TG, I'm thinking it is medusae. Bulbosa looks too spindly. I believe our tillandsia are similar, if not the same. With a spray bottle filled with distilled water, I lightly mist my tillandsia every morning. About 2-3 times a week I heavily mist them until completely soaked, gently shake off excess water and then hang them upside down to dry. Once a month, I lightly spray them with liquid bromeliad fertilizer (17-9-22). They get bright, indirect sunlight. Like what the others mentioned, your watering regimen will greatly depend on the climate. Be sure to keep a close eye on your plant until you know what it likes. When I first started handling my tillandsia, I used the dunking method of watering. It wasn't too long afterwards that my ionantha and medusae started having "bald" spots. There are too many variables for me to confidently say the dunking caused this, but if you do this just be careful. If your still unsure how to care for it, have any further questions, or would just like another opinion I would try the bromeliad forum. Not the most active, but they are probably the most experienced. I am no expert on them either, I've only had them for around 6 months. What I know about them is from internet research and personal experience, so my info isn't that reliable... Here is my medusae (?) getting ready to flower.

Hi everyone. Ackerman Flooring - The plant in your picture above is a Guzmania and requires very different growing conditions to Tillandsias. The following URL will give you good cultural advice for these plants. http://www.greenculturesg.com/articles/april05/guzmania020405.htm All the best, Nev.

Checker, they are Gorgeous!! Excellent pics too! It's not very warm in my house during winter, and our heat doesn't dry the air, so once a once-a-week misting seems to do fine. When plants are outside, I do get them wet more often, 3-4x per week. Yes, Christy, that's what I did with mine. The smaller one, T. ionantha, has attached some roots to the Dracaena trunk, after a few years. I'm not in love with the placement of the biggest one, it could change if I get another idea.

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.)