How to take care of your Tillandsia

You do not need to have green fingers to make your airplants happy. They are easy to take care of. 
Just keep these 3 thing in mind: 

1. Water

A lot of people think that you do not need to take care of air plants. This is not true..... In the nature they live from the humidity and rainwater. When you have an air plant in your home, you need to spray the plant with (rain)water. Spray them on the leaves one or twice a week. When it is a very hot and dry summer, please spray them more often. You can also put them in a nice bath of (rain)water. Soak them for an hour, take them out and let them dry up side down, otherwise they can rot. Repaid this once per 2 or 3 weeks.

2. Light

Tillandsia's like daylight, just like every other plant. They need daylight to survive and to grow. Direct sunlight is to bright and can cause burning spots on the leaves. So put them on a bright spot but not in direct sunlight. 

Tip

-The lighter the leaves of the Tillandsia, the better they can handle sunlight 
(the grey spiecies can handle the sunlight better than the green spiecies)
 

3. Air 

Tillandsia lives in nature on rocks and trees. So I guess you can imagine that air plants like some fresh air. Please do not put them in closed pots or jars. They really need air circulation, if they not get this, they will rot.

Tip

- When it is a beautiful day, you can put your Tillandsia outside, they will really love it.

Click for all air plants

Air plant facts

Flowers

Tillandsia can get flowers. Sometimes you even do not notice that they are ready to flower. VThe flowers can be purple, red, yellow or pink. Also some of the Tillandsia that flower also have a fragrance. 

 Tillandsia: Ionantha rood met mooie paarse bloem

Tillandsia 'pups'

After the flower, the motherplant will create baby's. These baby's we call 'pups.

They do not grow very fast, but when the pup is the half of the size of the mother plant, you can gentle try to take of the pup.
Most of the times the motherplant will die after she gave pups. This can take months before this will happen.

 Tillandsia: Ionantha rood with 7 pups!!