Can be grown as an air plant or in orchid mix!

Native to southern Mexico (Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas) and Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua). It grows epiphytic at altitudes approaching 1500 meters above sea level.

Light:

Tillandsia flabellata requires a medium brightness. Like all species with little scales, it can not stand the direct sun in summer. Place the plant very close to a window inside. If you decide to grow it outdoors (not recommended), do it in the shade.

Temperature:

The required temperature ranging from 10 to 32°C. Get it early enough in the fall if you grow it outside, so that it does not face night temperatures below 8 ° C, especially if it is wet. The plants can faced temperatures close to 0 ° C (sheltered and dry) for a few hours without damage.

Humidity:

This air plant need the preferably high level of humidity. Good aeration is required, the plant must dry quickly (in less than an hour).

Substrate, growing media and repotting:

Tillandsia flabellata can be grow in pot or be mounted on a solid substrate that does not retain water. It is often sold in pots but it is possible to deposit it to cultivate epiphyte on a piece of wood for example. You can glue the plant directly to the surface with a strong adhesive, or you can wire the plant to the base. Don't cover the base of the plant with moss or it may rot. It can be grown on almost any imaginable decorative mount, including shells, rocks, slate, driftwood, etc.

Watering:

If the plant is grow as epiphyte, water them every day, summer like winter. The arrangement of the leaves in a tight rosette indicates that it must be watered in the heart, even if it is grown in a pot (do not let water stagnate in the heart at the beginning of flowering, so as not to drown the inflorescence when it does not emerge from the rosette yet). Change the water of the heart once every 2 or 3 days. Although epiphyte, this species is often sold in pot. It is not useless in this case to slightly wet the root ball but do not do it every day, you could rot the base of the plant (just hold the clod slightly wet).

Fertilizer:

This air plant can be fertilized with the moderate doses. 1 to 2 times a month in the summer and 1 time a month in the winter.