Tillandsia's or Tilly's or Air Plants are native to Southern USA, South America, Central America and the West Indies.
They will only flower once (see more on this later)
Indoors they can live almost anywhere and thrive in temperatures between 50 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
They do not require soil and please DO NOT plant them in soil or they will be headed to Air Plant heaven.
Air Plants help to remove toxins from the air.
The Air Plants roots are not necessary for growth and can be removed. You can also trim dead leafs off of your plants. In the wild the roots help them anchor to trees or other objects.
SET UP
Check out our set up video
CARE INSTRUCTIONS
LIGHT
Filtered sunlight, indoors close to a window is perfect
They will do well in artificial light, but try to keep the plant as close to the light as possible. This makes them a perfect desk companion!
WATER
When watering, completely drench your Tillandsias (place them upside down with the base out of the water) misting alone can be insufficient.
They like to be watered 1-2 times per week on average. We typically soak them in a bowl of water for 5-10 minutes.
If you live in a moist cool environment once a week should be fine.
As the plant absorbs water they will turn a bright green.
Once the plant dries the silver sheen will come back. These are called trichromes.
Let plants dry completely between watering and before putting in any vessel.
Root rot appears if left wet too long. Rot appears as a purple blackish color creeping up from base of plant.
Distilled water has no nutritional value and will actually leach nutrients.
XEROGRAPHICA and TECTORUM, or broader leaf plants hold water longer and only need to be watered weekly. DO NOT SOAK XEROGRAPHICA or TECTORUM, dip upside down or do a heavy rain shower like bath. Gently shake to get water out, let dry completely.
BLOOMING OR FLOWERING
Most Air Plants will only bloom once in their lifetime. They are amazing! It is hard to know when they will bloom but when they do it is spectacular.
When blossoming DO NOT SOAK, water like a heavy rain shower.
PUPS
After Blooming the plant will focus on producing pups. Pups appear at the base of a plant and look like new leaves at first.
Once they grow to 1/3 the size of the mother plant they can be picked off and will survive on their own.
One plant can prouduce as many as 12 pups
FERTILIZING
We suggest fertilizing once a month up to once per week to grow and encourage blooming. We add 1/8th of a teaspoon of our fertilizer to a 1/2 gallon of water. Soak as usual. Left over water can be used to water Orchids or other house plants. Less is more in fertilizing. If you over fertilize it could damage your new friend.
Our fertilizer is specially formulated by our growers for Air Plants.
