I’m used to soil plants and I’m having a really tough time reading what these air plants need. I’ve noticed some browning on the leaves. But I dunked them a half a week ago and misted them twice. Do they need more water or less? Too much sun?
I read to dunk instead of soak bc of how prone these are to rot bc drying the crevices is tough.
Do yall have any advice for how to read this type of airplant? I prefer to learn what to look/feel for instead of watering on a schedule. I watched some videos but found the advice super generic and schedule-like.
by RecipeNo3605
4 Comments
I’ll be controversial. I soak mine upside down for an hour every week. I then turn them upside down for two days after their soak so they can dry. I try to make sure they have exposure to a lot of ventilation. They’re doing great. I have five of them. I fertilize once a month. I don’t mist. I live in a colder climate with lower humidity for about 2/3rds of the year.
I live in a dry climate and I quick dunk mine once a week. If you live in a more humid environment it will need water less often. If the tips of the leaves start getting brown/crispy I would increase the frequency that you give it water.
Always completely dry air plants out upside down to prevent rot. They need to dry out within 4 hours, I use a small desk fan on mine. I have my air plants in my west window (which normally fries most plants except succulents but my air plants are happy there. I do lower the sun shade on really hot days).
Oh, and don’t put them in a windowsill when drying out, they can’t protect themselves against sunburn when they are wet.
This is a more of a schedule plant if you want to maintain its beauty. Usually with air plants waiting until it shows you signs can be a gamble because it can be too late to save one sometimes that’s why they’re schedule plants unless they’re in the wild. The world of Tillandsia is very different from soil plants. What I do with these is I soak them upside down for 30mins once a week and I mist once or twice between the soakings when it feels too dry. I dry them upside down as well with a fan. Using the fan on high has been the important factor for me because after it’s dry upside down I turn it towards the fan and let it dry the middle and all the crevices that way. If you don’t want to soak you can continue to dunk but maybe do that twice a week? I guess you can wait for signs of dryness but you may lose some tips if they get brown before you get to giving it water. I think the once a week thing at least is good. Maybe dunk once a week and mist once or twice in between.
I know it is weird, but my house is as dry as dry can be. Humidity is around 18-28% so I water those guys for 15-20 mins every 3-4 days. So far so good.