T. kurt-horstii old name similar to T.streptocarpa

Thanks, HDD! T. kurt-horstii brings up some results that I hadn't seen previously. Just to clarify, are you thinking that both plants are T. graomogolensis, then?

I've added some photos that show their respective trichomes a little better. Natural lighting has been difficult lately...oh the joys of the Canadian prairie winter!

Thanks gonz, I am still learning about tillys

Thank you, gonzer! That is very detailed and helpful information indeed. I will focus on the similarities between my own plants and trust that the issue is with me rather than the identification, haha!

While Gonzer is no doubt right, your pictures of it also remind me of Myosura but with a fur coat :) In reference to first picture, some plants that need to conserve their water will curl up more tightly than those that are well or perhaps overwatered. I'm thinking of Caput Medusae and Xerographica, but there are a lot of others. So one of yours may be receiving (or storing?) less water than the other.

Good point Debbie as I did not really look at the photos before replying. My answer had to do with the two names. Looking closely now the top photo actually could be T. crocata. Only a yellow flower will tell us.

You're right, Maybean's set of pics show it could be crocata! I got some this year, two batches from Rainforest Flora (one each at different times). Batch #1 looked great, but Batch #2 looked like a ball of dead black spiders (like some worker just grabbed some and tossed it in the box) :( I'm hoping they'll revive, but I may not order that from RF again... but the first batch (a "clump") did have a flower soon after I got them and they seem happy. That pretty little yellow blossom did smell nice. I understand Spanish moss also has a fragrant flower, but as well as it grows for me (here in the high desert, of all places), mine hasn't blossomed yet; it must not feel threatened and need to reproduce that way...

Thank you, Debby, and thanks again, gonzer! I really felt that the two plants looked very different from each other. After looking through all (!) of the pictures at fcbs.org and a few online sellers, the closest match to my eye was T. crocata (specifically a photo of Copper Penny). I just didn't want to be presumptuous that I had been so lucky! I'll try to report back with photos if/when it flowers :)

Debby, T. myosura was another that showed some similarity...more so than T. graomogolensis to me at least, ha! I'm sorry to hear about your second batch of T. crocata--how disappointing when an order does not arrive as expected!

T. myosura and another; T. caliginosa bear a faint resemblance to graomogolensis in growth habit but in-hand the differences are very noticeable. Crocata is very susceptible to rot (I've lost a fair share) and the orange-flower (Copper Penny) even more so. Why? I'm not sure, but I've never seen a clump bigger than a few plants.

Spanish Moss flowers are very fragrant considering their small size. I recently received three small clumps of the yellow-flowered form and am waiting to see if they're aromatic as well.

Thanks for sharing that experience, too, gonzer! It'll knock some sense into me if I'm ever feeling like I "should" be watering before the plant truly needs it. (I have to grow indoors--waaaaaaaaaay too cold and snowy here, for now at least.)

The greener a Tillandsia (like Bulbosa) or the thinner the leaves (filifolia), the more water and humidity it will tolerate. For some plants, though, this is a dry time of year in their habitat, so they can enjoy a little rest. We can study where plants are originally from (as many now are grown here from seed or pups, protecting what's left in the wild) and try to mimic that environment.

It's quite cold here, too. The only thing Albuquerque has that some tillies like is altitude, and some don't mind our warm, dry air. Some love our sun, but when I put them out in the summer, it's in a north-facing porch (plenty of reflected light), and I water (spray and soak) them more often, then, too (they dry quickly here).

At http://journal.bsi.org/ one can access back issues of the BSI journal and learn a lot. Early issues (from, say, 1951 through 1994 or so) published a lot of stories like "My friends and I went to Mexico/Ecuador/Peru/Florida to look for xxx and had quite an adventure!" Fun reading (dirt roads, native peoples, old-fashioned cameras, massive collecting going on, quarantine problems). From around 1995 to present, though, they've printed more color -- and become more (boringly) scientific. They've always concentrated on Bromeliads, but often have stories and pictures of Tillandsias. You can read on line or download PDFs of some of the journals. Membership info also available (I haven't joined yet).

Ooh, thank you for the information and that link especially, Debby! I'm sorry for the very delayed thanks and response; it's been a busy holiday season for me. Now that things are winding down, I'll take advantage of the opportunity to peruse those journal issues!

The Bromeliad Society started out as a little group that decided to put out a magazine. That was back when people wrote real letters on paper and formed groups that communicated through the U.S. Mail. The Society was afraid they'd wither away for lack of interest. Turns out they were wrong. +60 years later, with members around the world, it seems they are a journal that perhaps graduate students like to publish scientific papers in explain minute details about bromeliads. I'm sure some readers love that, but it's one reason that I haven't subscribed yet. A yearly subscription is quite hefty when they don't often talk about Tillandsias. They're competing against YouTube now, something that wasn't even dreamed of back in 1951...

No magazine, book or website can offer what your own hands own experience can give you based on your own growing conditions.....with that said when it comes to tillandsia, gonzer and a few more very knowledgeable people still around, they are the best source we have. :)

I'll say this since I don't have experience in some of the climates the OP's here have. I'm in Southern California about 5 miles from the ocean and all my stuff is grown outside with no fertilizer. I used to feed my plants (2,000+) for years until I noticed there was no noticeable effect on the majority. Advocates of feeding programs are usually those folk who raise the plants in greenhouses, with RO water, and have humidity levels more akin to the plant's habitat. The guru of Tillandsias, Derek Butcher of Australia had asked me for years why I feed my plants when Mother Nature designed them to pull what they needed from the atmosphere. Well I finally capitulated and stopped feeding with the results being actually better for many, ie. more root growth.

The last little ditty that needs attention is the statement "Soak plants after receiving shipment". This is generally not the case as any grower worth their salt will be selling you healthy plants to start with. Unless you live somewhere where shipping takes over two weeks (or a very hot climate) soaking your new plants may more often than not saturate them to the point of rot. Better to let the plants tell you when they're thirsty since you can't undo the act of soaking. A rotted plant can maintain a healthy appearance for a long time, until you pull on the middle. A plant in need of water may have desiccated leaves (rolled in towards themselves) or a pale look about it. A good overnight soak here would be beneficial. Familiarize yourselves via the web or books on what that particular species should look like when healthy. Here in my area plants get hosed off about once a week. I realize this might not work indoors so make sure to take them outside.

Apartment management would wonder where all that water came from, especially if my aquarium is still intact. Lately (this winter so far), I've been spraying (spritzing) my plants once in the morning until they turn green, and that's usually it. Everybody looks okay, and like last winter, some are reddening up, even some unexpected ones, or putting on obvious growth. I'm taking pictures every morning.

I still have two labels from Rainforest Flora. The one attached to a small funckiana "Herb Hill" says "Filtered sunlight. Run plant under faucet 2x per week & submerge it under water overnight every 2-3 weeks. Outdoors: Bright filtered sunlight. Thoroughly water weekly when humid or cool, daily when hot or dry. Avoid frost. Fertilizing: Epiphyte's Delight [which they sell] fertilizer monthly. " I don't run them under tap water; I prefer to let the water sit for a few days or use aquarium water.

Some of my plants were getting filtered sunlight for winter, but I've moved them all now under grow/cool white lights due to cold and gray skies sometimes keeping me from opening blinds (and chilling the room even more). I've only watered over night by accident (forgot plant was in there). Usually 1-1.5 hours a week and that only in the summer since we usually have low humidity here in the high desert. There are only some plants I'd put in sun here (the Xeros, for example) since our sun is so bright at this altitude. If the plants go out, they're in my north-facing porch. Also they are safer there from plant stealers. If people are interested, I'll give them, say, some Spanish moss as I have a lot (and it's the one I will soak more often).

The tag for the T. myosura says "SUBMERGE plant in water overnight first night and every other week thereafter. TILLANDSIAS like bright light but not all day direct sun." I think I might have soaked the myosura and the other plants I got in that shipment maybe 15 minutes, because they honestly looked fine and had been in the shipping box only 3-4 days at most.

I bought some Tillandsia-specific fertilizer a few years ago but only tried some recently, dissolving it in spray water because an article I read in the BSI journal said the author was surprised when the plants responded nicely. Otherwise most of the time I spray them with fresh-water aquarium water which has a small amount of fish and snail poop/urine in it. I might use a little more of the fertilizer in the spring, just to see what happens. Then again, while I don't have 2,000+ (I'm jealous!) I do have plenty and do not look forward to figuring out how to keep a blooming Xerographica happy...!

Gonzer is right in everything he says. My advice may help folks who live at higher and/or drier altitudes with real winters.

gonzer, it would be the dream to be able to grow them in your conditions, let alone as successfully!

I'm very grateful to everyone on this forum who shares their methods and experience in detail. Even if not in the same conditions as me, I can adjust according to our relative zones when considering my own methods. I don't yet feel that I've been growing tillandsias long enough to be dispensing much advice of my own, because goodness knows I'm still monitoring my plants very carefully to see if I notice them telling me to do something differently, ha!

Maybean, it's important to realize that the majority of Tillandsias have evolved through some pretty nasty conditions. Some plants need a lot of TLC, some not so much, but the bulk of them are better off when they're not 'mothered' to death. As tempting as it is at times to give 'em that little bit extra I find that ignoring them for the most part produces happier plants. Time and experience are your guides so the successes and failures will naturally follow. My personal credo is that if after 3 tries with no luck I forget about that species and move on.

Thanks, gonzer; I like that philosophy! I certainly mothered a little T. ionantha that came to me in poor health, but once it appeared to be back on track, I exercised enough self-control to reduce the hands-on attention. I've adapted an old lesson from art school about the benefits of spending more time observing than actually painting while a work is in progress. I'd rather be involved by looking and thinking (especially while I learn) than by watering, watering, and overwatering some more, haha! :)