# air plants in a car?



## Dendrobait

I've always wanted to try this-any thoughts?

I'm currently in WA-so car temps would not be super crazy(40-110 probably). I was thinking of having some a little ways back from the dashboard or elsewhere(depending on the species light requirements) and then sticking them in the cupholder for water every so often. So far the following seem to be possibilities. The ideal species would be drought tolerant and able to tolerate brighter light for placement closer to the dash.

Tillandisa erhlesiana
Tillandsia tectorum(this one seems like a pretty good candidate for actual dashboard living)
ionantha?
stricta hardleaf?

Ideas would be great.
(another option, particularly for tiny ones would be to attach them in the little secluded area behind the rear view mirror-but I imagine with any roadtrip even the most drought tolerant Tilly would be dessicated).


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## hydrophyte

Oh man, unless you can always park in the shade I think they will get cooked. For a plant that isn't acclimated to hot, desert conditions I think that even 110F will be too hot.


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## Dendrobait

hydrophyte: Some tillies are desert plants-growing in canyons on cliffs, or even really exposed desert areas. I think these would be potential possibilities. My car is actually a pickup truck, so if things were to get really hot in the cab the tillies could be tossed into the bed if parked in the sun...they could even be partly shaded there. Perhaps even trying to grow some in a secluded area in the truck bed where they are fairly protected from the wind... I wouldn't try this elsewhere but with the relatively mild climate here in WA it seems like a possibility. One other issue would be light during the colder greyer months...

Actually-I wonder if any other plants/epiphytes would be possible contenders. 

So far a potential list

T. caput-medusae Sonoran form https://www.desertmuseum.org/programs/alamos_bromel_tilcaput.php
T. duratii
T. tectorum
T. caerulea
T. ehlersiana
T. chiapensis/xerographica-though the latter will get huge eventually
T. albida
T. cacticola


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## Michael Shrom

I think it would work great. The only problem would be you would always have to keep the windows open. Otherwise it is hopeless.


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## Dendrobait

Yeah, parking with closed windows in the sun would likely be a death sentence for just about any plant. The tillies could be removed from the car if that was unavoidable, placed in the bed of the truck, and then put back.


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## Enlightened Rogue

Just when I thought I heard it all....air plants in a car.

I like it.


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## Dendrobait

I'm kinda hoping antone comments on this. 

Basically, the challenges plants growing in a car will need to face.

-temperature extremes(warmer than outside temps generally)
-not much water/lower RH
-rapidly changing levels of light and air movement


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## Enlightened Rogue

I sent a pm to Antone.
He`ll get here


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## herbivrus

I think this would be pretty unlikely to succeed unless you took some extraordinary measures. Temps in a parked car actually get hotter than you might think; here's a link to a site by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that discusses the matter, and they claim "Cars parked in direct sunlight can reach internal temperatures up to 131° F - 172° F (55° C – 78° C) when outside temperatures are 80° F – 100° F (27° C – 38° C)," and also note that a car with its windows rolled 2" down on an 83 degree day still reaches 109 degrees in its interior. Children and Cars A Potentially Lethal Combination DOT HS 810 636

Add those temps to the fact that the car can reach those extremes within an hour of being parked, so that your plant will experience temp swings from, say, 68 degrees F to 109 degrees F or more in a very short time, and I don't think they're likely to survive the stress for very long. Though maybe you can carry them around with you, like very quiet pets, to enjoy wherever you happen to be! Any rate, if you try it, let us know how it goes.


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## Frogtofall

I think this is a novel idea but in reality it will likely be more work than its worth. Mostly bc you would have to always have your windows open and moving a plant back and forth is just going to get on your nerves.

Also the frequent, quick temperature changes from using the A/C and then turning it off and the vehicle getting back to ambient will stress the plant.

I think it might be possible if you had a screen insert for a window and bought one of those solar powered fans bc you're gonna need air flow for it not to burn. Then you gotta come up with a way to water it. I would so never let it get direct sun through a window. 

I dunno, it's too much work for me. For someone dedicated it could be possible. Tillandsia tectorum would be a good one to try. Possibly T. xerographica as well.


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## Dendrobait

Thanks all for the input. I will definitely let y'all know if I give it a shot. That is an excellent link! I'm wondering if it will work for a while and I will be lulled into a false sense of security until, say, next summer an odd hot day kills them. That is a good point on the plants craving air movement-being in a car, even in shade, with stale air might not sit well with them, if, say, you didn't drive for several days. It is probably an awful habit practiced by a young and dumb person yet to have his car broken into but more often than not I park with my window half down or cracked.

I was thinking of using Velcro stickers to make moving the plants around easier. Plants could again be tossed into bed of truck. Actually-it'd be cute to straight up try to grow some there. 

As for watering-I figured plants could be dunked in the cupholder. 

I may try tectorum or a xero. Is their any literature on temperatures desert plants experience in the wild? Particularly lithophytes I'd imagine deal with pretty gnarly temperature swings as well. Imagine the temperature change a rock face experiences as the desert sun swings and hits it. And rocks even in pretty mild climates can heat up well over 100F

Another possibility would be just a true succulent of some sort...I've seen some photos of agave and whatnot growing epiphytically as well.

I remember on Catalina Island a lady had a garden growing in the back of her truck. Due to the rampant deer problem it had netting around it. Apparently she just didn't have space in her in ground garden. I was told and observed that she would park in different spots to take advantage of the sun. Maybe too much of a bother for just about anyone else-and I'm sure her truck bed is rusting out from the frequent watering...


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## oddlot

I think if you're going to contemplate it you should hook up one of those thermal coolers and do it right with a shag moss headliner!


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## Dendrobait

I think I may change gears a bit and attempt a Tillandsia hat. That should prove easier to deal with 

Anyone have any idea on any particularly compact species? or else anything that might work for this project? Some fragrant blooms(crocata? caerulea? duratii may be too big...) would be sweet


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## Enlightened Rogue

You have way too much time on your hands.

In a good way


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## Dendrobait

Minds can be put to work solving many problems. If the most pressing puzzle at the moment is figuring out what sp. of tillandsia to grow on a hat, it is a good day.


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## Dendrobait

I found an extra cap and hot glue gunned a few different species to it. I've also ordered a few too many species to try on it...... 

So far

Tillandsia filifolia
Tillandsia stricta 'hard grey'
a few forms of ionantha

The more I think about it-the more a hat seems to be a great place to grow airplants...I suppose this depends on your lifestyle. However, most human beans will be spending the majority of their time in bright indirect light outdoors(I suppose a mariners version with plants adapted to harsher conditions might be in order for some folk). They certainly get enough air circulation riding around on a hat and they can be watered as frequently or infrequently as need be. If not being worn hat could be hung beside door in suitable bright but lightly shaded place.


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## Frogtofall

I'm sure T. concolor would be good since it handle direct sun with ease.


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## Dendrobait

Hello Antone,

It will be interesting to find out what works best. The intensity of sun up in more northerly latitudes-Western WA, is going to be quite a bit less...esp. with our frequent cloud cover and grey days. I think I may even do better with the more mesic and shade tolerant ssp. We will see.

Also, the stricta it turns out has some issues. I suppose I should inspect nursery purchases more closely. What I thought were some older dry leaves turns out to be some sort of dry rot-looks similar to as if someone took a candle and burned part of the plant-the leaves severely affected thus looked somewhat dehydrated.

I peeled off leaves until I got to healthy tissue...their is still one leaf with a tiny amount of it a few leaves into the rosette. Should I cut this out with flamed scissors? Perhaps some cinnamon? The plant now otherwise looks healthy firm.


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## Dendrobait

Two ways to role with tillandsia | Dirt Du Jour
Here is a wide brimmed hat nicely done up! 

Mine is more of a cap. Hoping to intermix a few lower growing more clumping or caulescent species(ionantha, bandensis, araujei, neglecta, etc.) with a few taller and showier ones to a good effect. With the filifolia coming off the back(may add another thin leaved sp. like setacea or maybe bartrami?) it honestly looks a bit more like a headdress at this point haha.


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## Dendrobait

Ok, I went ahead and hot glued selected species onto the hat. I will probably go back and add a dab of e6000 under each plant since I read that hot glue often gives way over time. Plants will be left on/removed from hat based on how they do and look over time.

andreana
ionantha(several forms, fuego, stricta/rosita, and Mexican)
aeranthos
retorta
intermedia
Some sort of juncish type-filifolia? Not labeled
tectorum
plumosa
crocata(smells amazing)
bandensis
fuschii var. gracilis


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## herbivrus

Pics, or it didn't happen!


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## wriggles

Dendrobait said:


> Ok, I went ahead and hot glued selected species onto the hat.


Now we're getting somewhere!


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## Dendrobait

Bahaha. I did consider hygrolon but it is not suitable for most Tillandsia-they need to dry out after misting and aren't really found on porous moist surfaces like that. Now if you wanted to do an orchid or moss hat...

A water reservoir isn't really necessary as it is easy enough to water the plants on the go-even a drinking fountain will do.

For anyone considering this. I think that durability and pokiness of species should also determine placement. You definitely don't want a species with stiff delicate leaves on the front of the hat, for example.


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## SDK

Where is the picture of this hat?


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## oddlot

I agree, at this point and after all the talk, we need pics or it doesn't exist


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## Dendrobait

I need to put up some of the pics of me wearing...err...field testing it-which is a pretty constant thing. Aside from a few plant falling off mishaps(E6000 and stitching them on with mono seem pretty fullproof-hot glue gun is not recommended) so fary so good. 

Currently on hat
-crocata(came with blooms, has opened new flowers for me)
-bandensis
-tectorum
-filifolia
-aeranthos(I think I may kill this one, seems like it will need more water than most-flat thin bright green leaves)
-ionantha fuego, stricta, and mexico. THe current placement on hat is not ideal for stricta-has lost a few leaves from getting bumped.
-plumosa
-intermedia(hanging from one side)
-araujei(throwing up a bloom now)
-fuschii var. gracilis
-andreana
-retorta
-reichenbachi


Thoughts? Any obvious no-nos? I plan to keep what seems to be doing well and is likeable. Also-how long does it take Tillies to send out significant growth? I think I am seeing quite a bit of activity from a few(filifolia seems to be putting out lots of new leaves-crocata is opening more blooms) but it is tough to tell with these guys so far. 

Possible add ons or replacements
-bartrami/juncea may be better than filifolia for creating the headdress look? Silver leaves so probably tougher cookie
-cacticola? Indeed-very striking and nice that it keeps a spike for a long time. 
-perhaps in the future smaller ionantha would be better-or maybe just skip this sp. though they are quite likeable...hmmm. Heavy plants are tougher to attach and more unwieldy(I've tried to keep them on the bill of this hat)-more leafy ones seem to be better in this regard.


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## Okapi

This thread needs stickied


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## a hill

Please keep updating this. Living in az I'm having way too many ideas.


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## bruhmelioid

Great idea with the hat! 

People are starting to wear tillandsia jewelry, why not other cranium accessories?


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## SDK

Okapi said:


> This thread needs stickied


+1 and we need a pic of you wearing it, preferably in a public place....


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## Dendrobait

Haha I will put up one when I get one. Its been quite the head turner so far in hat I frequently forget I am wearing it.


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## Dendrobait

So this hat has been through a lot! I have also gotten my hands on way too many plants to experiment with. I also have figured out a system so many of the plants are modular(can be removed and reattached to the hat with relative ease). Wish I had more pictures of it. 

Here it is going on a hike a couple months ago(the tectorum and andreana totally pulled mist from the air!)


And a bad hasty shot of it recently. 

I have run into a couple snafus. We've gotten a few days of torrential rain, and working outside things got pretty wet. I had the idea, after hanging the hat near a heater to dry a bit of painting on nikwax to waterproof this hat. It worked ok, but I do wonder if either of those affected some of the plants unduly. A couple plants showed what looked like signs of underwatering-but may have actually been overwatering...the leaves curled and dried but upon being given lots of water the plants would soon fall apart. 

Some notes
-juncea: oldest plant on the hat...has brown tips on a lot of the leaves but otherwise seems to be doing ok. Not much in the way of new growth so I suppose it is rather slow growing.
-festucoides: Put one of these in below the juncea and it seems ok. Probably needs more water than juncea. 
-ionantha: These guys seem to do really well...the best forms for anyone wanting to redo this is small ones with leaves pressed close together. I have a peanut that is producing a pup. The larger more pineapply ones are prone to losing leaves if bumped, but if placed somewhere safe like towards the back would be fine. They are also heavy!
-bandensis: Really like these guys. The one bummer is they don't really seem to produce much in the way of roots which makes attaching them difficult.
-crocata: Have had a couple plants in the clump die/brown leaves but it does well overall. 
-tectorum: I wish these grew faster so I could say if mine actually likes being on a hat or not. Has broken some leaves. Definitely a crowd favorite though. 
-fuchsii var. gracilis: These little guys are really cute. Need to be watered a lot it seems
-plumosa: Somehow rotted a couple rosettes out of this clump...pulled on the center and they just fell apart.
-reichenbachii/intermedia: These two croaked in the manner described above recently.
-andreana: One little one is doing really well. The bigger one produced some offsets but then lost color in the upper portion of many of the leaves-the lower leaves developed fine black spotting. Can't tell if it was mechanical damage, overwatering, underwatering, or wind shear. I removed it from the hat and may replace it with another that I have. 
Current list
ionantha
fuchsii var gracilis
xerographica(got ahold of the cutest baby-anyone have any idea how long it will remain hat sized?)
mallemonti
crocata
tectorum
cacticola
juncea 
festucoides
stricta green(I think stricta soft gray would be ideal)
streptocarpa
albertiana
funckiana
andreana

Now this hat looks like some sort of wacky camo hat...but for the average folk-particularly those with wide brimmed outdoor hats they wear a lot a couple of plants could definitely be used as accents. Advantages to hat culture include great air circulation, the possibility of very frequent watering, and exposure to partially sunny conditions(providing you aren't spending tons of days in full midday sun-it is nice as the plants prefer what we do in regards to being outside). On days you are not going outdoors the hat can always be hung up outside somewhere where it receives bright light but perhaps is protected from rain. I've toyed the idea of putting together a few of the attachable/detachable plant kits using the best species for this...not sure how much interest would be out there. Their is actually a lot of thought that goes into species selection-you can't just willy nilly put plants on hats and expect them to do ok. Most important is that species with brittle/hard leaves are a definite nono.

Anyone have any ideas for any tiny succulents that could grow if given a small pocket of well draining material to root into? Probably saxicolous species would be the best fit.


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## epiphyte

Air plants in a car...air plants on a car...

Your Tillandsia hat is pretty awesome! You should post a photo of you wearing it on the Epiphyte Society facebook page and on the Epiphyte Reddit page. If you do so I'll send you a small sampler box of succulent cuttings from my tree. I'll also throw in Tillandsia capillaris v. virescens and Tillandsia tricholepis if you're interested.


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## Dendrobait

Epiphyte: Haha that is crazy! Neos are tough plants eh? No spot on this hat really but I wonder if the small species might do well if they were given hygrolon or some other moisture retentive material to root into. Their is a picture floating somewhere around the net of a fern that is growing out from behind the wheel of a pickup truck. It looks maybe like licorice fern or something. Apparently it dies back in summer but comes back with winter rains. 

I will do that for ya. Their are oodles of great pictures other people have taken of me with the hat(scores of random folk as well) but getting them from people is a problem! Since I do outdoor ed. it is also a nice way to talk about plant ecology-in WA we have lots of native epiphytes(licorice fern, Selaginella oregana, plants that regularly start life on nurse logs etc.). I think I'd like to put a myrmecophilous species(probably a small compact clone of T. caput-medusa) on it to be able to talk about that as well. 

capillaris is interesting...is it fragrant?(crocata is my favorite species so far on this hat-would love to add more...when it blooms it gives natural perfume to the hat) Hard to tell perspective and other things from photos but It actually looks like it would be a decent species for this sort of project.

I'd love Tillandsia tricholepis. Haven't seen it or any of the tiny tillies yet but they'd probably do great like this.


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## Barry Thomas

This may be one of the strangest and wonderful threads I have ever read. This is totally weird and awesome at the same time.


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## FroggyKnight

Barry Thomas said:


> This may be one of the strangest and wonderful threads I have ever read. This is totally weird and awesome at the same time.


Agreed. 

Hey Joe, what are the chances that I'll be able to take a look at this thing tomorrow? Its had to believe this thread went from keeping Tillansias in a car, to building a living hat. Its a pretty cool invention if you ask me! 

John


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## Dendrobait

John: You will definitely see it. It is my only hat so it gets worn all the time. Hell if you want you can take a picture with it. 

If you see any cool Tillandsia at the show tomorrow that'd be great too haha.


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## FroggyKnight

Cool!! Honestly, I'm tempted to make one for myself

I will definitely keep my eye out for interesting Tillansias. I would be really surprised if there weren't any there.

John


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## Dendrobait

Haha awesome. If you buy some at the show I'd potentially be interested in trades(if offchance any vendor has Tillandsia crocata in particular). Or I can sell you some extra plants that did not fit on my hat but would be worthwhile bets for hat life to get you started. Can also get you set up with Velcro tabs if you want to make the hat modular.

The nursery at Key Center(Sunnycrest Nursery I think? Can't remember) has a great selection of Tillandsia in stock if you are in the KP during the daytime. They have small xerographica for 9 bucks, andreana, dura, stricta, ionantha, and more. Again it is best to stick with species with leaves that will flex if they are bumped. If you are interested I could potentially run by there and grab you a few as well.


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## FroggyKnight

Awesome! I doubt that I will be making my hat any time soon, but thanks for the offer. Most likely, I will be working on it over the summer when I actually have a bit of free time to play around with (and a chance to wear it! ).


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## Dendrobait

Anyone have any thoughts as far as chances of success with small broms of other sorts in this sort of environment? I've come across a couple things about how Tillandsias are actually more dependent on high humidity than the tank bromeliads since they don't maintain water reservoirs. But it seems the leaves would probably dry out fairly quickly without protection of fuzzy trichomes the Tillandsia have.

I'll have to put pictures up soon but I am actually going to be starting plant hat no. 2.0(still Tillandsia)...on a outback style hat...plenty of growing room.  Will be moving a few of the larger plants such as cacticola off this hat onto that one. The hope is to end up with both a functional sun/hiking hat and hopefully something that looks good-instead of like some crazy experiment. Of course, with my tendency to keep adding plants I think the 2nd goal is unlikely...

A succulent hat might require a different material than cotton to survive hygrolon/Aquamat being laid ontop of it...unless waxing it provides enough protection. We'll see. The plan for a succulent hat would be to cover the hat itself with a bit of material for the plants to root into such as hygrolon and then cover over with flat foam "rocks"...which I don't know how to make yet.


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## Dendrobait

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...13803298.1073741826.1100384922&type=1&theater
This hat is being slowly phased out but here is a picture of it. I've migrated many plants over to

This hat. 
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204030171928982&set=gm.783176971748453&type=1&theater


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## Dendrobait

An older picture of the hat. It looks quite different now but the nice thing about it is since the plants are either tied or glued to wires which go thru the venting mesh on this drover I can add and remove plants easily.


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