Tillandsia seed germination.

[curtisconners]

I took a trip to a nearby nursery today and found several tillandsia forming flower stalks I took one home of course. Hopefully the flower will produce seed. What is the best way to pollinate tillandsia flowers and germinate their seeds?

 

[nimbulan]

I believe a general method for germinating Tillandsia seeds is to spread them out on something like a window screen and keep them moist with a spray bottle. Other people may recommend various epiphyte mounts like cork, cholla, etc. If you can get germination, they will grow EXTREMELY slow for a couple years.

Edit: Just to give you an idea of growth rate, I had a seed hitchhike on an air plant I bought last year. I didn't notice it until recently so I don't know exactly how old it is, but it should be somewhere in the range of 9-12 months. The plant is approximately 3mm long.

 

[cwatson1414]

growth will increase greatly if you give them an orchid fertilizer instead of an epiphyte fertilizer. This may be helpful in getting them to a size at which they are easier to work with.

Also Brads Greenhouse, a YouTube channel, has a few good videos on Tillandsia. He says the fruit takes about a year to ripen.