You may have heard that air plants (Tillandsia species) live on air. This is untrue. They live in air, usually clinging to trees, rocks, telephone wires, or roofs. They do not have roots. They get their water and nutrients from the air.
You may have also been told the plant magically subsists on air alone. So you set your air plant somewhere and ignore it. Eventually your plant dies
The photo is of my Tillandsia ionantha on a dinner plate. I’ve had it for ten years, and it keeps getting bigger. Here’s the secret to success:
I’ve visited the Yucatan in Mexico where it comes from, and I saw it growing on tree branches. While I was there, I couldn’t help noticing that it rains a lot in the Yucatan in the summer. Like every day. Air plants don’t live on air, they live on thunderstorms.
The Yucatan also suffers droughts. The plant can survive a drought, but it doesn’t like them. An unending drought will kill it.
Since it doesn’t rain in my living room, I regularly spray it or dunk it in water. It has little cups in the leaves that collect water. It shouldn’t be left to sit in water, though. It lives in the air, not in a swamp.
It also lives in sunny places. An air plant belongs on a windowsill, not in a dark corner.
Here are some good tips: How to Care for your air plant – Airplantman. How to grow and care for air plants – The Spruce.
Tillandsia are great little house plants, and your service to it as a emotional support animal will be rewarded. Just don’t believe everything you’re told, especially if it sounds too good to be true. That’s one of an air plant’s gifts to you: healthy skepticism.
Semiosis 