Place the plant in a bowl of water for two or three hours to hydrate it. Gently spread the leaves of the plant to reveal the pups at its base. Separate the pups from the parent plant by gently pulling the plants apart at the base. Put the pups into the bowl of water as you separate them from the parent plant. Mist the pups each day, in the morning or early afternoon. Tillandsias are nocturnal and respire at night, which means they breathe in carbon dioxide at night. If the leaves are covered with a film of water, they cannot absorb the gas from the air.