Gonzer,great and that is funny. This plant I say in nature in Nothern Uruguay and in Southermost part of Brazil. Nice to know it is so long with you. It may get larger that this. they relish fertilizers and they do are used to some cold but never polar temperatures. Great plant.

Gonzer, what happens if you cut back some of that stalk? There are no roots, are there, so does it really need all that?

It would keep growing Lisa, maybe even root if attached to cork. The live tissue ends about 3" below the base. No, it doesn't need all the old-growth stem but if I cut it off then I would lose the one part of the plant that shows it's age (and character). You wouldn't be able to discern between a 5 year old plant and something like these if they were cut. In reality I just can't bring myself to cut the poor guys! In nature they just keep pulling themselves up higher in the branches using their tendril leaf tips leaving the old stems to decay.
Gastaldi, they like fertilizer eh? Good to know since I rarely fed it.

Hi Gonzer, I must have pulled up this post 4 or 5 times before this and now your last bit of description has finally registered - and I just love it. A plant that, in effect, packs up its bags and clambers off hand-over-hand through the tree! What a delicious concept. I wonder what the distance record is? Cheers, Paul

I kind of like the carefree wild hippie hairdo in the first pic, but I understand why you trimmed it. 21st century now, time for a new look.

Ok, now for one of my goofy questions: does it matter which way the center growing point of the plant faces? Up? Down? Sideways? I'm trying to cover a very odd-shaped tree stump with a variety of tillandsia, and right now I have the duratii hanging with the plant center facing down, but your description makes me think I've got it wrong.

Kim, the vast majority of Tillandsias are orthotropic (grow towards light) but can be mounted so's that they face away from their light source. They will eventually twist and contort back towards the light. A lot of times this practice ruins the symmetry of the plant's form. One species in particular (bulbosa) is an ageotropic grower, it grows in the direction it's leaves are facing. Some like butzii and ionantha will clump with many of the plants facing all directions with no apparent contortions. Any of the pseudo-bulb tills (ehlersiana, seleriana, magnusiana) should be mounted sideways so that water doesn't sit in the leaves. Your dry-loving guys like duratii, stretocarpa and straminea can also be mounted the same way but they too will eventually grow towards the light. The way you've got your duratii now is cool but down the line you'll know what to expect.

Paul, that would be a question for the ages. Maybe someone from Argentina or Brazil could help.