Species library › Tillandsia › Tillandsia tectorum
Other Partly documented

Tillandsia tectorum

Tillandsia tectorum is the snowball air plant of the dry Andes of Ecuador and Peru, a rosette so densely covered in long white trichomes that it looks furry. It grows mostly on rocks and cliffs in exposed, windy, fog-prone valleys with strong sun. In cultivation it wants the brightest light you can give, cool nights, constant airflow and light, frequent misting rather than soaking.

Tillandsia tectorum
Photo: James Ho, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry
Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on rock (lithophyte)

Where it grows wild

Grows mainly on rocks, cliffs and rocky slopes, sometimes on cacti or shrubs, in dry inter-Andean valleys and slopes with strong winds, frequent fog and intense bright spells. The long trichomes scatter strong sunlight and help the leaves shed water quickly, so the plant does not stay wet in fog.

Mid to high elevations in the Andes; the sources we could open do not give figures. Our measured data file had no usable wild GBIF records for this name, so no measured climate is available.

EcuadorPeru

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 2.0 licence, unmodified.