Palm Tree

Going on Vacation? How to Make Sure Your Air Plants Stay Happy

by Jamie Beck

Is it just us or is the summer truly flying by this year? With August just a couple days away, and kids going back to school soon, many families are trying to eek out one last vacation before the fall craziness hits. If you’re one of those people, you might find yourself wondering how best to prep and care for your house plants when you’re gone.

Palm Tree

The good news for tillandsia lovers is that air plants are the perfect “vacation plant.” Because they require minimal and infrequent care, and can most often “bounce back” from under-watering, you won’t need to add your air plants to the list of things to worry about while you’re away.  Less worry = more ability to actually enjoy that vacation! Nice, right?

With some simple prep and some TLC upon your return, your tillandsia collection should be just fine for a week or two while you are gone. But because they aren’t totally maintenance-free, here are some tips to keep them happy and healthy.

1. Give your air plants a good soak one day before you leave to properly hydrate them. It is best to water tillandsia in the morning as this works with their natural process of taking in carbon dioxide from the air in the evenings. This will also give them a chance to properly dry before you leave the next day. Make sure that you dry air plants with leaves facing down so water doesn’t collect in the leaves, which could lead to rot. 

Tillandsia Air Plants next to a Bowl of Water

2. Put your tillandsia in a place where it can get some indirect natural light, but a bit further away from the light source than you’d normally place them. As always, we don’t recommend direct sunlight for most varities of tillandsia, but this is especially important if you wont be there to give them their regular weekly soak, since light can dry them out even further.

3. Avoid putting your air plants too near an air vent. Air conditioning and heat can both dry out your tillandsia, and you’ll want to pay particular attention to this if you’re going away for some time.

4. Upon returning home from you vacation, make sure you give your air plants a good soak. Again, morning is best to do this, so if you don’t get home until the evening, you can mist them if they look particularly dry, and then soak them the next day. If they still look dry two days after the initial soak, you can give them another bath – just make sure they fully dry out between soakings.

 

Balcony view of the Ocean

From our honeymoon. Take me back to this place please.


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