Tillandsias, or air plants, are unusual plants. Their small size and lack of visible roots distinguish them. Air plants develop by combining air and water, although they aren’t as reliant on water as typical plants are. Air plants, unlike ordinary plants, are epiphytes. This means they don’t need soil to thrive. As a result of this characteristic, they are popular as indoor plants, presents, and home decor.
Air plants grow by attaching themselves to trees or bushes in their natural state. They are native to the warm areas of the south, Central America, and South America. Some air plants develop neon colored flowers for a few months of the year as tropical plants.
What is my air plant?
Air plants are adorable, resembling pets rather than plants. It’s enticing whether a variation is fluffy, hairy, spiky, or trailing. Air plants are often small, easy to cultivate, and do not require soil. Air plants use scales on their leaves to absorb nutrients and water from the air, as the name implies. They’re popular as houseplants because they’re easy to maintain and require little light to grow.
How many types of air plants are there?
Any of the nearly 500 species of flowering perennial plants of the Tillandsia genus, which is part of the Bromeliad family, is referred to as a “air plant.” Their roots do not require soil. They take moisture from the air instead. Epiphytes, such as Spanish moss, are plants that grow on other plants. Air plants grow on trees, fastened to the bark, in their native habitatwarm, arid places where they thrive in bright, filtered light. They’re typically grown as indoor houseplants, where they thrive under fluorescent illumination, despite the fact that they’re perennial in a sufficiently warm area.
Air plants, which were once uncommon in commercial use, are now highly fashionable and are employed in a number of hanging garden applications. While a few species can be cultivated in pots, the majority are suspended in the air and placed on bark or driftwood. Because it brings together a collection and allows for adequate air circulation, a hanging grid is also a popular display for air plants. Garden centers now stock a wide variety of air plants. Some are quite little and require close inspection to fully appreciate.
Although Tillandsia has a large number of species, many of them do not have common names. They’re simply referred to as “air plants” or “sky plants” instead. Alternatively, they could be offered solely by species name.
Here are 25 air plant types to consider for indoor growth, regardless of what you call them.
What is the rarest air plant?
Recurvifolia. This is the rarest Tillandsia Funckiana variety, and it’s easy to see why! It has very distinctive leaves that resemble pine branches.
Are purple air plants real?
- When exposed to continuous bright light, Tillandsia Aeranthos Purple becomes a stunning air plant with a deep purple hue all year. When the plant blooms, it produces stunning purple-pink flowers. It grows to a maximum width of about 6 inches and is an extremely prolific species, producing more than 10 offsets before the mother plants die. This easy-to-grow air plant tolerates frequent watering and drought well. This item is ideal for any terrarium or dish garden.
- Indoors, Tillandsia Aeranthos Purple thrives, but prefers bright, indirect light. Keep this plant out of direct sunshine to prevent it from drying out too quickly.
There is no need for dirt. Instead of soil, you can use sand, sea glass, rocks, pebbles, and bark chips.
Do you soak air plants upside down?
When it comes to watering air plants, the bottom line is to bathe the leaves every week to ten days. Then, before returning the plants to their original location, make sure they are totally dried upside down.
What color should my air plant be?
The name “air plant” is a little deceiving. Members of the Tillandsia genus are named after the fact that they may grow without any soil at all. In reality, one of the most common misconceptions we encounter in air plant care is assuming that Tillandsia just require air to survive.
Air plants are epiphytic (meaning they grow on other plants without harming them) and emerge from the curves and branches of trees in their natural habitat of South and Central America’s forests, mountains, and deserts.
Air plants are among our favorites; they look great on their own and are included in many of our Plant Craft items, such as aeriums and mounts.
The following are the best methods for air plant care that we advocate. We’ll start with an overview of how to care for air plants in general, then move on to specific adaptations for aeriums, terrariums, and mounted Tillandsia.
Air plants require strong, indirect light to grow. Rooms with southern or eastern facing windows are ideal because they will be brilliantly lit by the sun for the majority of the day. North-facing windows also perform well, as long as the plant is close to the window and the window isn’t obscured by trees or a neighboring apartment complex. Western light arrives late in the day and can be extremely hot and strong. You don’t want to fry your air plant, so be careful!
As a general rule, the more light the air plant can tolerate, the higher the humidity in your environment. This implies that if you’re going to put your air plant somewhere where it’ll get a lot of light, you’ll need to spray it more frequently – twice a week, if not everyday. Because the humidity from your shower will take care of most plant misting, a sunny bathroom provides a great home for an air plant.
Many customers question if they can keep an air plant in an office or basement room with no natural light. Yes, however there are a few guidelines to follow in order to assure your plant’s success.
It’s essential to use full spectrum (fluorescent) lighting. Regular incandescent bulbs do not produce the quality of light required for photosynthesizing by these plants. Your Tillandsia should be no more than 3 feet from the source of light. Also, if you’re using fluorescent lighting, the plants will need at least 12 hours of light per day.
If you live in a basement or want an air plant in your office, we recommend purchasing a dedicated bulb for your plant (such as a Gro-Lux, Repta-Sun, or Vita-Lite) and placing it on a 12-hour timer to ensure that your plant receives all of the light it need.
Watering an air plant is the most difficult aspect of air plant upkeep. Some individuals swear by misting, while others swear by soaking, and still others combine the two in their air plant care routine.
Watering air plants is difficult in our experience because the plant’s needs vary drastically depending on the location in which it is situated. The first step in watering your air plant is to assess its surroundings. What kind of light does your plant get? At this time of year, what is the temperature in your home? Is the environment excessively dry (does your plant have access to a heater or fireplace?) Is it hot and humid?
After you’ve answered these questions, you can tailor the air plant watering schedule to your specific requirements. As a starting point, we recommend the following:
- Soak your air plant in room temperature tap water (or rain/pond water if you can find it) for 5-10 minutes every one to two weeks.
- After soaking, gently shake your plant to remove any extra water. In a light area, turn it upside down and place it on a towel. This is vital information! If you leave your air plants in too much water, they will quickly rot.
- The plant should be able to dry completely in no more than 3 hours after the soaking is finished. If your plant is left wet for an extended period of time, it may rot. To help things dry faster, try putting it in a brighter area with better air circulation.
- Mist your plant thoroughly once a week to ensure that the entire surface is wet (but not so much that there is water dripping down into the plant).
- The more water you need to water as the weather gets hotter and dryer (summer, early fall). The less water your air plant needs the cooler and more humid the air is (winter and spring). But keep in mind that heaters and fires dry out the air!
- Do all of your watering first thing in the morning. Evening soaking or misting interferes with the plants’ capacity to breathe overnight, resulting in a longer drying time.
The browning or crisping of your air plant’s leaf tips is a sign that it’s been under-watered. When air plants are under-watered, their inherent concave shape becomes more pronounced.
Unfortunately, it’s generally too late to salvage your air plant if it’s been over-watered. Your plant has likely succumbed to rot if the base of the plant turns dark or black, and leaves are dropping out or off from the center.
When it comes to temperature, air plants are relatively laid-back. They thrive in temperatures ranging from 50 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures should be around 10 degrees colder at night than they are during the day.
Once or twice a month, incorporate orchid or Bromeliad fertilizer into your watering routine to keep your air plant happy. Simply sprinkle a pinch into your water and carry on as usual. Fertilizing your air plant promotes blooming and reproduction (or pup more on this later)
Air plants only flower once in their lives, did you know? These blossoms can last anywhere from a few days to a few months, depending on the species, and can come in a wide range of vibrant colors, including pink, red, and purple. Flowering is the highest point in an air plant’s life cycle, but it also signals the start of the plant’s old age: after flowering, the plant will die.
But don’t give up! Depending on the species, your air plant will reproduce by putting out 2-8 flowers just before, during, or after flowering “Puppies.” These tiny air plants will eventually grow into their own mother plants, despite their modest size. When the pups are about 1/3-1/2 the size of the mother plant, they can be securely separated. Take care not to pull them out too soon, since they are absorbing nutrients from the mother air plant!
Above: A brass mister is a stylish and classic Tillandsia Xerographica companion.
While larger air plants look great on a windowsill or tabletop, we prefer to incorporate their smaller siblings into our living art “Aeriums” are a type of terrarium that is solely dedicated to air plants! Here’s everything you need to know about air plant care in glass.
- Simply take your plant from the aerium, terrarium, or glass to mist/soak it, then allow it to dry before putting it in the glass, as directed above.
- Keep in mind that maintaining your air plant in glass will produce a microclimate in which the glass vessels will be more humid and hot than the surrounding space.
- Avoid placing glass vessels too close to a window. The sun’s beams are amplified through glass. You don’t want your plant to cook!
- You won’t be able to soak your plant because it won’t come out of the glass, so you’ll have to rely only on misting. This is perfectly OK.
- Smaller glass means less air circulation, which means longer drying time for the plant and less misting.
- Larger glass = more air circulation = faster plant drying time = more misting.
- When misting your air plant, make sure to mist around it rather than directly into it. You don’t want to overwater it; instead, you want to keep it moist.
- We recommend starting with weekly misting and adjusting as needed, depending on the vessel.
You won’t be able to wet your mounted air plant like you can with air plants in small glass pots. Mounted air plants, on the other hand, will require more regular misting than aeriums because they are not enclosed in a humid microclimate. Starting with twice weekly misting and adjusting as needed, depending on how long it takes your plant to dry in your location, we recommend starting with twice weekly misting.
If you follow these air plant care instructions, your Tillandsia should thrive in no time! Do you have any queries or tips regarding caring for air plants? Let us know in the comments!
Is pink quill an air plant?
Tillandsia cyanea, sometimes known as the pink quill, is a tropical houseplant that is easy to care for, diverse, and hardy. It is a member of the Bromeliad family and, unlike most Tillandsia species, can be cultivated as an air plant as well as in a pot.