How to Grow Air Plants and an Introduction to Their Market Prices
What on earth is an air plant, and does it look a lot like a pineapple? It really is different from a pineapple. This air plant is ornamental and does not produce fruit. Air plants are very easy to grow, but there are still some little tricks during the growing process. How much do air plants cost?
What on earth is an air plant, and does it look a lot like a pineapple? It really is different from a pineapple. This air plant is ornamental and does not produce fruit. Air plants are very easy to grow, but there are still some little tricks during the growing process. How much do air plants cost?
Introduction to air plants:
The air plant (English name: Air plant) is a rising star that has become popular in recent years. It is the only plant on Earth that grows entirely in the air, is easy to care for, and can produce bright flowers. It has won the hearts of a large number of plant lovers and landscaping experts. However, many flower lovers think that air plants can survive without any care, so after taking them home they pay them no attention at all, causing them to wilt or even die. Those who think air plants do not need care
How to grow air plants:
1. Light
Varieties with grayer leaf color and more numerous and thicker, harder white scales need stronger light; not intense direct light, but rather a relatively large amount of strong light. Placing them on a south-facing or east-facing windowsill is a very good approach. Strong light and appropriate temperature differences are the key to air plants developing alluring colors.
2. Water
Air plants grown indoors basically need watering only two or three times a week, best done as a spray. In dry seasons, spray once a day; outdoors, increase or decrease appropriately according to the local climate (for example, during the plum rain season in Jiangnan, you can water less or not at all). When spraying, spray until the leaf surface is completely wet, and be careful not to let water accumulate in the center of the leaves. Tap water easily causes calcium ion poisoning, so purified water is best, and rainwater is even better.
3. Pests
Air plants have relatively few pests and diseases, but red spider mites are a rather nasty thing that suck the water from inside the leaves. However, if the environment is slightly more humid, they seem to disappear on their own. For small air plants kept at home, it is recommended to improve ventilation conditions and also remove pests by hand.
4. Diseases
Air plant sunscald often occurs in environments with ample light. The cause is improper handling: water sprayed on the leaf surface does not dry in time, and the water droplets act like a convex lens, burning the leaf surface beneath the droplets. However, it does not spread, and in daily care you only need to pay attention to ventilation.
5. How do air plants absorb water?
If you look carefully, you will find that there are many small white scales on the leaf surface. These scales are mostly shield-shaped and sunken. Moisture in the air or rainwater is intercepted by the stomata in the sunken areas and then permeates through the gaps between thin-walled cells into the plant body.
6. How do you care for an air plant just bought online?
1. When an air plant from another region is bought online, it is usually in a water-deficient state when it arrives. Replenish water in time. If the transport time was long and it is severely water-deficient, it can be soaked in water for 2 hours, then shake off the excess water.
2. After that, you can make it a new home and attach a label. Iron wire oxidizes and rusts, which can cause harm. You can buy painted metal wire holders or aluminum wire, fishing line, or use flower pots, glass cups, or shells, but be sure it is breathable and well ventilated, otherwise the roots will rot.
3. Place it in a cool, shady spot, spray a little water, and wait until it revives before putting it in the sun.
7. Points to note
1. Air plants will not die from drying out. They usually die from rot in the center caused by too much water on the plant and a living environment that is not breathable. In cities with a lot of spring rain, they need to be placed in a ventilated environment. In spring, when sunlight is insufficient, the leaf color will become a little darker.
2. The life of an air plant is much shorter than that of succulents. Once the mother plant flowers and sets seed, it will gradually wither. Yet the rarer the air plant variety, the slower it grows. After finally waiting for it to flower and set seed, the mother plant is very likely to die. Because its life is limited, we should cherish it even more.
Air plant prices:
Each pot ranges from fifteen to twenty-five yuan, and because air plants do not need soil or flower pots, there is no worry about pollution or weight-bearing, and they purify the air and have strong survival ability. With only simple care, these little sprites can serve you and delight the eye.
Air plant Tillandsia air plant illustrated guide: how to grow air plants / how to propagate air plants
Air plant fact sheetAir plant Tillandsia
How to grow air plants and points to note: an introduction to air plants
The English name of the air plant is Air plant. It includes nearly 550 species and 103 varieties, making it the most diverse group in the Bromeliad family. It is an epiphytic genus. In 1753, Tillandsia was first discovered by Carolus Linnaeus (a Swedish botanist) and named after the Swedish botanist TILLANDS, whom he admired (some also say it was named after the Finnish physician Elias Tillands).
This is the only plant on Earth that grows entirely in the air. It can grow luxuriantly without soil and can produce bright flowers. They come in many varieties and forms, with both ornamental leaves and flowers, and have advantages such as good decorative effect and strong adaptability. Because of their high ornamental value, as well as being relatively clean and easy to care for, they are the first choice for balancing home greening and the environment in a busy, fast-paced life. Therefore, in recent years more and more flower lovers have been growing air plants.
Morphological characteristics of air plants
Air plants are perennial herbaceous plants. There are many varieties; the diameter of some clumping clusters can reach 2 m, while others are less than 10 cm. The plants are rosette-shaped, tubular, linear, or radiate, and the leaves are lanceolate or linear, upright, curved, or curled at the tip. In addition to green, leaf colors include gray-white and blue-gray, and the leaves of some varieties even turn a beautiful red under conditions of ample sunlight. The leaf surface is densely covered with white scales, but there is no "water storage tank" in the center of the plant.
The spike-like or compound spike-like inflorescence of the air plant emerges from the center of the leaf rosette. The flower spike has densely growing and brilliantly colored bracts or green to silvery-white bracts. The small flowers are born within the bracts and come in colors such as green, purple, red, white, yellow, and blue, with 3 petals. The flowering period is mainly concentrated from August to April of the following year. After the capsule matures, it splits open automatically and releases seeds with plume-like tufts that drift with the wind and spread everywhere.
Ecological habits of air plants
Air plants do not need to be planted in soil, nor do they need to be grown in water. They are a special plant that can grow as long as they are sprayed with water. The hairs on the leaf surface can absorb moisture and nitrogen compounds from the air, and they can live very well without special care, though they grow quite slowly.
Air plants grow in tropical and subtropical rainforests or arid mountain areas at elevations of 100 m-5000 m, attached to tree trunks, rocks, or crevices in cliffs, with a few growing on cacti. Their greatest difference from terrestrial plants is that their roots have no function of absorbing water and nutrients; they merely serve to anchor the plant and carry out a small amount of air exchange. Nutrients and water are absorbed through the silvery-gray hairy scales on the leaf surface. They basically cannot survive when planted in water or soil.
Most air plant varieties are native to tropical or subtropical regions of Central and South America, growing on flat land or in high mountain areas at elevations of 1000 m-3000 m, where there is little rain, strong sunlight, and great temperature variation, but moisture from fog year-round. The unique ecological environment gives air plants their distinctive habits. In their places of origin, these plants mostly grow attached to cacti, stone walls, rotting wood, utility poles, eaves, and other places. Therefore, when planting them, flower pots and soil are not needed; they can be hung up or glued to dead wood, walls, and other objects, or placed in other shallow containers. If potted, coarse gravel or stones can be used as the growing medium to fix the plant in place.
Air plants are tolerant of drought and strong light. Their root systems are very underdeveloped, and some varieties even have no roots. Even if they have roots, they can only serve to anchor the plant and cannot absorb water and nutrients. So how do air plants absorb water? If you look carefully, you will find that there are many small white scales on the leaf surface. These scales are mostly shield-shaped and sunken. Moisture in the air or rainwater is intercepted by the stomata in the sunken areas and then permeates through the gaps between thin-walled cells into the plant body. Usually, the stomata in these scales are half-closed during the day when the temperature is higher and the air is relatively dry, in order to reduce water evaporation; at night, when the temperature drops and air humidity increases, they open completely and absorb moisture from the air.
Most air plant varieties grow in dry environments, while a small number prefer humid environments. Varieties that grow in rainforest climates or other more humid, shaded areas have broad, green leaves and produce larger flowers, but the flower colors are relatively plain. They live epiphytically on another plant or tree trunk, and over time they gradually grow roots to anchor the plant itself. They can reproduce the next generation from seeds or offsets. Varieties from dry regions have a completely different appearance. Their plants are smaller, with needle-like or hard leaves, and usually grow clustered together as a whole clump to reduce water evaporation. They rely on the large number of hairs on the leaf surface to absorb rainwater, dew, fog, and nutrients. Because they survive by absorbing moisture from the air through the leaf surface, their bodies have made many changes, including water-storage tissue, complex water-absorbing hairs, reduced leaf number, root degeneration, reduced body size, and increased seed quantity. Most of the more advanced air plants look gray-white because the leaf surface is covered with hairs, which serve to reflect light, avoid sunburn, and prevent water evaporation. The more exposed to sunlight they are, the denser their hairs become.
Cultivation techniques for air plants
Air plants are CAM-type perennial evergreen herbaceous plants in the genus Tillandsia of the Bromeliad family, and most are aerial or epiphytic.
The biggest difference between air plants and ordinary plants is that they have no root system, and the water and nutrients they need are absorbed entirely through stomata on the leaf surface. If planted in soil or water, they cannot survive. Both flowers and leaves are very special. The leaves have evolved into special forms, including water-storage tissue, scale hairs on the leaves, reduced leaf number, and root degeneration. They have extremely strong resistance to adversity and can tolerate drought, light, wind, shade, heat, and cold; they need no pot, no soil, and do not breed mosquitoes; they are plants that grow epiphytically on tree trunks, stone walls, and even cacti.
Air plants are drought-tolerant aerial species in the genus Tillandsia of the Bromeliad family, and are perennial epiphytic or aerial herbaceous plants.
Cultivation methods
The main cultivation containers for air plants include shells, stones, dead wood, tree fern boards, and rattan baskets. They can be fixed with iron wire or rope, or glued to the container with all-purpose glue or hot melt adhesive, or cultivated by hanging. After tying them with copper wire or rope, hang them in the air.
Temperature
Air plants are native to the highlands of Central and South America. They can tolerate low temperatures of 5°C. The suitable growing temperature is 15°C-25°C. When it is above 25°C, ventilation should be strengthened and humidity increased.
Watering
Air plants can be sprayed with a spray bottle 2-3 times a week, and in dry seasons they should be sprayed once a day. When spraying, spray until the leaf surface is completely wet, and be careful not to let water accumulate in the center of the leaves. If too much water is sprayed, the plant can be turned upside down to let the excess water flow out.
Air plants can be roughly divided into thick-leaved and thin-leaved types according to leaf thickness. Thick-leaved ones such as 'Xerographica' and intermedia prefer relatively dry environments and should be watered less often; thin-leaved ones such as nana greatly prefer humid environments and can be watered more often. Air plants grown indoors basically need watering only two or three times a week; outdoors, increase or decrease appropriately according to the local climate (for example, during the plum rain season in Jiangnan, you can water less or not at all).
In winter, I generally soak them for 2 hours around noon on relatively warm days. Overall, I feel that soaking works better than spraying. Fully submerged for 12-14 hours is no problem! They must dry completely within 72 hours, to avoid breeding bacteria and causing rot. So after soaking, please shake the plant dry in time! Air plants are not bromeliads that hold water; once water accumulates, they die within a few days. Compared with other air plants, Spanish moss is always forgotten. Soaking works relatively well; even in summer it is soaked only once every several days, only when I remember. Just do not expose it to too much direct sun. When it rains, putting it outside works very well.
Light
Varieties with grayer leaf color and more numerous and thicker, harder white scales need stronger light; varieties with greener leaves and fewer, softer scales are more shade-tolerant. When cultivated indoors, they should be placed in a spot with bright light. Insufficient light will cause the plant to grow leggy and weak.
Please never think that air plants grow in deserts. Therefore, what they need is not intense direct light, but rather a relatively large amount of strong light. Strong light and appropriate temperature differences are the key to letting our air plants successfully show their alluring nuptial color during their mating season.
Fertilizing
Under artificial cultivation conditions, you can use Hyponex or monopotassium phosphate plus urea diluted 1000 times with water and spray it once a week, or soak the plant in a 3000-5000 times diluted fertilizer solution for 1-2 hours. Fertilizing can be stopped in winter and during the flowering period.
Growing experience
As a genus in the Bromeliad family, air plants are mainly distributed in Central and South America and some southern states of the United States, where the local temperature generally remains between 10°C-38°C. Therefore, in most parts of our country, except in winter and early spring, they can be grown outdoors. My air plants have always been kept on an enclosed balcony and on indoor windowsills, and have safely made it through two winters in Shanghai. Therefore, those in the Jiangnan area do not need to worry too much about low outdoor temperatures in winter. Placing air plants on a south-facing or east-facing windowsill is a very good approach.
How to grow air plants: key growing points
Air plants absolutely must not be watered as frequently as the potted flowers we usually grow. Theoretically, it is said to spray water every two or three days. But in practice, it also depends on the environment where the air plant lives. In places with ample sunlight, you can spray every two or three days. But you must note that water must not accumulate in the center of the leaves, otherwise it will cause water accumulation and death. In a semi-shaded environment, you can spray once a week. If air humidity is high, there is no need to stick to a spraying schedule. If you find it is very dry, you can give them a bath so the air plants can fully absorb water, appropriately adding some diluted liquid fertilizer. After soaking, be sure to drain the water from the leaves.
Air plants can be considered lazy-person flowers. Being too pampered is actually not good for them. Find something and fix them casually, place them in a cool, shady spot, spray a little water, and wait until they revive before putting them in the sun. Also, do not rush to fertilize. The plant has been stuffy for so long; fertilizing before it recovers is very risky. In fact, air plants have very low fertilizer requirements. A little fallen leaf matter or the like landing on the leaves can meet their needs. Spraying a very, very dilute liquid fertilizer a few times a year is enough.
Air plants depend on the variety. For moisture-loving varieties such as 'Ionantha', 'Tiger Tim', and 'Belly Art', you can spray frequently during the growing season to increase humidity. There are also some like 'Treetop Monkey' that can be placed outdoors in the rain without issue. Some of the long-haired types, such as 'Feather Duster', if you spray water frequently, will turn green and the long white hairs will gradually disappear.
When keeping air plants at home in northern regions, once the nighttime minimum temperature is stable at 12°C, they can be placed outdoors. For outdoor care, it is best to place them outside an east-facing or north-facing window, because windows facing these directions avoid the strong midday sun. In spring, early summer, and late autumn, when the north is relatively dry, they can be soaked twice a week. Before soaking, first rinse them with distilled water. The purpose of this is to remove dust and harmful substances from the surface of the air plants. It is also best to use distilled water for soaking (water in the north tends to be hard, and the minerals it contains can clog the air plant's nutrient-absorbing organs). If distilled water is unavailable, cooled boiled water can be used. During the intervals between soakings, spray once every 1-2 days depending on weather conditions. Once the rainy season arrives, you can take a break, because then the air plants will grow on their own (be careful not to let water accumulate in the center of the air plants).
Key care points
Temperature control
The optimal growing temperature for air plants is 15°C-25°C, and the general growing temperature is 5°C-40°C. If the temperature is above 25°C, ventilation should be strengthened and relative humidity increased, so that growth does not stagnate because it is too hot. Air plants can tolerate low temperatures of around 5°C in winter, and some varieties can tolerate low temperatures of 0°C, but most varieties will suffer cold damage below 5°C, and the plant will die below 0°C.
Light control
Air plants' sunlight requirements vary by variety. Those with harder, gray leaves need ample sunlight or relatively strong indirect light. Indirect sunlight or ordinary lamplight is also acceptable. Placing them beside a window is the best way to obtain indirect sunlight, with about 10 hours of light per day. Varieties with green leaves do not have such high light requirements and can grow normally in semi-shaded spots or indoors. In addition, air plants like to breathe fresh air. Although they can also grow in ordinary indoor conditions, it is best to maintain air circulation.
Watering and humidity
The so-called no-watering requirement for air plants applies when air humidity is above 90%. During the growing period, the plant should be sprayed frequently to increase air humidity and allow normal growth. It is recommended to use a spray-type watering can available on the market and spray a fine mist evenly on the leaf surface. The method is to spray once a day in dry seasons and 2-3 times a week in humid seasons. Needle-leaved and sword-leaved air plants store little water and should be sprayed 4-5 times a week in any environment. Broad-leaved types store more water and are suited to relatively dry environments, so spraying can be maintained at one to two times a week. When spraying, spray until the leaf surface is completely wet; do not let water accumulate in the center of the plant, to avoid "heart rot." Note that it is best for the leaf surface to dry within 4 to 6 hours after becoming wet, and note that the leaf centers of some varieties easily accumulate water, so they can be hung upside down to avoid stem rot.
Proper fertilizing
In the wild, the places where air plants grow epiphytically often accumulate humus, which can provide the nutrients needed for growth for them to absorb. Under artificial cultivation, nutrients can only be replenished by fertilizing for the plant to absorb. During vigorous growth, spray once every 20-30 days with a 2000-times diluted solution of Hyponex, monopotassium phosphate plus a small amount of urea or other nitrogen fertilizer. Stop spraying in winter and during the flowering period. Some flower lovers have summarized a method of using beer to care for air plants, which can keep air plants vigorous and brightly colored. Specifically, every three to four weeks, mix clean water (distilled water is better) with beer and spray it on the leaf surface of the air plant at a ratio of 50:1, or soak the entire air plant in beer already diluted with clean water for several minutes, then take it out of the water and hang it upside down to dry. This method can wash the dust off the air plant, which helps it breathe and absorb nutrients, and the nutrients contained in beer are also very beneficial to the growth of air plants.
Points to note
1. Strictly speaking, in winter it is not necessarily required to keep the temperature above 5°C. If daytime light is good, even below 0°C is no problem.
2. Also, I must remind everyone: never plant it in a tank. Air plants need a very large amount of air circulation, and being shut in a tank will harm them. If the weather is too dry, just soak the plant in water for about an hour, then shake off the water on the leaves. Also, never put it in the sun when the leaves are wet, or the leaves will be damaged by the sun. All air plants are relatively drought-tolerant, and going several days without water will absolutely not be a problem.
3. Silver-leaved varieties are even more drought-tolerant than others, so please reduce watering frequency appropriately to avoid rot.
Most air plants do not have as high a requirement for air humidity as imagined, and even in their places of origin, air humidity is not necessarily high during the day when there is light. But at night, because cooling causes a temperature difference, water vapor condenses on the plant to form water, which is then absorbed by the leaves.
As long as you grasp this characteristic, you can adjust the water supply according to different cultivation environments. Generally speaking, air plants only need to be given water at night. The specific amount depends on the environment and the condition of the plant, and growers need to control it flexibly according to the situation.
Air plants have extremely strong resistance. When they look slightly dry, their resistance can reach its peak. Plants that look tender and soft have very low resistance and are prone to disease and rot at the slightest disturbance. Therefore, in cultivation it is better to let the plant be a little dry, so that it can maintain a healthy state.
Propagation methods for air plants
Air plants can only be propagated by division, and they grow slowly. They rely on this to anchor the plant itself, and can reproduce the next generation from seeds or offsets. Some varieties take two to three years from seedling to entering the market, which has become the biggest obstacle to industrial development.
When nutrients are insufficient, air plants will produce small pups from the base after flowering. Please do not be eager and pull them off, or they will either die young or be malnourished. When nutrients are sufficient, air plants will produce pups on their own without even flowering.
Pest and disease control for air plants
Air plants have relatively few pests and diseases, but red spider mites are a rather nasty thing that suck the water from inside the leaves. However, if the environment is slightly more humid, they seem to disappear on their own.
Sunscald often occurs in environments with ample light. The cause is improper handling: water sprayed on the leaf surface does not dry in time, and the water droplets act like a convex lens, burning the leaf surface beneath the droplets. However, it does not spread, and in daily care you only need to pay attention to ventilation. Heart rot and root rot are often caused by excessively high temperatures and poor ventilation. In the hotter summer, attention should be paid to ventilation and avoiding the accumulation of too much water. At the same time, also pay attention to avoiding water with high calcium and sodium content. As for pests, common ones include scale insects, snails, and slugs. For small air plants kept at home, it is recommended to improve ventilation conditions and also remove pests by hand.
Variety classification of air plants
There are about 44 genera and more than 1400 species of Bromeliad family plants. Their famous ornamental genera include Aechmea, Bromelia, Billbergia, Cryptanthus, Guzmania, Vriesea, Neoregelia, Tillandsia, and others.
The Bromeliad family consists of terrestrial (epiphytic) plants, but there is ample basis for their ability to adapt well to static hydroponics. When speaking of Bromeliad family plants, first note that whether they grow on trees, or on rocky ground in deserts or scrub forests, their root systems are short and small. Most of the nutrients and water the plants need are obtained through the leaves and the "water tank" at their center. In particular, the water-storage function of the "water tank" can confirm that the plant internally retains aquatic vascular bundles.
Plant classification systems all place the Bromeliad family in the order Bromeliales. The order Bromeliales has only one family (a monotypic order), namely Bromeliaceae. Bromeliad family plants fully retain the genetic genes of aquatic plant plastids. The ventilating tissue of vascular bundles in their roots, stems, and leaves can transport oxygen from the aboveground parts to the root system. Therefore, when Bromeliad family plants are grown in static hydroponics, the oxygen lacking for the life activities of their root system can be obtained entirely from the aboveground parts.
Main family names
Air plants have many varieties and great morphological differences. The main varieties include: Tillandsia ionantha, Tillandsia aeranthos, Tillandsia argentea, Tillandsia juncea, Tillandsia jucunda, Tillandsia bergeri, Tillandsia cacticola, Tillandsia recurvata, Tillandsia usneoides, Tillandsia caput-medusae, Tillandsia bulbosa, and others.
Because air plants have not been introduced to China for long, their Chinese naming is still very non-standardized. Their Chinese abbreviation is kongfeng.
Nine genera under the family
1. Alcantarea
2. Catopsis
3. Glomeropitcairnia
4. Guzmania
5. Mezobromelia
6. Racinaea
7. Tillandsia
8. Vriesea
9. Werauhia
Distribution range of air plants
Air plants are mainly distributed in the Americas, from Virginia in the eastern United States through Mexico and Central America, all the way to southern Argentina. Most varieties come from Latin America. This vast distribution range shows their strong adaptability.
Many species live in swamp areas, tropical rainforest areas, and cloud forest areas, while others survive in arid, hot deserts, on rocks, on trees (even cacti), on utility poles, on wires in midair, on rocks, and so on, extending for thousands of miles in epiphytic form, with their traces found from sea level to mountains 2000-3000 m high. A small number of native species are restricted to a single valley or mountain area because of their special growing conditions. Most native species of air plants grow in dry environments, a few within Mexico, and the others are distributed in mountainous areas of South American countries such as Brazil and Costa Rica. A few rare varieties are also distributed on some small islands in the Bermuda waters.
Uses and purposes of air plants: ornamental value
Air plants can be glued to dead wood, rocks, or placed on shells or pots; as long as the roots do not accumulate water, they can grow. Many foreign interior design magazines feature air plants as indoor plants to accent the home, which is very stylish. More people grow air plants in large quantities and hang them with metal wire or fishing line, creating vivid and unusual shapes. The roots of air plants mainly serve to attach the plant to a fixed spot, so they can survive even without roots. Broken or injured stems and branches can also survive independently for some time, and if the environment is suitable they can also produce offsets to continue life.
Air plants are best with roots, as this makes it convenient to attach them to bark or driftwood for growing. However, roots must be cut during import, so air plants generally sold are rootless. Before roots grow, you should still pay attention when attaching them not to obstruct root growth. In addition, apart from a very small number of air plants that grow on the ground, the vast majority cannot be grown in soil. Air plants of the same variety can be grown together, placed in hanging baskets or porous plastic pots, and can be made into special hanging-basket plants. If growing different types of air plants, it is best not to place them on the same attachment or container, because their growth habits, water, and light differ, and they cannot all grow normally. Spanish moss needs no container at all; it can simply be hung up with metal wire. But note that all plants in the genus Tillandsia cannot tolerate aluminum or copper, so copper wire or aluminum alloy containers must not be used to grow them. These metals will slowly poison the air plants to death, so be sure to remember this.
Home decoration
To grow air plants, you must give them a place to live. They can be roughly divided into two types: hanging type and adhesive type. If you like something natural and simple, you can use the hanging type, because its method is relatively simple. You only need wire or string to hang it in midair. First, choose some varieties with more leaves spreading out at the base (because these are easier to hook tightly). Use wire to wrap around the outer leaves, then gently pull tight and tie a knot, and the hanging process is complete.
The adhesive type is more varied than the hanging type, and its attractive appearance makes it even more suitable for giving as a gift or for use as a small ornament in the home or office. If you think the hanging type is too plain, you might try the adhesive type, but adhesive-type growing can also be divided into two kinds: buying a finished product (that is, an air plant already glued to an object) or buying a single air plant and accessories (such as hot melt adhesive, small ornaments, and objects with a flat base). Buying a finished product can of course save production time, but if you are interested in designing it yourself, you need to buy a single plant and accessories.
In fact, doing it yourself is also very simple. First find a suitable place to glue the air plant, then use a lighter to melt the hot melt adhesive until transparent. Immediately apply the melted adhesive to the surface of the object at the chosen position. After one or two seconds, press the air plant onto the hot melt adhesive on the object at the chosen position for about 30 seconds, and the plant will be firmly glued to the object.
When gluing plants, hot melt adhesive must be used, because it has no chemicals and therefore will not pose a threat to plant health. But other glues or adhesive strips absolutely must not be used, because most of them contain chemicals that affect plant health, and in serious cases will even cause plant death.
Cultural background of air plants: name introduction
Air plant Tillandsia is also called iron orchid. Because this plant grows in the air and has nothing to do with soil, and can purify the air, it is called the bromeliad flower in the air. Abbreviated as kongfeng (air plant). English name Airplant.
Market prospects
Purifying air has become the biggest selling point: merchants sell air plant finished products in domestic flower markets by directly importing them from the United States and Japan. "Air plants not only have extremely strong survival ability, but this plant's air purification function is also very powerful. This is the biggest selling point." Yu Lusheng, vice president of Jiangsu Polytechnic College of Agriculture and Forestry, said that because air plants also have the function of purifying indoor air and absorbing harmful gases, this plant is expected to enter the indoor "soft decoration" market in the future and become a hot plant material in this field.
Research has confirmed that air plants absorb formaldehyde and benzene compounds during the day and absorb carbon dioxide at night, making them a very environmentally friendly plant. Therefore, when some producers first introduced and developed air plants, they positioned the market for decoration, purification, and beautification of homes and offices. This plant, which can survive freely exposed in the air, has brought new vitality to the field of home greening that has long received widespread attention.
The home field may "break new ground": the home soft decoration market has always been a new field that flower enterprises pay attention to, but limited by plant materials, the industry's development in this market has been basically blank, and air plants are expected to become a "stepping stone" into home greening. As a true "lazy-person flower," whether this plant with extremely strong survival ability can "break new ground" in the field of indoor purification and beautification is worth looking forward to.
Among the air plant products developed for the market, prices vary considerably depending on the product and the region. An ordinary single air plant costs anywhere from a few dozen yuan to two or three hundred yuan per plant. Home decor items are priced even higher: a beautifully matched "air plant display stand," "plant decorative painting," or "Spanish moss air plant curtain" is usually priced from 100 yuan to over a thousand yuan, which is clearly too expensive for ordinary consumers. Price has become a major obstacle to these plants entering the home beautification and purification field in large numbers.
A technology company in Beijing has been promoting "plant murals" to the home decoration market for several years. They solved the problem of continuous water supply for ordinary potted plants through technical means, but sales have remained less than ideal. Mr. Zhu, the head of the company, told reporters that home plant decoration is not a daily necessity, and consumer acceptance depends on how far product promotion progresses. Developing this market will still take a long process. The company head also said: "The home plant decoration market will be a big market. The key is to have products that make consumers' eyes light up, and that takes time."
The mid-to-high-end market is the focus of development: Yu Lusheng believes that when it comes to raising consumer awareness, air plants have their advantages compared with other indoor greenery plants. "The strange way air plants survive is sure to spark consumers' curiosity, and besides, it is a plant with high ornamental value." He believes that as more companies get involved, air plants will certainly attract more consumers. In his view, developing the air plant market is not difficult; it depends on producers' market positioning and product development direction.
Yu Lusheng said that several large enterprises have already taken the initiative to contact the college where he works, expressing a desire to cooperate and hoping to vigorously develop this product. "This plant has three major market segments, and when these enterprises discuss cooperation, they all set their sights on the highest-end public space purification and beautification market." He said that apart from this, the other two main market segments for air plants are the personal-interest consumer market and the home decoration market. He believes that air plants will have great prospects in the future in indoor purification and decoration markets such as homes and offices, especially in high-end areas such as shopping malls and hotels. According to him, the small gift "lover's grass," "plant curtains," and "plant murals" they developed have already entered the market for a "trial run."
Promotion progress depends on increasing production capacity: Relevant parties say that although the market prospects are broad, whether this rootless plant can take root in the home beautification and purification market depends most on increasing production capacity. Although some research institutes and enterprises have begun production, the number of enterprises operating at scale is still very small. Judging from the current situation, air plants have many problems to solve, such as low consumer acceptance, production that has not reached scale, and high prices.
Huang Jian analyzes that because air plants can only reproduce by division and grow slowly, some varieties take two to three years from seedling to market entry, and this has become the biggest obstacle to industrialized development. In addition, most enterprises still rely entirely on imported finished plants. Therefore, even for varieties with relatively high market acceptance, it is difficult to rapidly expand air plant production scale, prices remain high, and this in turn greatly affects the pace of market promotion.
To quickly resolve the awkward situation of long-term dependence on imports, Jiangsu Polytechnic College of Agriculture and Forestry plans to achieve full domestic production of air plants within two years. "Right now 50% of our germplasm still needs to be imported. In the future we will gradually increase the domestic proportion and bring down both output and costs."
Huang Jian also believes that the United States began promoting air plants to the market in the 1970s, and that market is already very developed, with fairly widespread use. "I believe that as domestic purchasing power matures and industrialization accelerates, air plants will form a new market of their own."
The flower language of air plants
The flower language of air plants is: not confined to one pattern.
Air plants are the only plants on Earth that live entirely in the air. They can grow luxuriantly without soil and can bloom with vivid flowers.
Air plant pictures
What are air plants? Are air plants easy to grow?
This plant that can survive without soil or water is called an air plant. It is a kind of air plant that usually grows by clinging directly to trees or power lines. It does not need to take root in soil and can survive relying only on moisture in the air.
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So, isn't it amazing? For beginners who can never get the watering amount right, air plants are easy to grow and are truly the perfect plant to cultivate.
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There are a great many kinds of air plants; the air plant category alone is divided into many types. At first I did not really like this kind of plant, first because they are expensive, and second because they are too ”offbeat”: they are clearly plants, yet they have the luster of plastic.
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Later, when I went to a friend's house to hang out, I saw an air plant in bloom and only then felt it was truly marvelous, so I casually cut off a piece and took it home. I put it in a bowl however I liked and sprayed it with water once or twice a day.
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Unexpectedly, not long afterward, it grew fresh green new shoots, and the more it grew the more vigorous it became, and the color became more and more beautiful. Now I think air plants are truly a charming "slow-burn" kind of plant.
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What do you think? If you do not have time to care for flowers, this plant is very suitable for you!