Picked these up at Lowe’s today, but never had air plants before. Have a few questions; do these look healthy, how do I water them & how do I know when to water them? Any other advice is welcome as well!
Soak them once a week for about 30 min ish. Put them upside down to dry (to prevent rot), make sure they are completely dry before returning them to their spots. Ideally they should dry out within 4 hours, if not a small desk fan helps out a lot. Do not put them outside or in sunbeams or on windowsills to dry them out, they can’t reflect sunlight when they are wet and will burn (the tiny hairs protect the plant from sun/sunburn).
Otherwise you can quick dunk or mist them during the week if you need to. I live in a dry climate so I have to quick dunk mine every other day in addition to the weekly soak. If you live in a more humid environment you probably don’t need to do anything during the week.
If the tips of the leaves start getting more crispy then water them more frequently. I use tap water but I let the water sit in an open container (watering can) for 24 hours minimum to let the chlorine evaporate first.
Oh, and yes they look healthy :).
Edit: the plant will at some point flower (don’t get the flower wet if you want it to last longer) and then produce baby plants (called pups), usually at the base of the plant. The mother plant will eventually die, but that takes a very long time. You can keep the babies attached to the mother, or if you want to remove them, wait until they are minimally 1/3 the size of the mother plant (which will take several months).
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Soak them once a week for about 30 min ish. Put them upside down to dry (to prevent rot), make sure they are completely dry before returning them to their spots. Ideally they should dry out within 4 hours, if not a small desk fan helps out a lot. Do not put them outside or in sunbeams or on windowsills to dry them out, they can’t reflect sunlight when they are wet and will burn (the tiny hairs protect the plant from sun/sunburn).
Otherwise you can quick dunk or mist them during the week if you need to. I live in a dry climate so I have to quick dunk mine every other day in addition to the weekly soak. If you live in a more humid environment you probably don’t need to do anything during the week.
If the tips of the leaves start getting more crispy then water them more frequently. I use tap water but I let the water sit in an open container (watering can) for 24 hours minimum to let the chlorine evaporate first.
Oh, and yes they look healthy :).
Edit: the plant will at some point flower (don’t get the flower wet if you want it to last longer) and then produce baby plants (called pups), usually at the base of the plant. The mother plant will eventually die, but that takes a very long time. You can keep the babies attached to the mother, or if you want to remove them, wait until they are minimally 1/3 the size of the mother plant (which will take several months).