Non-selective herbicide overspray will cause chlorosis, poor health, dieback, and death. Other symptoms of herbicide overspray include leaves turning purple, stem dieback, and leaf mottling and spots.
Letting the leaves get too wet and / or allowing them to stay excessively wet for a prolonged period of time can encourage mold growth on the leaf surface, so it's always important to ensure you don't ever allow puddles of water to form on your plants' leaves - this applies when watering as well as when misting.
A spritz as little as once or twice a week can make a huge difference to humidity here as the moisture has nowhere to escape to. Likewise, misting can be an effective way to target dry patches on hanging baskets or mounted plants, such as stag horn ferns, which traditional watering may miss.
Some plants want daily misting; others are OK with two to three times a week.
The answer varies depending on the time of year and how dry the air in your space is. It's a good idea to mist a few times a week, at least, but it won't hurt to mist every day if possible. If you live in an arid climate and use a lot of climate control, you should probably be misting more often.
Misting creates humidity, and some tropical plants appreciate it (though there are more effective methods for increasing humidity around your plants), but it should supplement watering. To water properly, pour water directly on the soil until it runs out the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot.
“Spritzing your plants is not the correct way to water your plants. In fact, it doesn't water them at all,” she says. While spritzing can provide some moisture, unless the plant really thrives in humidity (ferns, orchids, or bromeliads, for example), Hovis says spritzing can do more harm than good.
As a rule of thumb, all cacti, drought tolerant plants, and the great majority of succulents, should never be misted!
Most houseplants will thrive just fine without the use of a mister, Gillette says. Epiphytes will benefit though from a light misting every morning.
Types of Plants That Like Mist
(Zebra plants, orchids, arrowhead plants, and begonias are just a few others that love mist.) "It's best to mist each of these plants as you see the top inch of the soil become dry to the touch," he says.
Apply pesticides during the cooler part of the day, such as the early morning or evening. Treatments made in the early morning allow foliage to dry before temperatures reach 85–90°F. Take special precautions when using pesticides containing oil. Treat when conditions allow plants to dry quickly.
Misting is highly recommended at least once a month, and more often with species that enjoy it (see full list below). Be sure to spray the top and underside of your leaves, and if using for cleaning your leaves, wipe the leaves down with a cloth after misting to remove dust.
Phytotoxicity, or unintentional pesticide damage to plants, results in abnormal growth, foliar burn, leaf drop, and discolored, curled, and spotted leaves (ex. 2, 4-D herbicide injury to grape). If phytotoxicity is severe, the plant may die.
“Some plants thrive in humidity,” explains Hank Jenkins of the Plant Provocateur in Silver Lake. “If you don't give them moisture, their leaves will dry out. If you want new foliage and growth, you need to mist them.”
A: To a plant, there's no difference in the mist temperature. However, warm misting humidifiers sanitize the water as they heat it to vapor. That means there's a slightly smaller chance that humidity-borne diseases can develop with a warm mist temperature.
Rather than misting your plants at night, a morning mist is the perfect way to start your plant's day. Misting in the morning allows plants time to dry off throughout the day. This is important to prevent mildew and other diseases.
Your Spider Plant will do well in normal household humidity but will thrive with a bit more humidity. Brown leaf tips may indicate the air is too dry, so mist your Spider Plant regularly using a Mister.
Plants can benefit from both warm and cool-mist humidifiers, but the choice between the two depends on the needs of the specific plants and the environment they are in.
Use filtered or rain water that doesn't contain chlorine, fluoride or other chemicals. Always mist your plants in the morning so the leaves can dry out during the day.
It's best to use filtered water if it is available. If you do not have filtered water available. Let the water sit in the mister for about 24 hours prior to misting. This will help the chlorine evaporate from the water over time.
DON'T overwater.
Overwatering, however, increases the risk of root rot and fungal disease. If you see droopy stems, wilting leaves, a whitish coating (fungus), or fungus gnats in the home—pests that thrive on consistently wet soil—it's a good bet that you're watering plants too much.
2. Misting. This method of watering is not recommended for succulents at all. Instead, you should only mist your succulents when propagating cuttings, as mature succulents store water in their leaves.