How To Take Care Of Air Plant Terrarium

Put the plants in a bowl, sink, or other container face down and let them soak for 10 to 20 minutes. As sitting water can create rot and harm or kill the plant, always take care to gently shake any excess water off the base of the plants. We advise watering the plants in the morning and leaving them outside of their containers in a spot where they can dry in four hours or less. Never leave your air plant submerged in water for a long time. Additionally, you can water your plants by “dunking” them in water multiple times and then gently shaking off the extra.

You can put your plant in the dish for a longer soak for a few hours or even overnight if it is having trouble and appears “thirsty.” Wide open leaves indicate a healthy air plant, but closed and curled leaves indicate a dehydrated one! Never immerse a bloom or flower because doing so can make them decay.

Before watering the plants with tap water, let the water remain for a few hours to let any chemicals evaporate. Whenever feasible, it is ideal to use water from ponds, aquariums, or rain. Never use distilled or artificially softened water, however it’s fine to use bottled water and spring water.

Keep in mind that every plant species is unique and will necessitate a different watering routine than others. Your air plants will suffer if you ever place them in soil.

As you might have imagined, air is another crucial factor for your air plant. For the plants to survive and live a healthy existence, there must be a good flow of pure air. After watering, it’s critical that the plants receive adequate airflow to completely dry in 4 hours. While air plants can survive in containers, it is advised against displaying them in closed containers and to wait until they are entirely dry before re-planting them in a container that might limit air flow.

Plants that are too close to the A/C vents may dry up more quickly and need to be watered more frequently.

If you want to keep your air plants in a terrarium or globe, you’ll need to take them out so you can water them normally. Also, be sure to leave them outside until they have had enough time to completely dry out. Four hours usually suffice. You can mist the tillandsia occasionally while it’s in the terrarium or globe to add some humidity. You’ll want to spritz your plants fewer times as the globe gets smaller and more compact. You can give the terrarium a few mists from a water mister a few times each week if it is bigger and has greater air circulation. Just watch out that the plant doesn’t get over-mistified and that it dries off quickly while in the terrarium.

If you bought one of our incredible sea urchin kits, be careful to separate the air plant from the sea urchin before soaking. Wait several hours for the plant to thoroughly dry before removing it from the sea urchin. If you give the air plant back to the sea urchin while it’s still wet, the base will become coated and eventually rot, which will harm the plant. If you want to mildly mist while inside the sea urchin, go ahead!

How to Water an Air Plant

The most challenging aspect of caring for air plants is watering them. Some individuals use misting religiously, others immerse their air plants, while yet others utilize a mix of misting and soaking.

In our experience, watering air plants is challenging because the plant’s requirements differ significantly depending on the environment. Additionally, some species need particular care. Assessing your environment is the first step in watering your air plant. How much light is reaching your plant? What’s the temperature like inside your house right now? Is there a lot of dry air there (is your plant close to a heater or fireplace)? Is it also really humid?

Following your responses, you can modify the air plant watering schedule to meet your specific requirements. Here is what we suggest as a place to start:

  • Every one to two weeks, give your air plant a 5- to 10-minute soak in room-temperature tap water (or, if you can get it, rainwater or pond water).
  • Once your plant has soaked, gently shake off any extra water. It should be placed on a towel upside down in a well-lit area. This is very crucial. If extra water is allowed to stand, air plants will quickly decay.
  • The plant should be able to dry completely in 3 hours once the soaking process is finished. More time than this could cause your plant to decay. Try putting it somewhere brighter with better airflow to encourage quicker drying.
  • Mist your plant well once a week (instead of watering it). Make sure the entire surface is saturated (but not so much that there is water dripping down into the plant).
  • You need to water more when the air is hotter and dryer (summer, early fall). Your air plant will require less water during the cooler and more humid seasons (winter and spring). Just be mindful of your plant because heaters and fires dry out the air.
  • Water everything in the morning. Evening sopping or sprinkling interferes with the plants’ ability to breathe at night and prolongs the drying process.

Is My Air Plant Getting Enough Water?

The tops of your air plant’s leaves may turn brown or crispy if you’ve been neglecting to water it. When an air plant is under-watered, its leaves’ inherent concavity tends to become more pronounced.

Unfortunately, it’s frequently too late to save an overwatered air plant. Your plant has certainly succumbed to rot if the base of the plant turns dark or black and leaves are falling out or off from the center.

Regarding temperature, air plants are fairly tolerant. They thrive between 50 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The ideal temperature difference between daytime and nighttime is roughly 10 degrees.

To maintain your air plant healthy, include orchid or specific air plant fertilizer in your watering routine once or twice a month. Simply sprinkle some in your water, then carry on as usual. Your air plant will blossom and propagate if you fertilize it (or pup — more on this later)

How are air plants maintained?

Here are 5 easy guidelines to remember when taking care of tillandsia:

  • 1) Give your air plant regular waterings. Your air plant will require routine watering.
  • 2) Supply light to your air plant.
  • 3) Allow your air plant to breathe.
  • 4) Maintain a Pleasant Temperature for Your Air Plant.
  • 5) Don’t harm your airplant by doing this.

How to Care for Air Plants

Before spending the time and money to create this fantastic terrarium, you might want to get a quick lesson on how to take care of air plants. Fortunately, it’s really simple for you! Tillandsias, often known as air plants, require this in order to flourish.

  • Although they may tolerate some direct sunlight, air plants prefer bright light. Low light levels might abruptly cause air plants to falter and perish. Make sure you attend to their lighting requirements since once they reach that stage, saving them becomes challenging.
  • It’s simple to water air plants… Put all of your air plants in a big bowl or sink and soak them in water for 20 to 30 minutes once a week. Allow them to dry on a towel, upside-down. Give your air plants a gentle shake before setting them out to drain since they are prone to rot if water is allowed to gather in their leaves.
  • Add a water soluble fertilizer to the water you soak them in every other time you water them during the growing season.

I’m done now! Now that you know how to construct an air plant terrarium, you can not only showcase your plants in a stunning fashion but also enhance the design of your home.

Air Plant Terrarium Supplies

  • Open terrarium or glass container that provides for optimum airflow
  • Sand or gravel for aquariums
  • Sculptural rocks, stones, and wood
  • Ideally, different types and sizes of air plants

Our initial air plant terrarium was created with simplicity in mind. This consists of of two stunning air plants, a few stones, and white sand. Observe how the one is blooming! There is a misconception that air plants perish once they bloom. They still have a lot to do, despite the fact that they will eventually die after flowering. Blooming is a sign that the plant is preparing to generate air plant pups, sometimes referred to as baby air plants, near its base. Therefore, never throw away an air plant that has bloomed because it is still very much alive.

Air Plant Terrarium Instructions

  • Sand or gravel can be added as a base to the terrarium’s bottom.
  • Include rocks, stones, wood, or other beautiful natural elements.
  • To achieve the desired look, add air plants. For a more understated appearance, use one or two; for an urban jungle feel, use as many as you can!
  • Done!

As you can see, there are numerous varieties of air plants. Others have more coarse leaves than others, some with fine leaves. various shapes, hues, and even watering requirements.

Additionally, we wanted to give this air plant terrarium a more natural look. We gathered materials for our DIY terrarium from our neighborhood beach, including a piece of driftwood and a stone coated in barnacles. We adore this terrarium, which contrasts three distinct air plants and a small amount of preserved moss beautifully.

With the plant parent revolution, air plants are popular, and this only goes to show that they can be just as stunning and fascinating as any philodendron or fern!

Where to Buy Air Plants

We are so satisfied with the air plants, preserved moss, and terrarium that were provided by Etsy seller “Spyloh” that as of right now, we won’t purchase our air plants from anybody else!

We hope you are prepared to construct your own terrarium for air plants. Make the ideal area for your plants to be shown! We believe you’ll also enjoy our posts on What are Air Plants and Clever & Cool Indoor Garden Ideas & Projects. or check out OhMeOhMy’s DIY Branch Chandelier Air Plant Display!

There may be affiliate links in this article. For additional information, please see our disclosure.

How should a terrarium air plant be watered?

At Pop Shop America, a lot of terrariums are constructed! We create terrariums with air plants as well as succulents and cacti. We favor these plants since they are sleek and contemporary. But the main reason we favor them is that they are simple to maintain.

Let’s face it, many people, including us, find plants to be perplexing and difficult. Everything we know about caring for plants is a result of hard effort and experience.

The most frequent queries we get are about air plants. The phrase “the nursery where I bought my air plant said to only spray it, but then it died” or “the nursery said to not water it, but then it died” are actually things that people have said to us.

WHOA. I have no idea what insane nursery is spreading such false information, but we are here to clear things up! Although air plants are simple to care for, these instructions are incorrect.

A few different types of air plants exist. However, every variety must be watered at least once every month. Some people prefer to water once a week, so watering every two weeks is a fine place to start. Dropping the air plants into a basin of water is the simplest way to water them. The best water is tap water. The roots should be totally submerged, and the spiky leaves also benefit from a little water.

The crucial section is right here. Shake them to dry them off after removing them from the water. This was described as draining the roots of salts by a plant person. Never have I been able to confirm that.

After that, make careful to flip them over. It’s best to place them on anything absorbent, such as wood or paper towels. It’s also excellent to set them in the sunlight. Prior to placing them back in their habitat, it is crucial that they thoroughly dry off in between their spines.

It’s always a good idea to hang them upside-down to keep water from collecting in their spines. An air plant typically needs four hours to thoroughly dry up. Although air plants don’t require feeding, we do advise using organic air plant food every fourth watering for an extremely lush and vigorous plant.

An air plant’s curving spines will start to swell more when it is dry, and the outer leaves will eventually turn brown. Because it displays the typical symptoms of root rot, you can tell when an air plant has been overwatered. The plant will just fall apart as the base of the leaves become brown or black.

Overwatering has the drawback that it frequently dies too quickly for you to be able to aid in its recovery. It needs water if the exterior has dead spines. Overwatering is evident if there are dead leaves in the center.

I came upon this clever tip when determining how frequently to water:

When the spines are numerous, thin, and fan out like a rainbow: once a month, water

We hope the information we’ve provided will help you maintain healthy, living plants! Do you still lack plant love in your life? Simply look below!

How long does an air plant live?

Perennial plants are tillandsias, also referred to as air plants. According to the source, they have a lifespan of between two and five years, which indicates that they normally survive longer than two years.

The type of air plant and the growing conditions have an impact on how long they live, though. They reside in deserts, on various surfaces, and on tree branches in their natural habitat (other surfaces they can grow on).

Air plants only experience one flowering during their existence, which marks the culmination of their development and maturity.

Depending on the species, the flowers might remain in bloom for a number of months. However, the air plant will begin to die when the blossoms start to wilt and fade. Air plants develop pups or offsets before they die to carry on the same growth cycle.

Despite the mother plant dying, you can take the pups out and raise them separately. Separating the pups from the mother is referred to as “division is a method of air plant propagation.

As an alternative, you might leave those puppies grouped together ” (also known as “tillandsia balls).