Beginners often ask, how big do air plants get? Well, the size of air plants depends upon the type you are growing. Here’s the detailed drill-down of air plants varieties and their sizes.
Have you decided to buy Tillandsia in your home to brighten your surroundings? You may wonder how big it will grow, but these air plants grow in different sizes depending on which type you’ve decided to buy. Tillandsia is another nickname for air plants, they are called so because an air plant gets its nutrients from the surrounding air. In most cases, if the environment is dull, they brighten any setting despite the décor.
You have to understand they are epiphytic; this means they need support from another stick or plant to enable them to position themselves to get the maximum light as possible. They may vary in color depending on your family preference of color. They have a spidery-look with very short leaves. Since they need more than just air to survive, you will notice generally all species of air plants grow slowly. Before we get to look at how different air plants can grow big, I want you to understand first how to take care of any tillandsia plant once you buy them either online or in a nursery.
How to take care of air plants
The first thing you do once you buy when you get home is to soak them in lukewarm water. A clean bowl or sink will do. Soak the small air plants for about 30 mins and for the large tillandsia soak for about 1 hour. This will be a good start for them. Note, if you bought an air plant which has already bloom, try your best only to soak the leaves and avoid the flowers.
Once you are done with soaking get a paper towel and lay the plants there to get rid of excess water. This will be a routine that you should be doing at least once a week to keep it moist, don’t forget to avoid the flowery parts. Only the leaves and the bottom side of it. You may notice your air plant is turning brown this may be a result of excessive sunlight or you are denying it water. Place it in a position that it will not get excess sunlight and water it regularly. Since once it is extremely burned or hydrated chances are it may not recover.
With the diverse possibilities of decorations, you can decide how to decorate your home because some can grow big enough to beautify a wider space. You can group them, arrange them vertically, nestle them in appropriate shapes and much more.
Different species of air plants for your home and how big each can grow
1. Tillandsia Cyanea
Also known as a pink quill. This is a well-known air plant because it is readily available in all gardens. Its liked because of its flowery nature and is easily cultivated.
It is medium in size growing 50 cm wide by 50 cm high. It has pink quills blooms ranging from 4-8 cm lengthy flower stalks.
2. Tillandsia Aeranthos
It is a large air plant mostly suitable for home office desk accessories, shelf décor or somewhere center in your home. Unlike other kinds of air plants which produce offsets once in their lifetime, Aeranthos produces pups in their entire lifetime.
They can grow up to 9 inches tall.
3. Tillandsia Bulbosa
This air plant does well in different climatic conditions. Bulbosa is evergreen with purple thinned leaves. In many instances, you will find it growing on shrubs or along coastlines.
It can grow to a size of 15cm across and 12cm in height, in extreme cases it can further grow to 100cm.
4. Tillandsia Funckiana
Mainly found in Venezuela and Colombia. It is one of the unique air plants you will bring in your home. It has leaves growing like quills which are curly in shape.
It measures 2 inches wide by 8 inches tall.
5. Tillandsia Stricta
You will find this type mainly in parts of South Africa. Mostly they grow in trees and sand dunes.
It grows 3 to 4 inches in width and 5 to 6 inches in height.
6. Tillandsia Andreana
It has tiny leaves that grows from every side of the plant. It has so many little leaves. Its flowers bloom at the center of the plant.
It grows 4 inches tall and 2-3 width.
7. Tillandsia Xerographica
Grows in circular shape. If you are looking for a water plant that doesn’t really need water then you can choose this one. It has spikes that eventually produce flowers that are reddish.
8. Tillandsia ionantha
It has silvery grayish-green, curved leaves. There are different varieties of this plant, when blooms it may turn to different colors such as purple, red, white and blue.
The leaves may grow to 11/2 inches, up to 5 inches or more and about 2 inches width.
9. Bulbosa Belize
It is green in color with thin tall leaves. It does grow large compared to others air plants. You will find its arm growing upwards instead of outwardly.
It has its width measuring about 5 inches and height that can grow up to 10 inches tall.
10. Bulbosa Guatemala
Unlike Bulbosa Belize arm grows upwardly, Guatemala arms grows outwardly. It is green in color looking like a sea plant. As the plant grows, and reaches the flowering stage, its upper leaves start changing to purple and red.
Its height can grow up to 10 inches.
11. Tillandsia Chiapensis
This air plant is able to adjust to a variety climate condition. It has curved shape leaves.
Its tallness measures 5 inches and go to a width of 2.5 inches.
12. Tillandsia Funckiana
This plant does not overspread to big extends, but it’s a different kind of plant which is unique. It grows like quills towards a distinct kind of a shape. The have thin leaves, with a thin like base that absorbs water quickly. When the flower is about to bloom it turns purple.
They can grow tall to about 9 inches and width of 3 inches.
13. Tillandsia Purpurea
It is purple in color. It is well known for having bright purples flowers. The leaves grow in a spiral shape which are very long.
They measure 12 inches tall and width to about 5 inches.
14. Tillandsia Maxima
If you are looking for an air plant that looks bright and colorful then you can choose this one. Compared to other types of air plants, Maxima absorbs a lot of light. Because of this character trait it produces a lot of light whereas the flowers bloom to purple flowers.
It measures up to 6 inches while the height measures up to 4 inches.
15. Tillandsia Kolbii
It is green in color, thin towards the ends of the edges. The leaves grow from the base forming a nice base at the bottom. It grows outwardly towards as the ends grows bending down. When the flowers groom it turns purple at the middle of the leaves.
It measures 2 to 3 inches tall while the width measures about 2 inches though others may grow more than that.
16. Tillandsia Cacticola
It is one of the rare species you can find because it does not produce less offsets. It has beautiful lavender flowers that are purple in color while the stem holds the flowers. It has the cactus behavior.
It measures up to 12 inches high and 5 inches in width.
17. Tillandsia Dyeriana
This air plants can be placed in pots unlike other air plants. It requires humidity; therefore, it needs to placed in a cool environment. It has white flowers with orange leaves that are a bit broad.
It can grow to a height of 10 – 20 inches while width can grow up to 6 inches depending on the variety.
18. Tillandsia Fasciculata
It is a famous air plant that people like because it has different varieties and can be easily be found. If you got enough space at home, Fasciculata can really grow large. Well, it has different names such as wild pineapple, quill-leaf plant and cardinal air plant.
Fasciculata can get tall to about 18 inches while the width to about 4 inches also dependent with the variety you’ve decided to buy.
19. Tillandsia Gardneri
It is one of the few air plants with broad leaves. The leaves look grayish in color, unlike other plants, you would favor them if you did not place them in direct sunlight. It is also a large plant like Tillandsia Gardneri and would fit well for those people who do not like very flowery air plants.
These varieties are quite tall measuring between 8 to 13 inches, and the width measuring about 2 to 3 inches.
With the information above you are good going ahead and buying air plants to décor your family household setup. There are many types of air plants, above are just but a few. You can check with the nearest nursery seller and get to know the different types and how big they can grow.
