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Growing Air Plants: Watering, Light, and Pests
Unique air plants can thrive indoors without using any soil at all. However, they need proper care. Learn how often to water air plants and how to keep them alive!
Air plants are having a moment as houseplants because they are adorable, tiny, easy to grow, do not need soil, and also need little light to thrive. Fuzzy, furry, spiky, or trailing, they’re each unique and almost like house “pets.”
About Air Plants
Air plants are members of the bromeliad family. They are “epiphytic,” meaning that they rely on the moisture and nutrients in the atmosphere to grow and thrive while clinging to trees or other supports, such as rocks.
Forming a rosette of spiraling leaves that can be fuzzy, curly, or spiky in colors ranging from green and silver to peach or red, air plants have an almost other-worldly quality, like they have crawled out from under the sea or been dropped from a UFO.
Since they don’t need to be anchored in soil, they can displayed in a wide variety of creative ways. Use floral wire to secure them to a piece of tree branch, driftwood, or slab of bark.
If you choose to display them in glass containers, remember that they need air circulation, so no closed terrariums, please. They’re called “air” plants for a reason!
You can even use hot glue, velcro, or other adhesives, such as liquid nails, to attach them to a wall or other surface. They are easy to hang in a window by wrapping wire or string around the base a few times or sitting them in any type of container that has an appropriate size opening, such as a candlestick, sea shell, or egg cup. The possibilities are endless.
What Are Air Plants?
In nature, these plants grow above the ground, their roots anchoring them to rocky cliffs and tree branches. They may cling to a tree for support but take no nutrients from the host plant making them epiphytes and not parasites. In the Bromeliad family, there are over 600 species and varieties of Tillandsias for you to choose from.
Native to the southeastern US, throughout Mexico and Central America, and all the way to northern Argentina, the plants are frost tender: 60 to 80 degrees is the optimal temperature range for them. In warm climates, they can be grown outdoors year-round. In colder locations, they can spend the summer outdoors in dappled shade, protected from direct sun.
Growing
Watering Air Plants
Air plants might not need soil to grow, but they do need water—and the right amount of water. For many air plants, misting is not enough; they need to be submerged in water.
Their leaves have scales called trichomes that can absorb water and nutrients. Since they can’t absorb enough moisture from the air inside your home, they need to be misted regularly and, if possible, soaked in a bucket of room-temperature water for 20 minutes to an hour once or twice a week.
Not all air plants are the same, and the amount of water your air plant needs is based on where it is from. Those from arid regions of the Americas will be content with a couple of heavy mistings a week, while those from the rainforest will need a good long dunk twice a week.
Your plant will let you know when it needs water. Look closely, and you will notice that the leaves are starting to roll or curl more than usual. Brown leaf tips mean the plant is definitely not getting enough water. One rule of thumb is that the finer the leaves, the more often the plant will need water, and green leaves need more water than silvery ones.
After watering, shake the plant to remove excess water from the center or put it upside down on a towel to drain. Water left sitting in the plant’s crown can cause it to rot. Proper watering is the key to success with air plants.
How to Care for Air Plants
- When fertilizing, use a water-soluble fertilizer meant for bromeliads or orchids diluted to half strength. Add it to the water before soaking the plants. Fertilize once a month, during spring and summer, but don’t overdo it. They really don’t need a lot of fertilizer to thrive.
- Cut off any dead leaves.
- If the plant develops brown tips, they can be trimmed off. This is often a sign that the plant isn’t getting enough water or is being kept in an area that is too dry.
Air Plant Pups
Air plants grow offsets—called “pups”—from the base of the mother plant. When the pups are a third of the size of the mother, they can be separated from the mother plant and grow on their own.
Tillandsias bloom only once in their lifetime. These stunning blossoms can last from several days to several months, depending on the variety. After flowering, the plant will start to produce baby plants called pups. They can be removed when they are about 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the mother plant. This can take a year or more! Eventually, the mother plant dries up and dies off.
Types
Air plant flowers come in many shapes and colors, from coral, to pinks and purples.
Air plants are divided into two categories: mesic and xeric.
- Mesic air plants come from moderately humid regions such as South American rainforests. They thrive in a canopy of trees and prefer more filtered light than xeric air plants. The leaves are a deep green, smooth, and slightly cupped.
- Xeric air plants are from desert-like climates and often grow on rocks. Their wide leaves are gray and fuzzy which allow a larger surface area to absorb water and light.
Wit and Wisdom
- The only purpose of air plant roots is to anchor them to whatever they are growing on.
- The fuzzier the leaves are, the drier the air the plant can tolerate.
- Though it may look like dead moss hanging from a tree, Spanish moss is a type of air plant!
- Air plants are related to pineapples; both are members of the bromeliad family.
Catherine Boeckmann
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I bought my first airplant on etsy from a shop called Succapunch. I live in a high mountain desert so plants that like warmth have been difficult to care for. After I figured out what indirect light means, and started using the soaking method, my air plants have been absolutely thriving. I'm sure it will vary for everyone but it works for me.
