coolrobby2003

I tried too use the search button on this site-but it says there is no subject matter for air ferns! So here we go again-is a air-fern just what it says lives just off air? Also how big and how many varieties are there and where is there native country?
Once again
Thanks (Tog)-lol
Robby

Tog Tan

Robby, what you are referring to is the Air Plants or Tillandsias from the Bromeliaceae family. They are found in your home land thru Central and South America. There are heck lots of species and you can check out tillandsiainternational.com for the stuff available for sale.

It does not just live off air! You should water them and foliar feed them. They are real cool to keep. You can just tie them to about almost anything and after a while, they will flower and pup. Where Lorax comes from, there are tons of them.

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

lorax

Goodness yes! There are so many that they interrupt telephone service by growing over the wires!

Tog Tan

Yep, I have seen pix of them on the phone wires, all we get on the wires here are the bloody crows!

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

lorax

I'd give good money for it to be crows on the tel lines - as it is, even calling a city two hours' journey distant is hit and miss for line quality. They have crews to clean the lines, but they don't even begin to keep up with the growth rate. Besides which, crows here are blue and green - they're pretty birds!

And don't get me started on T. usneoides!

Tog Tan

Why don't you take advantage of the situation and export the stuff? They are not commonly available here. Serious. I have to get them from Bkk especially the nice stuff. A normal T juncea cost like $6 here if available. Kinda stupid, rite?
Btw we only get the blackie black crows here and they are bloody noisy.

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

saltydad

Great place for tillandsia, and if you're in southern California be sure to visit. Well worth it!
Rainforest Flora, Inc., Tillandsia Air Plant and Bromeliad Grower

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saltydad

Caring for your Tillandsia

Watering Tillandsias Outdoors is easy. A basic rule of thumb is to water them every time you water your other plants. In any area where the humidity is 50% or less it is difficult to overwater the plants unless it is very cold. Generally, the warmer and/or drier the air, the more frequently you will water. However, once Tillandsia leaves are wet, more water doesn't do a thing for them. Wet them and leave them. This makes watering quick and efficient.
Watering Tillandsias Indoors is a little more critical than outdoors because one generally cannot use a hose so the watering has to be more precise. The most common mistreatment of tillys indoors, unintentional though it may be, is to under water them. Misting the plants CAN be sufficient but it can also be OVER-sufficient or UNDER sufficient. The plants can look dry but actually remain moist in the crucial center area, in the meristematic tissue where new cells are produced. If this area remains too moist for too long the plant may rot. Likewise, one can mist the plants regularly but, in the end, it isn't enough to prevent a gradual dehydration that normally manifests itself with the edges of the leaves curling up and "pinching."
The most secure way to water the plants indoors is to submerge them for a twelve hour period in "good" water, that is, water that is low in dissolved solids and salts. Rain water and bottled drinking water are the best. When the plants are under water for this length of time they have enough water availability for a long enough period of time to completely rehydrate. A soaking in this manner should suffice for ten days to two weeks in average conditions. If a mounting item is too big to submerge, attaching a velcro dot to the plant and the mounting item allows the plant to be easily removed so that it can be rehydrated. Finally, if this just isn't practical or possible, mist the plants with "good" water and try to monitor the state of hydration as best you can. Once you have the right system down that works in your given situation, watering is a breeze.
One last note. If the plants are soaked, you can put water in a container that has a lid to prevent evaporation. This water can then be used over and over for your soakings. A small pinch of Epiphyte's Delight fertilizer in the water helps as well and it lasts indefinitely. Shake or jostle the container prior to putting the plants in, in order to remix the fertilizer evenly throughout the water. Also, as the water gets used, more can be added to keep the container full enough to submerge the plants completely.

__________________
Men In Nursing- "A Few Good Men"

"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures." - Francis Bacon





"If by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties; someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us; that is what they meant by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal."
John F. Kennedy, September, 1960


http://flickr.com/photos/saltydad/ and
http://community.webshots.com/user/saltydad
http://s751.photobucket.com/albums/xx151/saltydad/

lorax

Great gods, $6 for a T. juncea? That's retarded. I will have to get into the export business! The country will pay me to take them off the phone lines - they're the worst offenders in the jungle corridors!

Between those, the dwarf plantains, capulin, and the birdsnest philos, it should be golden.

adrift

Here in central FL, they are very common. Boring ones are in most big trees. Colorful ones tend to get taken home.

On the west coast of central FL there is a place right on the border between Sarasota and Bradenton, and darn if I don't forget the name, but they have lots of them. Or used to. Been ~4 years since I was there.

Wait, Tropiflora, that's the name.

Tropiflora Main Page

Oooh. Tillandsia aeranthos 2 for 1.

Sorry, got carried away. Check out the cargo report.

KJ

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island cassie

Yep - we have them here too - all over the phone lines, trees etc. But pretty!

ClevelandCATHY

There are even cold hardy types. I have some growing on an oak tree in my backyard. It looks like little ferns growing up the tree. When it gets dry, they turn brown and look like they're dead. A day or so after a rain, it's green again. Sometimes, the one i have is called a resurrection fern.

Tog Tan

Cathy, the one you are referring to is a Selaginella lepidophylla. It's a kind of fern. I had them before and they are real cool when they come alive within 24 hrs of being watered. Quite a sight!

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

LilRaverBoi

I'm kinda confused. I did some research on air ferns a while back and everything I found said they weren't really alive. It said they were a type of moss that just stays green when dead....therefore not needing water. And therefore, they do not grow. Maybe people know something my research didn't reflect.

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RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

lorax

Erronious! I'll tell you right now, the little Tillies that live on the lamppost outside my window are very much alive - if they were dead, how would they be blooming? It's equally wrong to call them either "ferns" or "moss" because they are neither - bromeliads, represent!

The problem comes in that "spanish moss", T. usneoides, is commonly used in the florist and craft trade. At that stage, yes, it's dead, although it does stay green. Let me tell, you, however, when it's alive it most definitely grows, and very rapidly - for you, the quickest way to confirm that would be to travel to New Orleans or further down the bayou, and have a look at their trees - spanish moss is a pest species there.

Try researching "Tillandsia" to get an accurate picture of the genus and its members. In particular, T. juncea and T. usneoides carry the specific epithet "air fern" although there are a number of others, most of which are weed species in Ecuador.

I joke with Tog about getting paid to remove T. juncea from the phone lines here, and selling it in Malaysia - this is the magnitude of my country's problem with the bromeliad, and the scarcity of it overseas.

Certainly, you can keep Tillies and not water them, without any outward change in appearance. However, they will die, just like any other plant that you don't water. A misting a day, however, will stimulate a live specimen to bloom, which is colourful and exciting.

LilRaverBoi

No, the pictures of the plants linked above are definitely NOT what people refer to as 'air ferns' here. They sell things in stores called 'air ferns' that are green bushy plants. Here's a Wikipedia link so you know what I'm talking about. I've never seen/heard of the other ones. I know what spanish moss is, and yeah, the stuff they use in flower arrangements and home decor stuff is definitely not alive. And similarly, the air ferns that are sold around here are not alive.....more of an ornamental thing....something which was once alive (although apparently not actually a plant at all), but serves basically as a fake plant.

Interesting to hear about the other ones, though! Those are MUCH cooler! I was super disappointed to find out the 'air ferns' sold in my area weren't real at all.

__________________
BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

lorax

And there's the problem with common names! The "air ferns" in your link are actually animal exoskeletons - not plants at all. Of course, as they're sea creatures to begin with, they're definitely dead when you buy them in pots out here in the air.

Very strange! This is the first time I've ever heard of a dead, dried animal colony referred to as an "air fern."

Tog Tan

Bang on! That's the reason why I refer to all plants and whatsoever in all my postings with the Latin name so there's no confusion. Not that I am trying to be a know all mr arrogant.

Common names are the most confusing things in the world. It's the stuff which makes the world goes round and round!

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

LilRaverBoi

Yeah, I agree....common names can lead to massive confusion! Sadly, if you ask anyone around here what an 'air fern' is, they will direct you to the crappy not-alive type...well, if they know what it is at all, that is. LOL.

__________________
BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!