Air plants are easy to care for and fun to have. While air plants don't require any soil, they do need bright, indirect light. They can also thrive under fluorescent lights making them a good office plant.
Air plants don't need to be planted the way other plants do. You can display them in numerous creative ways. Suspend them from the ceiling by gently attaching a string to the plant, set it inside the opening of a pretty shell, lay it on a piece of driftwood, or get creative and tuck it somewhere interesting around the house. If you chose to put it in some type of container, it is best to fill the bottom of the container with sand, gravel, rocks, etc. to ensure that the plant doesn't sit in any standing water. I used crushed glass and tucked a little piece of moss in to add some color. :)
Air plants have to have water to survive. The easiest way to keep your plant well watered is to give it a weekly dunk in a bowl of room temperature water. To do this fill the bowl with water just deep enough to submerge the plant (avoid getting blooms wet). Allow the air plant to soak in the water for about 20 minutes, then return it to its home. If you live somewhere that is very dry you should also mist your air plant between waterings. Simply use a spray bottle to get the plant dripping wet.
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
These are really the best choice for people who have no luck with plants. My roommate in college loved greens so much, but she would kill the plant after a week or so. That's when I gave her an air plant terrarium as a gift and she's had it since then.
Once you get the idea of air plants, you can get to some fantastic night-blooming cacti, that are just air plants. They live off CO2 and airborne dust, and the odd bit of water. Once a year they produce buds, and then one night you hear a POP and notice a very strong smell, like somebody had knocked over a bottle of vanilla. Then you see an 8" flower like this:
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!