Gardening with Gary

Gardening Advice from an Expert

Air Plant

Linda Roth writes~ I have three rather large leaves from an air plant that my Mom just brought back from Hawaii. They've been laid out flat on a wet napkin, and they've started sprouting from around the edges. The instructions say to plant them in potting soil as soon as they begin to sprout. But, how do you plant them? With the leaf flat under the surface of the potting soil and the new sprouts above the surface?

A. Cool, I haven't had one of those in years! They used to grow wildly under a couple greenhouse benches in Michigan. I can still see them and me taking them home to start new ones for myself. Like weeds!

What you want to do is merely lay the leaf on top of moist soil mix and allow the baby roots to grow down into it. Do not place the leaves below the soil line or they will rot. In nature, they drop to the ground and root right as they lay and the babies quickly anchor themselves. You can break off the new plants after a couple months when they are established as their own plants.

They are succulents and therefore need to be grown on the quite dry side like cacti or they will rot. They should be very well suited for Arizona desert. They can go eons without water as long as they have tons of sun. They would do very well on a patio or balcony as long as temps do not drop below 55 degrees F...!

Let me know how they do. Makes me wanna go out and buy one myself. They are really neat.