Here's another option for hanging tillandsiaThis is aluminum wire that I bought at Rainforest Flora in Torrance, CA, and it comes in different colors, but I only bought green. It seems to be a bit more gentle on the plants than monofilament, but I also have that on most of my tillandsia. The problem with monofilament (for me) is that the plants outgrow it fairly quickly and have to be remounted. It is much easier to adjust mountings with the aluminum wire.

Here's one that has started to cascade down, but I don't know the name of it:

The only thing I would add is that they appreciate good air circulation, but so do people, and so you are probably okay with the indoors. I've never tried growing them indoors, but I've seen a lot of them in tropical jungles (Mexico and Costa Rica) that are quite dense with lots of shade, but then I've seen them growing at the tops of some trees where they get a fair amount of direct light.

I'm glad to hear that the monofilament is ok. It's not tightly tied, so it won't interfere with growth. They might be ok outdoors for 3 months in the summer, but conditions might not permit much more.

Thanks

I like the aluminum (smart?) wire, too. I've used fishing line but it is hard to tie into place as it is so thin and hard to see and handle sometimes. Fishing line might be good for mounting though, wrapping it around a plant, but for hanging, metal wire is perhaps better. But never use copper wire!

As for mounting ionanthas, you can put them in about anything: a shot glass, a tray, a rock with a hole in it (like half a geode), a pretty small bowl, a piece of bark, some cholla cactus skeleton, a shell, etc. As they pup and if the pups are not removed, ionanthas can take on a rough ball shape and to me that is a good form to hang using line or wire. I have some bergeri and some aereanthos (similar looking plants) that seem to appreciate hanging. I suspect any plants that hang with the opening pointing downward is happier due to water not being able to collect inside the plant as easily. Spanish Moss is a great hanging plant (though I have some little nests of it in my displays), while there are plants that I think prefer to be grounded, like T. neglecta and maybe soft gray stricta.

I do wish sellers (I'm looking at you, RFI) would show on their websites pictures of plants in their natural habitat so we can see how they like to grow there. I once saw a picture of some either capute medusa or perhaps it was bulbosa colonizing the underside of some jungle tree limbs. Seeing pictures like that would help folks get some good ideas about mounting. Indeed, if I ever were to go Tillandsia hunting in Mexico, I'd take my camera and collect pictures, not plants. Pictures I can cross the border with a lot easier :)

Hi everyone.

Rick– I have been growing a
mixed collection of bromeliads for several years now and during that time I
have found that although they all have different likes and dislikes, there are some
conditions common to them all.

They all dislike being
overcrowded; this is a recipe for breeding disease and produces long spindly
growth as it reaches out for better light (Pic.1). They also dislike being too
wet, and potted plants require a well-drained potting mix. Mounted plants will
dry out much quicker than those in pots so extra watering is usually required).
I think the most important thing I have observed since I have been growing bromeliads
is the importance of the correct amount of light, and that good light equals
good colour in the coloured foliage varieties (Pic.2).

Tillandsias (more than most other
brom’s) require an abundance of air circulation to grow at their best which
seems to fit in with their natural habitats and this is why they are commonly
known as “air plants”. In many cases they will grow happily just suspended with
air circulating all around as in Pic.3.

These plants were growing on
telegraph wires in Mexico and I read that they grow in such profusion that the
weight sometimes threatens to break the wires and consequently, authorities
have to sometimes spray with a weedicide to prevent this from happening in some
areas.

The one thing I have found is
that not all bromeliads like the same conditions and trial and error is often
required to find that “right spot”. This sometimes necessitates having to move
plants around into several different locations within your yard until you eventually
find a spot that suits, and when you do, leave the plant there and don’t move
it.

1.

2.

3.

All the best, Nev.