How Fast Do Air Plants Grow? Factors Affecting Growth Rate & Blossoming Air Plants

how fast do air plants grow

If you’ve got an air plant, a Tillandsia, you may be wondering how fast do air plants grow? They may seem like they aren’t growing at all, but they are! Depending on the type of air plant, where they are located, and how long they’ve been growing for are all variables on how fast air plants grow!

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This article will also look at other factors factors that can affect it such as blossoming and growing pups. With this information you can understand why it may seem like your air plant isn’t growing at all!

Quick tip – take pictures regularly of your air plant to notice that your plant actually is growing – otherwise you may miss it!

Do Air Plants Grow Much?

So before we talk about how fast air plants grow, let’s take a quick look into do air plants grow much? And the answer is they do grow, in a similar fashion as a cactus, where you may not notice a ton of growth until it’s dramatically changed. They are very slow growers, and depending on the type of air plant, may never get very big.

Keep reading: how big do air plants get?

How Fast Do Air Plants Grow?

In general, air plants grow about an inch a year. There are a few different variables that affect how fast air plants grow, and it can also depend on what you’re looking at when talking about growth. The age of the air plant can affect it’s growth speed, how it was propagated, and many other variables.

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If the air plant was started from seed, it will grow much slower in the first few years than if it started as a pup from another air plant.

You will most likely see growth coming from the center of the air plant, rather than noticing the current leaves growing longer.

In the image at the beginning of this article, those pictures of the same air plant were taken 8 months apart, and there’s very little growth to notice.

Encouraging Faster Growth In An Air Plant

An easy way to encourage faster growth in an air plant is to make sure you’re properly taking care of it. Make sure it’s in bright but indirect sunlight, getting soaked in water once a week, in the correct humidity requirements, and that you’re fertilizing regularly (but not too regularly!).

I suggest a fertilizer like this Bromeliad Fertilizer, using it once every few months.

Blossoming Air Plant Growing Speeds

When it comes to air plants blossoming, the growth of the air plant slows down slightly as it focuses its energy on producing a bloom. With that being said though, you will see a lot more growth than you’re used to as it grows the stem and flower. This just doesn’t affect the leaves as much.

Air plants only bloom once, and after blooming they will start growing pups. Occasionally they’ll grow more than one baby plant at once!

Air Plants Growing Pups

This is another case of what you’re looking for in how fast do air plants grow, but with pups, they will grow these relatively quickly compared to the other growth you’re used to seeing in your air plant. Most of the energy is going to these pups, and you may find that your air plant doesn’t get much fuller, but will grow more of them.

How Fast Do Air Plants Grow – In Summary

In summary, when it comes to how fast do air plants grow, it really depends on the type of air plant you have, what stage in life it’s in (whether its just been propagated or is about to bloom), but you can expect about an inch of growth per year at most. Looking at it growing pups or a flower, these may happen faster than the growth of the full plant, but will also slow down the rest of the plants growing time.

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Looking for information specific to Colorado? Check out Naturalist Perspective!

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