I have never used distilled water for my Tillandsia, but I've read plenty information on Tills care that advice against using it because the water is "too pure", lacking nutrients your plants need (you'll need to add fertilizer, but be careful, too much can burn them). Try mineral/natural spring water or even tap water that has sat for a while. And use a fan to add airflow, if opening windows is not possible, so they'll dry faster and not sit in too much moisture (from damp paper towels and no air movement). Your plants still have plenty of green, give them a good soak (weekly, a mist or two in between if necessary), dry well, and hope all make it through okay.

As emergency measure, you can try boiling that drinking water first. It should decrease the amount of calcium in it, because it will precipitate as limescale.

Hi everyone.

Q Z- My advice would be to look to the "basics" for an answer.

You say you have your plants "on the windowsill of my dormitory room" but you don't say how long you soaked them for.

Are they sitting with the base "on" the window sill or are they "suspended" slightly up off the sill? If they are sitting "on" the sill, it's possible there is still sufficient water left in the leaf axils after draining, and when the plant is turned upright again, this water is able to drain to the base of the plant where it touches the sill. This would cause the leaves to go black due to too much water possible causing eventual rot.

I don't know much about Tillandsias but I find they hate excessive water and much prefer "little and often" in the way of misting them with a hand sprayer and growing them in an area with abundant circulating air (Not in front of an air conditioner duct).

Look at how they grow in nature, often clinging to a host with circulating air all around. I've even seen pictures of them growing on telephone lines (Picture 1) where they would quickly dry off after a shower of rain or heavy mist.

As I see it; it's a two part equation of minimal water and maximum air circulation, and you can't have one without the other. The fact that you haven't watered them for three months means they aren't even getting the "minimal" water and could be starting to dehydrate also. They can survive without water when grown outside, but when inside they depend on you to provide it correctly. I find the leaves are a good indication; when this type of Tillandsia is growing happily, the leaves are a silvery/grey colour (left plant in picture below), but when getting too much water they are tending to be more green in colour (right plant in picture below).

That's just my opinion based on what I've found with the few plants I have and there are many members here with much more experience of this genus than I, and I'm sure they can give you much better advice.

All the best, Nev.

I don't have access to good air circulation here (almost no circulation at all. If I open the window, it's too cold), so I don't dare to water my Tillandsia frequently. Is there a way to keep my plants alive without much air circulation?

They need dry warm place after watering. Windowsill with direct sunshine is best. Or place them nearby any heat source with temperature comfortable for people.

You might consider purchasing a small fan that you can turn on now and then, perhaps aimed over the plants (not directly at them in case fan blows too strong). I have some small plug-in fans and even one that runs on batteries that I got for free. They are all noisy though so maybe not use them at night. Sitting the plants in the open will help, too, as there is bound to be some air movement in your room.

When the weather is nice, you can maybe put plants in a basket (say, a basket that holds fruit or a loosely woven wooden basket, maybe even an Easter basket) and hang them outside in a safe place (shade or semi shade, where no cats or human passersby can liberate them), or near a window, on the dining room table, etc. You might even use wire (not copper) or fishing line or pipe cleaners to loosely "tie" plants to handle of basket temporarily.

Hi everyone.

Just to add a little more now that the topic of fans has come up.

A friend of mine grows a few tillandsias in an old aquarium and to overcome the lack of circulating air, he has fitted a small fan similar to those used in computers and finds it does the job well.

He was able to get it for a low cost at one of the many places that refurbish old computers so possibly you could use the same idea.

All the best, Nev.