Laser produced plasmas are transient in nature, and their properties, which depend on the laser parameters as well as the material properties and the irradiation conditions, can be tailored for different applications. Highly ionized Al plasmas generated using 7 ns and negatively chirped 60 ps pulses are optimized for the purpose of generating Al IV and Al III, respectively. The plasma is optimized spatio-temporally for Al IV or Al III with irradiation energy as the control parameter using time-resolved optical emission spectroscopy. Plasmas attuned for higher charged states could be utilized as a good alternative source for the generation of high order harmonics.