Hi Debbie, I have seen those glass globes often. The globes can still work, but you will really have to remove those tilly's and dunk them in water for about an hour during winter and allow to dry for the next couple of weeks, tip it over and then repeat, and maybe overnight dunking come the hotter summer days. I would caution though that the heat in that glass will be really hot if it gets direct sun, so make sure it is just in a bright light area and not in direct sun. It is good it has ventilation holes. These plants really enjoy all over good air circulation.

The other tilly you have, in a glass container with lid, looks like a tillandsia bulbosa, make sure you remove that lid. It needs very good air circulation. It is an epiphyte and not a terrestrial succulent. But for aesthetics, you can still keep that set-up I guess..but remove the plant and spray and mist outside or dunk it for an hour, again let it dry, tip it over so no water stays in the crown, and put it back in your nice set-up.

Hi Tarev,
Thanks so much for the info. Okay, I will follow your advice and keep dunking the little guys rather than trying to spritz them like it indicated on the label, lol. Perhaps they have needed better light than I have provided them as well, so I have moved them to a better lit spot but I will make sure they are not in the direct sunlight.
I have been dunking the other one and actually, there is no lid so it does have pretty good circulation with the wide mouth jar.

Just watch your ambient temps there Debbie, okay? As long as your indoor temps are warm, like in 70F (21C), it should be warm enough to dunk your plant. I have lost some of my tilly's before and I surmised, it is my prevailing temps..wrong timing when I watered!

Interesting though, I have been observing my tilly's outdoors, they can take the cold as long as dry, they are sheltered in my growcamp which is unheated. Our cold temps here is at times at 35 to 40F overnight very mild, thankfully no low 20's and they get some nice filtered sun during the day, so it survives well. I guess it is able to grab needed moisture at night when it is cooler.

Oh good to to know the other one has no lid! Good luck on your tilly's!

Nice mounting!

Here are my airplants. You can see I dropped one that was placed in a sea urchin shell, I put a piece of paper there, I thought it might get sunburn if it was suddenly exposed to light. The curly one in the black hanging pot was an impulse purchase, $12, at my local Nursery, I have since seen them elsewhere for twice that. I think the pot is absolutely perfect.

Here are some more. About a year ago I put them in this Wardian Case, with the pinecones I had bought for Christmas decorations, and the enamel bird (new cats were "hunting" it and caused damage so he is in there for his own protection!). It was just a spur of the moment thing, but they have been there a year and are doing fine.
I had the little curly one about 2 years before this-it was in a well lit but no sun spot, I watered it about twice a week by putting it under the faucet. It lived but barely grew.
Now I take all my airplants, Soak them 30-60 minutes in a bowl of water. Starting in the fall, I have been putting 1/4 tsp per gallon of Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 complete fertilizer, in the water. I usually do this only once a week, might or might not mist plants one other time. They really like the fertilizer, and are growing, now I see some flower stalks! I read that most do like a bit of sun, so all are now in east windows.

Cuties!

I just bought a t.cyanea recently! A very interesting Looking plant! I love the foliage on this type! I have a flaming sword bromeliad too, its got 3 pups growing atm so hopefully they make it! I like the flaming sword but the pink quill wins hands down.
I don't know much about these or where they do best but I stuck mine below a stool in front of a frosted glass window. Its opened a few more blooms since this pic, ill have to get an uptdated pic!

That is very pretty sy! Enjoy the bloom show! After the bloom show, mommy plant will gradually die, but it will make new pups, so plant life continues

Yeah tarev I only recently found out about them making pups before they die!

This was one of my tilly's blooming show last May 2014, will really make you want to take lots and lots of photos



Then watching the new pups emerging Nov 2014:
Takes a long time for that bloom stalk to fade away:

The new pups emerging. Love the tilly's doing it, like a protective mom cradling its babies:

Nice tarev! Does the flower stalk on that type stay green? or do they develope colour after! I have never seen what the flower stalk looks like before its developed Thanks for the pics! I was expecting it to be a little more difficult finding the pups on a tillandsia compared to the vriesea brom but your pics really help.

I had to search my photos, with that one, it started to show bloomstalk reddish then green upper part, and the nearest leaves to the bloomstalk also exhibiting reddish tinge:
Taken 01 March 2014, initially seeing the bloomstalk forming:


Then more yellowish green upper part grows up and lower part turns so red, reminds me of a flame actually:
12Mar 2014


It is a fun plant, varying ways it makes its bloomstalk.

My tillies in a cage:



I am seeing fresh root growth, just letting it be, as it enjoys our cool humidity this Fall:


Initially I do not know where to really put them, so I temporarily had them in this little decors, but I figured, better to lay them on the side so no water stays too long in the crown, but it was cute for awhile


Brought indoors these two tillies yesterday:



That one in the white cage, Tillandsia bulbosa has been generous making pups, but it has not bloomed yet.

That's very informative tarev.. thankyou.
Great photos! I like the hanging up in cages Mine is in soil in a pot! I think i read somewhere only some can be grown in pots? I guess its ok for now cause It hasn't got many blooms left, ill just wait for the pups to grow then try the air growing

The green flower stalk almost looks like the flaming sword. This is a pic of mine last year! You know.. after I heard about them being monocarpic I lost interest and I think this was the only picture I took of it.

Sy- Very nice. Wish I had a T. cyanea.
Tarev- Thanks for the photo essay about the life cycle.
Mine are still hanging out, none blooming right now.

Sy, tilly's do not need soil to grow, that is the fun part with them. I used to live in Torrance in Los Angeles county and there is this tillandsia nursery called Rainforest. I immensely enjoyed visiting there often.

Here is their website, quite informative about tilly's. Try to see the video section they have, lots of good samples and explanations.
http://www.rainforestflora.com...

Looking at the photo you have, that is one really pretty bromeliad! But I don't think it is a tillandsia.

I will check it out tarev thanks! No its not a tillandsia, its vriesea splendens I think!

I once bought a Guzmania bromeliad..so pretty! But I was such a newbie, I did not know the proper way to water it, then I had to go away for about a couple of months, and just cannot make my hubby understand what the plant needs, so plant went kaput..too bad, it was making pups, lost the plant..oh well...learned my lesson there. I still have not found the guts to buy another similar one..so I am sticking to tillandsias for now, they are much easier for me to manage.

Just a nice memory now..but it sure was so pretty!