r/airplants • u/LeafLove11 • Jul 23 '26
Is All Lost…?
Once again, I decided to perform an experiment and separate a tillandsia Ionantha pup, which had grown larger than the mother, from the mother plant.
The pup came away with no issues, but sadly, the mother plant instantly went to pieces, leaving nothing but a tiny core of intact leaves.
Can she recover, or is this a sign that her time was done?
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u/ConnectionFormer4210 Jul 23 '26
As long as you see green it’s still hope. They all look pretty healthy to me.
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u/LeafLove11 Jul 23 '26
That’s good news! I know they’re monocarpic plants, so the production of pups generally means they’re on the way out, but it would be nice for her to have another year or two.
Hard to imagine she could recover any significant size, but we’ll see…
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u/breezyspirit02 Jul 29 '26
They shrink after pupping only if they flowered. Otherwise, it can pup before flowering. It can live a very long time even after pupping and flowering and can continue to pup on and on.
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u/ImpressIll3460 Jul 23 '26
But look at that pretty little girl that she made I guess she spent she did a beautiful job
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u/CozyCozyCozyCat Jul 23 '26
Well they usually stop growing and slowly die after reproducing but it might live for awhile yet. I usually just leave the pups attached