Here are some additional tips for watering your air plants: Use quality water like filtered, spring, or clean well water. Aquarium or pond water works well too as the plants will like the added nutrients. Avoid artificially softened water or tap water that is high in chlorine/chloramine.
Water When watering your air plants never use soft or distilled water. Tepid tap water will work, but rain water or pond water is ideal. I'm pretty fortunate in this regard, in exchange for a couple of tic-tac candies my son happily fills a bucket of water from the creek behind our house to water our air plants.
Most Tillandsia enthusiasts will agree, soaking your indoor plants once every week is your best bet when watering your air plants. As mentioned above, in unusually high humid environments or with some Xeric type plants just misting may be sufficient. But with most, a good water bath is ideal.
Yes, in some cases, tap water can potentially poison plants. Tap water may contain various chemicals, such as chlorine and fluoride, which can harm certain plant species, especially if used in large quantities or consistently over time.
The general rule of thumb is to water air plants about once per week on average -- sometimes more, sometimes less. If the air in your home is warm and dry, water the air plant at least weekly. During excessive heat and dry periods (or in very arid locations), watering twice per week may be necessary.
As a general rule of thumb, the higher the humidity in your space, the more light is tolerated by the air plant. This means that if you're putting your air plant where it will receive loads of light, you should plan to mist it more often - twice a week or even daily.
In their native habitats across the Southern U.S., Mexico, and Central and South America, air plants get what they need from high humidity and plentiful rainfall. In your home, you need to water your air plants about once a week. Some varieties can go two weeks without being watered.
Run your sink into a watering can, cup, or bucket, and let it sit for a good 24 hours. This will allow chemicals like chlorine and fluoride the time to evaporate from the water. We like to have a full watering can ready to go with still water so that if our soil seems dry, we can water our plant without waiting a day.
Most plants are fine with tap water, but some are more sensitive than others. These include cordylines, dracaenas, spider plants and marantas.
While both water sources should allow the plants to grow, the findings should be that the bottled water will provide more nutrients to the plants than the tap water.
Identifying Overwatered Air Plants
The most obvious signs to look out for are soft, mushy leaves and discoloration. If your air plant's leaves feel more like wilted lettuce than the stiff, healthy texture they're supposed to have, you could be dealing with overwatering.
For starters, air plants do not need soil. So, given the proper conditions for growth, some species of air plant can live anywhere from several months to a few years.
Roots: Air plants anchor themselves to objects by their roots and need to be attached to something in order to grow.
Normally, small amounts of fluoride won't hurt plants, but tap water has added fluoride that builds up in plants over time, inhibiting the photosynthesis process and causing damage to plant tissue.
Bottled water and spring water are also ok to use, but never use distilled or artificially softened water! Remember that each plant variety is different, and will require different watering schedules than others. Never put your air plants in soil, it will harm them!
Ordinary tap water, well water, rain water, and snow melt are all okay to use if warmed to room temperature. Chlorine added to drinking water does not harm most plants but some may develop brown leaf tips over an extended period of use.
Even surgically sterile water typically contains some trace minerals, including salt. Distilled water has none. As a result, people who drink it frequently say it has a different texture or even taste than they expect. Filtered water does not produce that same level of purity, but it gets very close.
While it might not come as a surprise that there's no water plants love better than rainwater, do you know the four (4) reasons why? Read on to learn about the water quality benefits of rainwater for garden. Listen to our podcast feature expanding on this topic and more!
Boiling water for 15 minutes removes chlorine and certain contaminants from tap water. Let stand to room temperature before watering your plants. Hot water under 120°F is generally safe for most plants. Above 120°F, water can burn a plant's cell walls, causing them to wilt and then die.
Best Water for Indoor Plants
Most tap water should be fine for houseplants unless it's softened. Softened water contains salts that can build up in the soil over time and cause problems. Chlorinated water is also safe for most houseplants, but, if possible, water from a filtration system is much better for your plants.
Tip: Tillandsia don't love to be handled. Besides our clumsy hands snapping the occasional leaf, the oils in our fingers actually clog the air plant's sensitive leaves. All Airplantman designs keep this in mind so that it is easy to give your Tillandsia the water it needs without touching it directly!
However, the best way to determine the health of your plant is by gently tugging or wiggling the center leaves from the top. In a healthy air plant, the leaves will remain firmly attached. If the plant is indeed rotting, the center leaves will come off easily, and the plant may even fall apart.