Hi! 🙂 Congratulations for the awesome news, the pups look absolutely adorable!
The mother plant will slowly start to wither away as the pups grow bigger, yes. That’s just the unfortunate reality. The good news, though, is that this process is not as quick as commonly and mistakenly reported: in fact, your tilly could be still with you next year and maybe even after that! Sometimes tillandsia are able to grow multiple generations of pups and even witness the birth of their grandchildren. It’s impossible to tell how long your airplant will live, because it depends on so many factors ( including genetics), but hopefully knowing that she is not about to die in a few days or weeks will make you feel a little better! 😊
Generally speaking, it’s best to leave the pups attached until they’re about 2/3 of the mother plant. From that moment, you can choose freely whether to separate them or not. Typically tillandsia grow and stay attached their whole life in nature, and that’s why many growers leave them be and keep them in a clump with multiple generations living all together. However, many others dislike clumps because they can look a bit messy. As you can see, it’s simply a matter of preference; personally, I have two pups from two different plants and I plan to keep them attached forever. The choice is completely up to you, do what you feel like doing! There’s not right or wrong, as long as you don’t attempt to separate the baby too soon.
Finally, if your plant is feeling fine and healthy with just one weekly soaking, I’d say keep on doing what you’re doing. My airplants would definitely look severely dehydrated if I were to try the same, because it’s very hot and humid where I’m from. I have to soak mine once/twice a week, PLUS give them a heavy misting other two times to keep them green…and sometimes it doesn’t even seem that this is enough. But again, watering frequency and the method you choose are completely dependant on your specific conditions, so please never try to copy someone else’s routine. If the plants are green/healthy looking, their leaves are not curled up, growth is consistent and there’s no sign of rot or fungus, it means you’re doing great and you shouldn’t change a single thing.
I hope this was useful! If you have any other questions, I’m happy to help. 🙂
St3vensays
I have two that are on their third generation and the original mother plant still has some green left in the leaves and it’s been about 3 years
2 Comments
Hi! 🙂 Congratulations for the awesome news, the pups look absolutely adorable!
The mother plant will slowly start to wither away as the pups grow bigger, yes. That’s just the unfortunate reality. The good news, though, is that this process is not as quick as commonly and mistakenly reported: in fact, your tilly could be still with you next year and maybe even after that! Sometimes tillandsia are able to grow multiple generations of pups and even witness the birth of their grandchildren. It’s impossible to tell how long your airplant will live, because it depends on so many factors ( including genetics), but hopefully knowing that she is not about to die in a few days or weeks will make you feel a little better! 😊
Generally speaking, it’s best to leave the pups attached until they’re about 2/3 of the mother plant. From that moment, you can choose freely whether to separate them or not. Typically tillandsia grow and stay attached their whole life in nature, and that’s why many growers leave them be and keep them in a clump with multiple generations living all together. However, many others dislike clumps because they can look a bit messy. As you can see, it’s simply a matter of preference; personally, I have two pups from two different plants and I plan to keep them attached forever. The choice is completely up to you, do what you feel like doing! There’s not right or wrong, as long as you don’t attempt to separate the baby too soon.
Finally, if your plant is feeling fine and healthy with just one weekly soaking, I’d say keep on doing what you’re doing. My airplants would definitely look severely dehydrated if I were to try the same, because it’s very hot and humid where I’m from. I have to soak mine once/twice a week, PLUS give them a heavy misting other two times to keep them green…and sometimes it doesn’t even seem that this is enough. But again, watering frequency and the method you choose are completely dependant on your specific conditions, so please never try to copy someone else’s routine. If the plants are green/healthy looking, their leaves are not curled up, growth is consistent and there’s no sign of rot or fungus, it means you’re doing great and you shouldn’t change a single thing.
I hope this was useful! If you have any other questions, I’m happy to help. 🙂
I have two that are on their third generation and the original mother plant still has some green left in the leaves and it’s been about 3 years