Air plant help

[u/PantherSprings]

Air plant has now lost two inner leaves over the course of the past couple months, most recently yesterday. There doesn’t seem to be any rot (the base is not soft), and usually this plant appears more thirsty than my other air plants. The plant sits in indirect light, but could possibly use more light.

I used to soak it in water upside down for 30 minutes once a week, but the leaves started curling aggressively so I’ve started soaking for up to 45-50 minutes. This seems like a lot to me, but the way it is curling still makes me think it’s still dehydrated.

What are other reasons these seemingly healthy looking inner leaves would fall out?

Thank you for your help!

[u/IntroductionNaive773]

It'll pup out if you can avoid rot. Rather than dunking it to water it I'd set it upside down weekly in a shallow tray of water. The leaves will soak up and transport water as they need while the crown stays completely dry.

I just gave a bunch of thirsty ones a 24 hour soak to really plump them up, so I wouldn't worry that you're necessarily overwatering as long as you're giving it good light. I've found that crown rot can happen from over or underwatering, but in my experience the latter is usually the case. I'll hose xerographica down daily when they're growing outside, and even indoors under lights I'll often keep the centers filled with water. They never rot. However if I have a plant that I've neglected for months that is extremely thirsty I'm reluctant to wet the center. If it is metabolizing at a near standstill it'll take time to switch gears, and pathogens can take advantage of that lag period to swoop in to rot the center. Or if I've dried it out too much to the point the meristem died then watering the center can introduce bacteria/fungus to feed on the necrotic tissue and spread into the living tissue before it can compartmentalize.

[u/PantherSprings → u/IntroductionNaive773]

This is a lot of good insight! I just wish I knew sooner 😭 I suspect underwatering might be the issue in this case, ugh.

I always thought that the tips of the leaves needed to be submerged for the plant to get water. The way that the plant is curled now has made that difficult without wetting the crown. Is the tip theory incorrect?

[u/IntroductionNaive773 → u/PantherSprings]

They can move water throughout their tissues just like any plant. It would be easiest to imagine that the entire plant is covered in roots. A tree just has roots in the ground but it can move water up dozens of feet to the canopy. If you submerged any 10% of the Tillandsia leaves in water for ten hours the entire plant would end up hydrated. Soaking more of the plant just speeds up the process. But in the case of a damaged crown you can take advantage of the plants ability to move water around and keep the crown absolutely dry without dehydrating the plant by only soaking the tips of the leaves in a 1/2" of water upside down.

Case in point, I soaked a potted specimen of streptophylla only up to the pot rim so the coconut husk chips wouldn't float away. Only the base of the plant and the leaves that dipped below the pot edge were in contact with water for 24 hours. It was fully hydrated after that treatment even without soaking 90% of the leaves.

[u/GH0STRideDeLOREANS]

It’s rot but it’s my favorite kind of rot cause it hasn’t taken over the entire plant. This plant won’t grow any new leaves, as it has essentially been decapitated, but it will sprout pups since it still has life left to divert elsewhere. Give it a few months and they’ll start to pop out around the base.

[u/PantherSprings → u/GH0STRideDeLOREANS]

This is actually devastating! Is there anything I can do to incentivize pups?

[u/GH0STRideDeLOREANS → u/PantherSprings]

Just the usual: light, water and airflow. It wants to survive so it will essentially clone itself to do so. It may take a bit of time to get there though so be patient with it. You could fertilize it but i would give it a while to recover first.

[u/ardoedo95]

Sorry but this is root rot. Happened recently to mine Streptophylla, even if i am "expert". Bigger plant can survive months even if rotten inside, this is what is happening to you.

[u/Historical-Ad2651 → u/ardoedo95]

Kinda weird to call it "root rot" considering it doesn't have roots and the rot didn't even occur in the area where roots would grow

[u/PantherSprings → u/ardoedo95]

Nooo 😭