A little late to the party, but I feel pretty confident on #1 and #5. #1 - T. Harrisii #5 - T. Tricolor These two are really common on the market and I've seen them put in Tillandsia bundles more than once. I think #4 could be identified pretty easily if you could get a better picture so the colors can be seen. It looks like it has a flower spike which makes it pretty easy to narrow down. Edit: Should clarify since my ID's conflict with yours for #1. I'm pretty sure #1 isn't abdita since their leaves turn red very early on in their life cycle. I also have to pull my first guess as abdita for #3, you might be right with capitata on that one. From the side it looks like it's starting to get that trademark capitata "head." Lastly I just noticed the better view on #4 and I'm really at a loss on that one. This post was edited by naoh123 on Sat, Sep 6, 14 at 2:34

Hi bernardyjh - I think the biggest error might have been in keeping it too moist for a spell. When you mentioned "repotting it in a jar of moss" and "a gritty mixture", both of those sound like they hold water or moisture. Tillandsias are not like other bromeliads in that they NEED to dry out completely between sparse (and I mean SPARSE) waterings. The moss used in terrariums for Tillandsia is 'decorative'; it is not like other natural mosses that inherently hold onto moisture and would kill the plant. Also, the gritty mixture you mentioned sounds like it may have retained some moisture that may have led to the plant rot. The plant itself doesn't want to be "potted" in any way; it wants to be "affixed" to a surface, and if a curved surface, not in the 'hollow' but rather on the outer curve to avoid any water pooling towards it. Ideally your plant should be glued, tied, or adhered to a surface that allows it to dry out entirely most of the time, and certainly between waterings. The leaves are what wick moisture and nutrients from the environment; the roots only function to affix themselves to a surface, much like vines. Don't give up! Good luck with the next one. ;)

Hi everyone. Miao Yu – Let me first of all say that I don’t grow any of my bromeliads inside my home as I’m fortunate to have weather conditions that allow me to leave them outside all year round. This makes me unqualified to give advice on growing Tillandsias indoors, so I’ll just describe what I do with my plants and you may get some info from this that may help you. Although I'm not specifically a Tillandsia grower, I have twenty or thirty Tillandisas which have multiplied from pups given to me by various friends as gifts. I was told they love good light, plenty of circulating air and hate being over watered, so the treatment they get is based on that information alone and they seem to be growing well. I just hang them on a vertical north facing wall (I’m in the southern hemisphere) or from overhead roof timbers in my shade house above my Neoregelias where they get good light. The whole shade house is fully covered by 75% beige shade cloth and that’s the only protection from the elements they get. I live in New South Wales on the south east coast of Australia which has a temperate climate, and as I’m only one street back from the ocean I guess the climate could also be described as being a maritime climate as we regularly get the fresh sea breezes. My Tillandsias only get watered when I water my other bromeliads probably only once a week in summer and once each two weeks in winter as most of the watering is done by “Mother Nature” in the form of rain or dew. They only get fertilized probably a couple of time each year; again, when I fertilize my other bromeliads. To my knowledge I’ve never lost a plant to any sort of disease, and I firmly believe the answer lies in the abundance of freely circulating air which they are continually exposed to as my shade house has shade cloth as the only protection for the roof and the four walls. The following pictures show my Tillies growing in my shade house All the best, Nev.

Tillies rarely survive long term in humid, stagnant air and are generally high light plants. As such they make poor terr candidates as few people have large terrs with good air circulation and stagnant air coupled with high humidity/moisture tends to result in rot. Furthermore, providing the high light they desire in a terr without cooking them is problematic unless one is using LED lights (most commonly found ones are insufficient in both color spectrum and intensity, btw) or strong fluorescent lights (which still may produce more than the desired amount of heat). I do have some various tillies growing in two of my terrs, BUT my terrs are BIG -- one is a 55 gal tank and the other is a 95gal. For most folks, it is better to grow them outside of a terr. Having them in a shell, while a cute marketing gimmick, is not in the plant's best interests. Many people understandably water the plant in the shell which allows the bottom of the plant to sit in water which is in a dank dark area usually leading to rot. Tap water is not a good water choice generally speaking. It often is too high in dissolved solids which can quickly build up an "clog up" the pores by which water is absorbed. Furthermore, the build of salts can act to desiccate the leaves. In addition, those who use municipal water have to be concerned about the chlorine and fluoride often present in such. Rain water, RO, or distilled are the best choices. Watering frequency depends on one's RH, amount of air movement, and light/heat intensity. I have this tillie on my balcony for the summer. It gets full sun from 8am - 2pm. Air movement is high and humidity is 50% or better (considering how muggy it's been lately, far far "better"). In addition, this one is a xeric species (adapted for very dry habitats like scrublands). However, I STILL water almost every day. (If I forget for a few days it will be fine.) In the winter it comes inside and hangs in front of my sliding glass doors and gets no supplemental lighting. Air circulation is high but my winter RH is abysmally low -- typically around 15%. As a result I water almost daily -- if I remember to do so. Oh, and watering, in my case, consists of thoroughly misting the plant. For something a bit more decorative, you can hot glue your plant to a stick or piece of tile. (Put a blob of hot glue on the mount, then -- before the glue cools too much, press the plant into the blob.)