Propagating Air Plants: How To Accomplish It the Right Way

Propagating air plants is a very easy thing to do if you know how to do it and what to use. Air plants are very peculiar species of plants that do not require the generic conditions for growing plants and taking care of them.

This is why many people choose to grow air plants in their homes, as they require little to no care and can last long. In this article, we will take you to the best way of propagating new air plants from old plants at home.

How To Propagate Air Plants The Right Way?

To propagate air plants the right way, you should begin by investigating the mother plant, removing the healthy pups, planting the pups, and lastly, taking care of the pups for successful growth and making sure to provide them with the right needs.

1. Investigate the Mother Plant

The first step in propagating an air plant is to investigate the mother or the parent plant. A mother plant is a mature plant, and the one you will be using to have new little plants. It is a plant with well-grown branches, a steady root system, and a bunch of leaves, so it must be healthy. This mother plant is the source from where the new air plants can be propagated.

When propagating air plants from already present and mature mother plants, you need to ensure that the mother plant is in a condition where its stems can be taken and grown. This means that you will need to check the stems’ viability, which can be done by ensuring that the current mother plant is healthy, in such a detailed matter.

It should have healthy stems that have leaves on them; its roots should be visibly healthy and growing. Only the healthiest tips of the stems can be propagated again.

2. Remove the Pups

The pups on mature air mother plants are small in size and can be used for air plant propagation. These pups can be found in growing and healthy air plants, they are the little bud upon the plant.

Make sure that you use the pups only when the mother plant is mature and in good health, and this is because they can scientifically be described as new plants forming on the base of an existing plant.

So these pups contain all the necessary nutrients and genetics to form a new air plant via propagation. All you need to do is select a good and healthy pup, but be sure that you would pick the right one because there will be various ones that you have to choose. You need to carefully remove the pup with the help of your hands or a blunt tweezer that should not pierce the body of the pup.

3. Plant the Pups

The removed pup should then be planted in its new position. Technically, when an air plant is grown for the first time, it requires soil for nutrition and growth purposes. After it has matured and the pups are formed, these pups can now be propagated without soil.

The new pups can be propagated and planted in an empty pot or a log of wood. On this notion, you would also hear how different gardeners would suggest that it is better to place them in water and let them be for some time before they are propagated. In this way, they can soak up all the water they might need for some time, as the pups will start growing in their new medium.

The air plants are normally fast-paced plants and do not require much care and consideration once they have been successfully propagated. However, it is of utmost importance that they are first propagated in the best possible way and then left on their own to grow into mature air plants.

When the tips of the plants die, make sure to snip them, and this will help them continue to grow and prosper.

4. Care for the Pups

The last step for propagating the pups is to care for them, and for this, it includes taking care of various factors like sunlight, water, air, and nutrition. If these factors are kept in check, the plant will surely grow optimally and to its full potential. Even though air plants require little to no plant care, they do, yet again, they do require some attention in the start when they are just starting to grow.

So make sure to keep them in a place with some direct sunlight and remember to spray water on them occasionally. Too much water will be bad for their health, so do not go overboard, and note that the requirements are very keen, and they have to be given in a balanced way.

Remember that in the case of most plants, under-watering them is still better than overwatering them. You can come back from a dried-out plant but not from a plant whose body has become flooded and lost all its stem integrity, which will grow the pups keenly.

On the other hand, when you are growing it, note that you can make the propagation of air plants successful by snipping the dead tips of the air plants, or pruning them to open the space to increase the chances of new sprouts. This will ensure that the plant grows new tips that are alive and grow well.

How To Enable Flowering on an Air Plant?

You can enable flowering on an air plant by giving them extra optimal conditions for a good amount of time. These conditions involve the factors of sunlight, water, air, and nutrition. If these conditions are fulfilled, you should be able to flower in a few months.

Flowers on air plants are a very unique phenomenon because these plants bloom only once in their lifetime, which is why you need to enhance their livelihood. Even though they bloom only once, their blooms are one of the most colorful and vibrant colors.

These blooms only appear when the conditions are optimal for the plant and last for some days to a few weeks. This bloom cycle is different for different species of Tillandsias and can be judged on the basis of the given conditions.

For some species, the pups can also be considered as appearing in the bloom cycle. The bloom cycle may take some time to show if the conditions are met only partially. Also, the air plant may not bloom at all.

– Place in Direct Sunlight

The optimum conditions for a new and growing air plant include maximum sunlight, a periodic spray of water, and a good source of air. Air plants are known for being carefree, but this is true only when you need them for display and do not want to bring any bloom cycle.

In case you want them to bloom and flower, you will need to take care of them and provide them with the best. This is a plant that doesn’t get its requirements from the soil, which is why you need to adjust the right needs, especially the sunlight that comes to it, so that it would thrive and bloom little buds.

Another place where you need to give them care, and optimal conditions when they are newly propagated, which is why they require a thriving amount of sunlight for several hours a day. After propagation, the new plants need some time to adjust to the new non-soil environment, which is why they need to be looked after, but once they get the amount and adjust to their new environment, they can be left on their own.

– Fertilize the Plants

The second step in enabling the flowering cycle of the air plants is to give them fertilizer. Fertilizers are outside sources of nutrition given to plants to enhance their growth, and they require this to grow in a healthier way.

They are packed with the best nutrients that are of utmost importance for the growth of the plant. Plants normally have the innate mechanisms to produce such nutrients, but in the case of air plants where there is no soil, fertilizers can work wonders.

The next question arises if there is no soil, where will the fertilizer be added, and how will the plant take it up? For this, the best way is to dissolve a small amount of the fertilizer in water and either spray the water on the plant or submerge the roots of the plant in that water.

This will help the nutrition from the fertilizer to go up the plant through the roots and consequently will help in bringing forward the blooming cycle in the plants.

– Provide the Right Weather

The most optimum weather for propagating air plants is humidity and a temperature of 77 degrees Fahrenheit. These conditions ensure that the air plants are grown to their most optimal potential to be stronger when it is growing. In general, the weather conditions should be maintained for some time to ensure successful propagation.

The weather conditions matter a lot when it comes to taking care of the plants or propagating them from all plants. The reason behind them is that the plants are accustomed to growing in certain conditions and cannot grow in any other conditions.

Nowadays, scientists are tinkering with the innate growing conditions of plants, so they can be grown without the restriction of any weather. So it is only a matter of time before the air plants can be grown in cold or icy weather rather than just humid weather.

– Move the Position of the Plant

The last step in the process of enabling the air plants to reach the flowering cycle is to move the position of the plant. Now we know that sunlight is very important for the air plants for their bloom cycle. However, if there is no positive sign of a bloom cycle after every optimal condition is fulfilled, and the nutritional value is met, try to move your plant to a new location.

This can also mean that the plant’s container must be changed, making it easier for you to place it in the right location. Most times, the air plant is kept in a wood log where sometimes, when excessive water is trapped, algae and fungus make it their home. This is why it is advised that the position of the plant should be changed after some time, and so should the container.

Now, this is a very significant point when you are trying for your air plant to grow flowers, but in any case, that is not the problem here. Note that you can leave your air plant, and it will survive through thick and thin on its own.

After propagating them into their new pots, keep an eye on them for some days so that if anything goes wrong, you can spot the damage before it’s too late. As a result of the latter, you can also make sure that the air plants are positioned in the best way possible to ensure successful propagation. You will know that the propagation is successful when the plant starts to grow new branches.

FAQ

– How Long Do Air Plants Take To Propagate From Pups?

It may take up to some months for a pup of an air plant to propagate into a mature plant. This time also depends upon the specie of the plant, its propagation technique, its conditions, and the general quality of the mother plant.

Conclusion

In this article, we talked about how you can propagate air plants from mother plants and also how you can enable the air plants to grow flowers, but in case anything was missed, here is a short conclusion on the matter:

• You can enable the propagation of new air plants at home by investigating the mother plant, removing the healthy pups, planting the pups, and lastly taking care of the pups for successful growth.
• Pups are the new plants that grow on the base of a mature plant and can be used for propagation purposes.
• When an air plant is grown for the first time from seeds, it requires soil for nutrition and growth purposes but later for propagation, an air plant can be grown without soil.
• The bloom cycle of an air plant can last for some days to a few weeks depending upon the species and the conditions given to the flowering air plant.
• Overwatering the air plants can cause algae and fungi to grow in the container of the plants.

Here we come to the end of the article about propagating the air plants from little pups from the mature mother plant. We hope this article was informative for you and that now you can positively grow your own air plants.