Elevate Your Air Plant Care: Tips and Tools for Pruning and Maintenance
Air plants, with their mesmerizing shapes and vibrant hues, bring a touch of natural beauty to any space. However, maintaining their allure requires a gentle touch and the right tools. Our Bonsai-Style Pruning Scissors – an elegant fusion of form and function, are designed to elevate your air plant care routine and are perfect for all of your maintenance needs from delicately trimming spent blooms to gently separating pups. To get the most out of your pruning scissors, here are some air plant maintenance tips!
Maintaining Leaves
Use your shears to prune or remove any dead, damaged, or browning leaves. Be sure to trim at an angle, following the natural contours of the air plant leaves. This will keep the plant looking full and uniform as opposed to blunt cuts.
Pro Tip: Err on the side of caution when trimming, no one likes the look of a scrawny Tillandsia. Plus, trimming isn’t always necessary for the health of the plant. It is primarily for aesthetic purposes.
Removing Roots
As epiphytes, air plants rely on their leaves for nourishment, rendering their roots as mere anchors that can be removed without affecting the health of the plant. If you prefer to have a rootless tilly, simply snip away at the roots, using caution not to puncture or cut into the base of the plant.
Clipping Spent Bloom Spikes and Flowers
After basking in the splendor of your air plant's blooms, bid farewell to the dried flowers and inflorescence by pruning the bloom stalk as close to the base as possible. The sharp, narrow tips of the blades allow for precise trimming of even the smallest and most delicate species.
Learn more about Caring for a Blooming Air Plant.
Separating Pups
Typically after an air plant blooms, pups form at the base of the mother plant and look like tiny versions of the parent. Once these pups are ⅓ to ½ of the size of the mother plant, you have the option to remove them to grow into mature plants. Just carefully insert the scissors between the pup and mother plant base and try to cut as close to the mother plant as possible without damaging it. Voila, you now have two air plants!
The bonsai-style pruning scissors don’t stop at Tillandsia. The versatile and powerful shears can be used for trimming plants such as staghorn ferns, bonsai, palms, herbs, and calatheas. This gardening season, elevate your green thumb game with our must-have bonsai-style scissors!
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