When my son first moved to this area a number of years ago and we vidited I was blown away by the Ace hardware stores, there are at least two around here with enormous nurseries and another half dozen with smaller but really nice garden sections. I love that they have a good selection of organic products and plants like bromeliads and other tropicals.

Nice find Alice! I wish my Ace carried Tillandsias. I agree that It looks like a lorentziana.

I would like to feed my little utriculata seedlings. I have read that Tillandsia respond well to a feeding monthly of a liquid non urea nitrogen fertilizer diluted to 1/4 strength. Anyone here feed their Tillandsia?
The utriculata at 12 months with a penny for size reference.

I soak my tillandsias every week for at least 30 minutes. Every now and then I add a teaspoon or two of Dynagro fertilizer to the water. No rhyme or reason in the dilution factor or the choice of fertilizer. It was just closest to my sink. Hasn't killed them yet and quite a few have bloomed.

I wish I could grow these but somehow I always manage to kill them

with Michael. Until I had mounted my Til's outside on trees, I used the soak each week method and they did well. This house I am in is kind of dry and the N/S exposure is terrible. Too dark on one side and too bright on the other. We'll see if I can keep the Lorentziana alive until consistantly warm weather.

I don't feed any of my Tillandsias. So many leaves fall into them I figure they get nutrients from those. I think Elaine does, maybe she'll pop in.
I don't soak them either since they are all outdoors and get lots of rain. I pour rain barrel water over them if it's been awhile since any rain and they seem dry, but most of mine are native.

We have been getting really cold here, I had to bring my hybrid tillies in the FL room, was 38F here this morn. This weekend they say more upper 30's, hope this is the last of it, at least not in the upper 20's like last year.

This is one I purchased from E. Beach at Meade gardens fall plant sale in 2017. I've seen some greenhouse specimens that are huge and spectacular when blooming. Go to Pinterest to see some and a lot more great photos here on Garden.Org.

Tillandsia funckiana

Picture of it now in a bamboo shoot.


This is the blooms back in June of 2018

When we purchased our house here in Sebastian, Fla. in 2015, we knew that the pool screen was going to need replacing and this will be the year it finally gets done. My husband will tackle installing all of the side panels but due to the height, we'll hire someone to rescreen the top. Anyway, today I was working in the backyard which slopes down to a wooded area of our property; when I was walking back up the slope I noticed Lichens and a couple of small Tillandsia recurvata (Ball Moss), growing on the screen roof of the pool enclosure.

Nice photos Lin!
I think most of us here in FL take T. recurvata for granted like we do T. usneoides. (Spanish Moss) as both are everywhere. I had lived here 20 years before I gave it any thought. After becoming interested in the plant I set out to see it flower. Seeing the actual flower took some time and close inspections, but I did achieve that goal.
Another interesting note on the recurvata is that medicinally a extract from the plant has shown the ability to cause death of tumor cells.

Great photos Lin.

T. recurvata is indeed everywhere.
I may try some of the more inexpensive ones again. I tried keeping them bare root in wood slat baskets before(I still have some like that which I just threw into a basket with a Vanda orchid. But maybe I watered them TOO often, certainly I watered a lot more than once a week. I have stuff to mount on again, it could be fun to try again!

X-mas gift -

J, what a nice Christmas gift!

I am going to take photos of mine tomorrow and see if you guys can tell me what they may be named.

You know who else has Tillandsias is Andy's Orchids in CA

The ones I have in the greenhouse get watered almost every day in the warmer months. This winter maybe only once a week. I have read they are susceptible to crown rot if they don't dry out between waterings. I have also read to try and keep them slanted so water does not collect in the crown.
Some of the ones I have came from a Florida dealer. The majority came from Davis Farms in California who is a wholesaler and requires a $100 minimum. It doesn't take much to get to that point. Both have had good looking plants but I prefer the Davis plants and supplies.

These are my only Tillandsias. (that I did not kill) I am certain they are very common. They grow in the same basket as a very large Vanda orchid. So they get watered often....everyday in summer, maybe every other day now in winter. I have never seen blooms. And ideas on as ID?

Gina, I'm no help in ID-ing Tillies, Have they ever flowered?

I was in Lowe's yesterday picking up some paint and took a stroll through the garden center...found this Tillandsia in a little hanging coco shell. I'm pretty sure it is Tillandsia bulbosa. I took it out and placed in my hand so you can see the size, the other photos are the cute little coco basket it came in, you can see it already has a pup and about to bloom. They had other kinds of Tillandsias in these baskets, so go check out your Lowe's.

I have grown that one before. In fact it did fairly well for me for a number of years, sitting in a bare slat basket without moss or substrate. They flowered too. Then inexplicably died. My other ones I still have, if they have flowered, it was behind my back