

How long should air plants be allowed to dry after soaking?

Tillandsias, often known as air plants, are a common and simple to grow plant. They’ve become incredibly popular and are frequently utilized in homes and workplaces. They naturally grow on another host, tree, or item and are considered an epiphyte, along with orchids and bromeliads, without taking nutrition from its host. They need water, light, and nutrients but no soil to flourish. Through microscopic capillaries on their leaves known as trichomes, air plants can absorb moisture and nutrients from the atmosphere. What a cool thing!

Despite being incredibly easy to maintain, air plants nevertheless require some care in order to flourish. Tillandsias can live for several years with proper care and give birth to “pups” (baby air plants) for added enjoyment. We’ve provided highly detailed care advice that is supposed to be helpful. We merely want to arm you with the knowledge you need to take excellent care of your tillandsias. Keep in mind that air plants are quite simple to maintain.

Light

Any plant needs light to survive, but fortunately, air plants may survive with filter sunlight or even artificial light.
Place your air plant between three and five feet from a window or close to a source of artificial light.
An air plant should not receive too much sunshine, even inside. Choose a spot that is only somewhat shaded if you are growing outside. Few plants can withstand full-day sun.

Watering

The most crucial thing to keep in mind is that each air plant will need a different amount of water depending on its variety, size, and environment of growth. These are recommendations, not unalterable laws.
Watering air plants at least once a week is beneficial when growing them inside. The location’s humidity affects frequency. In comparison to a plant grown in a more humid environment, an air plant grown close to a heater will dry up considerably more quickly and require more frequent watering.
Place your air plant face down in water, in a container or in your sink, and let it soak there for 10 to 20 minutes to hydrate it. Alternately, you might repeatedly submerge plants in water. To avoid rotting or damage, gently shake off extra water after soaking.
Water should ideally be applied early in the day so that moisture can evaporate. After four hours, they should be dry enough to be put back in a container or on display.
While spraying your tillandsia sometimes can be helpful, it is not always advised.
Use a houseplant or orchid fertilizer with a low copper content if you want to feed your air plant because they are extremely sensitive to copper. Don’t fertilize your plant too frequently because it’s quite easy to overfeed it; diluting your fertilizer can help.
You can soak your air plants in water (in a bowl or sink) for several hours or overnight if they ever appear “thirsty” or like they are having trouble. This frequently aids in reviving your tillandsia.
Rainwater or pond water work best for watering tillandsia. Never use distilled or artificially softened water to water your plants.
Dehydrated plants’ leaves are closed and coiled, while healthy air plants have wide, open leaves.
An air plant’s flower or blossom should never be submerged because doing so can cause rotting.

Environment

Your air plants will thrive in a bathroom or kitchen window, where the steam and moisture will make them extremely content.
The growth and water requirements of air plants can be impacted by temperature. Between 10 and 32 degrees Celsius, air plants thrive (50F-90F). Since tillandsia are extremely sensitive to cold, freezing temperatures are one thing they do not enjoy.
It makes sense that air plants need clean, healthy air to grow. They require considerable air movement after watering so that they can dry out in 4 hours.
Although it is fairly common to place tillandsia in containers or terrariums and they have thrived there, it is not advised that they be completely enclosed in them. No air circulation means your plant won’t have any moisture or nutrients.
Keep your plants away from heater and air conditioner vents so they don’t dry out too quickly and require additional watering.

Other Tips

Do not ever submerge an air plant in soil. They don’t need soil because it will just make them decay.
In addition to gaining new leaves, your air plant will also shed some. You can use scissors to clip off any brown or dead leaves for aesthetic purposes. Cut at a sharp angle so that the leaves still have a natural appearance to “conceal” this trimming.
Although they are not necessary and just serve to anchor the plant to a host, roots may already be present or continue to grow. Depending on your preference, you can either leave the roots on or chop them off.
You can use E3000 super glue (other glues can come loose over time/when wet or harm your plant) or string to secure your air plant in place on decorative “hosts.” With your air plant, stay away from pressure-treated wood and copper.
As air plants develop, they can produce both blooms and pups, which are their young. Pups can either be removed when they are 1/3 the size of the mother plant or left on the mother plant to form a “clump” that hangs in a longer string.

What happens if an air plant is soaked too long?

Most air plants with plenty of trichomes (xeric plants) should be often misted or soaked, whereas mesic plants, which have bright green leaves and less trichomes, prefer to be drenched only once a week. In our blog post Mesic Vs Xeric Air Plants, we go into further detail regarding the differences between Xeric and Mesic plants. However, there is one exception to this rule: air plants with bulbous bases, even those with bright green, smooth leaves, should frequently not be wet for extended periods of time as well. Because of water buildup in their bulbous bases, plants are susceptible to internal rot.

Instead of being wet, Xerographica air plants should be sprayed or submerged. These plants, which are xeric in nature, are indigenous to arid areas. These plants can survive more sun and less water. A xerographica should be submerged in a basin or pail of water, then gently shaken to let the water drip off the leaves. To prevent water from getting stuck in the leaves, let the item dry upside-down.

The Tillandsia tectorum is an air plant that you shouldn’t wet because it has a lot of fuzzy leaves. The tectorum’s large trichomes on its leaves aid in absorbing moisture from the surrounding atmosphere. These plants have evolved to survive without much precipitation and are naturally found in arid areas of Ecuador and Peru. Depending on how hot and dry it is where you live, we advise spraying these guys every other week or so. They also favor open air and strong light.

The “pseudobulbs” that distinguish bulbous air plants from other species are hollow, onion-shaped bulbs that in the wild serve as nesting sites for ant colonies. When watering these plants, especially when soaking them, exercise caution. These so-called pseudobulbs are susceptible to water intrusion, which can cause the plant to rot from the inside out. You can either submerge them in water and shake off the extra afterward, or you can hold them under running water while avoiding their bases. This group of plants includes the T. T. caput medusae T. bulbosa T. Pruinosa pseudobaileyi, T. T., butzii, and seleriana.

The T. as well as T. Due to the abundance of trichomes on both seleriana, soaking them is not recommended. They could decay from soaking because of too much water.

wispy-leaved air plants, such the T. T. and Fuchsii v. gracilis andreana must not be submerged. These plants benefit more from light misting or rapid dunks. You may need to spritz these plants as frequently as every couple of days to make sure they are receiving enough water because of their thin, wispy leaves, which can cause them to dry out more quickly between waterings.

The Tillandsia magnusiana should be misted or dipped rather than soaked because it has a lot of trichomes. These plants’ form and trichome content can make them more prone to decay.

When watering air plants that are in bloom, exercise caution to avoid getting the blossom itself wet. While it would be acceptable to soak the plant’s bottom leaves, we frequently advise pouring water over them or immersing them to avoid wetting the blossom. A bloom that has been moist for a long time may develop rot, which may eventually spread to the leaves and kill the plant.

Is it necessary for air plants to be dry?

Always dry by air After soaking, tillandsias must completely dry out. Fully! Then, place them in a light area for at least 4 hours after shaking off any extra water. This is crucial because moisture is an air plant’s major enemy.

How may an overwatered air plant be saved?

It’s bad news when you overwater air plants. It is the main cause of death for them. Therefore, it is essential to act quickly to stop any potential lasting harm from happening if you see that their bases begin to become dark and the leaves begin to fall out from the middle or if they have mushy roots and yellowing leaves. And here’s how you can prevent overwatering from killing your withering air plant:

To prevent it from spreading, get rid of any decaying or diseased components.
Dry your air plant as quickly as possible. Using a fan is recommended.
Make sure to place your air plants on a dry surface, like dry rocks. Make sure the terrarium is dry and has a big entrance for the most airflow possible if they are on show there. &nbsp

While it is feasible to revive a dying air plant, it is preferable to learn how to avoid such issues in the first place. And this is how:

Never submerge an air plant in water for an extended period of time. Keep in mind that some air plants should not be submerged in water, especially if you live in a humid environment.
After you’ve watered your air plant, be careful to shake out any extra water or turn it upside down so that it can dry entirely in around 4 hours. This should prevent the extra water from accumulating on your air plant and allow it to flow down instead.
Avoid letting your air plant rest on a wet surface; rather, wait until it is entirely dry before putting it back on display.
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The bases of some air plants, such as melanocrater tricolor, will be naturally darker. Due to the naturally brown leaves of such plants, you might not notice any rot for a long time, therefore you should err on the side of less water rather than more. Additionally, some leaf dropping is common in healthy air plants, so you should be aware of other symptoms as well.

How are air plants dried?

It takes some extra time to adequately dry air plants, but the process is straightforward. Healthy air plants are the reward, though. If air plants are not thoroughly dried, water will build up in the plant’s cup. An air plant will slowly die from rot.

We’ll also go through how to dry air plants that are fastened to an arrangement because not all air plants are easy to remove from their display.

Your air plants should be soaked for up to several hours, but the water must drain away from the plants to avoid crown rot. Laying the plant on its side on a towel is one method for doing this. Setting the plants in a dish drainer is another option, and it’s also my favorite.

Why I like the dish-drainer drying method:

Instead of just setting the plants on their sides, you can turn them upside down to avoid crushing any of the fragile leaves.
At their base, some air plants feature hooks. Because you can hang the air plants from these natural hooks, you can use them to decorate the dish drainer’s edge. Due to the whole upside-down position of the plants, water may readily drain away from them.
All of the air plant’s leaves are shielded from the cables of the dish drainer.
Due to the fact that not all air plants have their own “hook,” this technique also makes it possible to fit a lot more air plants inside the dish washer.

This T. abdita has a convenient hook at the base, allowing me to hang it to dry from the top edge of the dish drainer.

A dish drainer may handle many more air plants than it otherwise could by employing the “hooks on the ends of some air plants.

What to do when your air plant is glued to it’s display:

It can be more difficult to water and dry your air plant if it is firmly attached to an arrangement. I suggest reading my post on watering advice for air plants for more information.

What can you do to revive an air plant?

Why keep dying my air plants? It’s likely that your Tillandsia is really thirsty if it doesn’t appear its best, especially if it’s shriveled or discolored. Spritzing normally doesn’t give enough moisture to keep the plant healthy and hydrated, despite the fact that misting the plant is frequently advised.

When this is the case, reviving a Tillandsia entails getting the plant back to its previous condition of health and hydration. The simplest way to do this is to submerge the entire plant in lukewarm water in a bucket or basin. To prevent the plant from floating to the surface of the water, you might need to attach it to a hefty item.

Allow the bowl to soak for 12 hours in a warm place. The plant should be taken out of the bowl, laid out on a layer of paper towels, and allowed to air dry before being put back in its usual spot.

Repeat the technique, but this time leave the Tillandsia submerged for only around four hours if the plant seems dry and sickly. Shake the plant lightly while holding it upside-down to drain the leaves of extra moisture.