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Gardening Newbie posted: I received a plant as a gift but I don't know what it is. Can someone help me identify it please? NOID front view NOID side view

Carol of Flower Hill Farm posted: That is a Tillandsia filifolia. Tillandsias are air plants. They don't grow on soil. They are a part of the Bromeliad family. You can think of it as a garden thread.  Filifolia is from the Latin filum meaning "thread".  Folia means "leaves".  Thread-like leaves in your garden.  In fact, its common name is "threadleaf air plant".

Carol of May Dreams Gardens posted: Welcome to this forum Gardening Newbie!  That's a nice plant.   I've never taken care of Tillandsias though.  If no one else replies to you on this thread, maybe you can write a letter to Hortense Hoelove instead?  She gives good gardening advice.  :-D Also, if caring for this plant becomes too stressful, I can refer you to Dr. V.Q. Hortfreud, my garden therapist.

~fer of my little garden in japan posted: Hello gardening newbie!  I know that plant well.  It is native to my home country Mexico.  It is also native to Guatemala and Costa Rica and is usually found at elevations of 100 - 1300 meters.

Andrea of Andrea in this Lifetime posted: I once had a flowering Tillandsia in the office.  I cared for it for a year but I went on a trip and the janitor killed it.  I suppose she forgot to water for a long time then watered it immediately after exposure to the hot sun so it rotted. Both underwatering and overwatering will cause problems.  If you live in a dry climate, water your plant frequently.  If you live in a humid climate, you don't have to water that often.

Bom of Plant Chaser posted: Tillandsia filifolia is not a xeric species.  So it is best to place it in a sheltered location.  It cannot tolerate full sun. Here is a close-up of a Tillandsia that I own.  Notice the silvery hairs at the back of the leaves.  These are trichomes which absorb moisture from the air.

Stephanie of Steph's Green Space posted: I also have a Tillandsia in my bromeliad collection. It makes my exotic plant list more interesting. @Gardening newbie:  It looks full in the back of your plant.  Do you have pups growing at the back?  Maybe you should separate it from its mount to check.  Happy growing exotic plants.  :-D

Gardening Newbie posted: I separated the plant from the mount. The back of the plant looks like this.  Are these the pups you mention?  What should I do next?  Do I just leave them this way?

Bom of Plant Chaser posted: Yes, those are the pups.  I can also see some pups behind the dead leaves.  You should try to remove the the dead leaves gently to allow the pups sufficient space to grow.

Gardening Newbie posted: HELP!!!  I did what Bom said and I saw a clump of pups. I took out the dead leaves but this pup came out as well.  What do I do now?  It this pup going to die?  Did I kill it?  :(

Bom of Plant Chaser posted: Yikes!  Normally you wait until the pup is at least a third of the size of the parent before you separate it.  They say that pups are more viable at this size.  You can try to take care of that pup and hope and pray that it survives.

Gardening Newbie posted: I will do that.  Thank you to everyone for all the information and advice.  I guess this threadleaf airplant is really special and deserves its own thread in this garden forum.

***Special thank-yous to Carol (MDG) and Carol (FHF), ~Fer, Andrea and Stephanie who so bravely and generously granted me permission to include them in this post. A special thank you to my wife who provided me with the post's HTML.

Comments

[Stephanie]

Bom, nope I am not brave. But from following your blog, I kind of know you wouldn't do anything silly ;-) This is such an fun idea for a post. I am amazed by your creativity. Now I know you not only grow interesting plants but have great ideas! I hope many will grow tillies... Tillandsia is such an exceptional group of plants :-D Cheers, Stephanie

[The Plant Chaser]

Thanks Stephanie! I am with you in hoping more people like Tillandsias. They are definitely unique and relatively easy to care for given the right climate and conditions. Have you figured out yet the ID of you "multiflora"?

[marina]

This is a very interesting post.
what a great blog you have here!!!

[evelyn]

What a nice gift.

[The Plant Chaser]

Thanks Marina and Evelyn.

[dona]

Hi Bom, what a nice idea! An original post, and very informative as well.

[The Plant Chaser]

Thanks Dona. I'm glad you liked the idea.

[Andrea]

Bom, i've read your PM to me just now. Is this the result of what you've told us few days ago? It is a very good thing to do, so the blog comments for the same idea "thread" get together and become more informative. It seems like you made a good 'term paper'. This will be helpful for many. In my case, i haven't given particular attention to that type of Tillandsia before, but i do now. Good job Bom, excited what you have next.

[debsgarden]

Hi, Born, that is an interesting plant! I have never seen or heard of it before. It reminds me of a little hairy monster. Good luck with it!

[Elephant's Eye]

OK ... cleared my cache thanks to your clear instructions ... took ages ... and now ...

[Elephant's Eye]

YES I see my comment

[Elephant's Eye]

Do put up a techie how to blog post one day please???

[Rosie leavesnbloom]

Looks like you've been given great advice already. I mist ours here and sometimes if they get a bit too dry I plunge it in lukewarm water and then give it a good shake. I never put it outside as it would hate our conditions here. Hopefully you'll get some nice blue coloured flowers from it.

[The Plant Chaser]

@Andrea: Yes, this is the "project" I emailed you about. "Term paper"? Next time it will be a pseudo "meta-analysis". Hehe.

@Deb: Thank you for commenting and thank you for the comment. Strange I know but you understand what I mean. :-) I think www.plantchaser.com/main/2010/8/7/chasing-plants.html looks more like a monster than this one.

@Diana: Yay! We didded it. We didded it. Thank you for hanging in there with me. I really appreciate the effort. I'm afraid all techie credit goes to my wife so I will be a fraud if I even attempt to post a techie how-to.

[Andrea]

Congratulations Bom, this is my 2nd comment here, lol. I am tempted now to ask you (and wife) lots of questions about blogging, instructions, etc, etc. I always encounter problems esp poor connections, very slow too, and lots more which affects my blogging frequency. I have been asking Autumn Belle and One for related problems before, but it seems i am now at the dead end. Pero of course nahihiya man ako sayo! LOL. Come, post at once your next of this style.

[Lisa's Chaos]

I love airplants! Very cool!

[lifeshighway]

Very interesting thread and post. I had never heard of that air plant. The only air plant that I am aware of in this area is the Spanish Moss and I am not even sure that qualifies. Better put me in the newbie category.

[The Plant Chaser]

@Andrea: Ask away. My wife will be the one answering though because I'm no techie.

@Lisa: That makes at least two of us then. :-D

@Cheri: Spanish Moss or Esther's Hair. I have that. Was hoping to turn it into a wig but that would mean much added expense on conditioner. ;-P

[Stephanie]

Nope I haven't found the ID. Will try to search for the ID again when the plant flowers. Or ask you ;-)

[The Plant Chaser]

I hope I'll be able to help. You can also try the Bromeliad section of the Garden Web forum. Gonzer is the person to look for when you need to ID tillandsias.