Tilandsia

[Heinie]

Here are a few photos of some Tilandsia plants (Air plant) that grow on one of my tree branches.

[Hamad Ahmed Kisana]

wonderful..are they growing naturally or you planted them on tree..?

[Heinie]

Hammad,
I planted them on the tree. This how they grow in habitat.

Watch out for the post coming soon of my Clivia planted in the same tree where 3 branches meet and growing soil-less but the roots are covered with fine pieces of the bark from this tree. The plant is starting to flower. It is growing just below the plant in the last photo.

[M Farooq]

Hello Heinei, could you help my dying Tilandsias? The more I care, the more wilted/shrivelled they look. I occasionally soak the plants in tap water for 10-12 hours. In water, the leaves swell and give a normal green look, but once air dries them, the leaves regain their shrivelled look. On the other hand, I have a Tilandsia in my office (from same parent), which is given the same treatment, it is very healthy. I cannot do outdoor experiments because of weather extremes.

Have a look at my plant suggest a cure please :-). Thanks,

IMG_4499.JPG (35.45 KiB) Viewed 5816 times

[Heinie]

Farooq,
Tilandsias do not need much attention. The most attention mine gets is when I admire their growing techniques every few months. The common name is Air Plant because they take moisture from the air and that is how they thrive.

I suggest you put yours in a tree in shade all day and for your heat you can just spray them with the hose when you water the garden. That is all they need. Do not dump them in water for so long.

I have some of mine flowering now and will take photos when it stops raining here.

[M Farooq]

Heinie, I am in Canada, and these plants will freeze to death permanently (including myself) if exposed to the outside air. I was looking for an indoor strategy to help them survive the cruel weather. How should I control leaf shrivelling? Spray them daily with water?

[Heinie]

Oooh, that is the exact opposite from Pakistan then.

Find yourself an old dry tree with loose fine bark like in the sample of my plants above and cut a piece to a suitable size to put these plants on for indoors. You can then just give them one spray per plant once every 2 or 3 weeks by holding a cardboard behind the plant so you do not wet everything. Some of them make such beautiful coloured flowers. The small ones do take a year or two to establish the short roots nicely but I tie them to a branch with very thin wire which helps a lot by keeping them in position while they settle.

You can do anything you like with the tree branch like hanging it, standing it in the corner of a room or office or even lying it horizontal on the floor or in the air. You can put your thinking cap on and give your thoughts free reigns for this project. These plants are so rewarding when they start flowering.

[M Farooq]

Thanks for the tree bark idea. Yes there are no roots and that was my another concern.

[Heinie]

No roots are no problem. They do not need to be planted in soil because one tends to over water them then and they will die.

[M Farooq]

I can get lots of small cones, can cones serve the same purpose as the tree bark?