“This ultimately creates a better exchange of oxygen and moisture. Misting one to two times per week can refresh your plants and keep them happy and thriving.” So it's OK to keep that pretty misting bottle near your plants—just don't let that be the only water they get.
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.
Most houseplants will thrive just fine without the use of a mister, Gillette says. Epiphytes will benefit though from a light misting every morning.
Frequent misting is thought to help to boost the humidity around your plants, which is something that moisture-loving varieties can really appreciate. So, if you have dry air in your home, it is a good idea to mist regularly to help counterbalance this.
Consider misting your plants once or twice a week during the cooler months because the air is dry, and require less frequent misting in warmer months when humidity levels are higher.
Water dripping from leaf to leaf can also spread pathogens like harmful fungus and bacteria from leaf to leaf. Therefore, you shouldn't mist a plant with a condition like powdery mildew or a bacterial infection. Generally, you want to avoid misting so much that water is dripping off the leaves.
Types of Plants That Like Mist
Tropical houseplants and plants that love high-humidity—such as the Chinese Evergreen, Boston Fern, and Majesty Palm—will benefit most from misting, says Plunkett. (Zebra plants, orchids, arrowhead plants, and begonias are just a few others that love mist.)
So, to avoid overwatering all you need to do is take a more measured approach. According to Reader's Digest, all it takes is placing two large ice cubes or several small ice cubes at the base of your plant once a week to keep them happy and hydrated. This way the plant gets to suck up all that H₂O slowly, but surely.
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.
As for misting — for the plants that need to be misted to thrive like air plants and ferns — it's best to mist them in the morning *and* the evening whenever possible. The morning mist helps to prepare them for the day ahead, while the evening misting helps create a little extra humidity.
As a rule of thumb, all cacti, drought tolerant plants, and the great majority of succulents, should never be misted! In addition to these plants, there are some plants that actually enjoy decent levels of humidity but, should not be misted because of their fuzzy foliage texture.
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.
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.
Misting one to two times per week can refresh your plants and keep them happy and thriving.” So it's OK to keep that pretty misting bottle near your plants—just don't let that be the only water they get.
Run your sink into a watering can, cup, or bucket, and let it sit for a good 24 hours. This will allow chemicals like chlorine and fluoride the time to evaporate from the water. We like to have a full watering can ready to go with still water so that if our soil seems dry, we can water our plant without waiting a day.
According to NASA's Earth Science Study, plants release extra moisture from their leaves back into the air when their environment warms up. This process, known as transpiration, can help get stuffy air flowing and knock a few degrees off your thermometer.
Mist your plants.
This is another popular method to increase humidity. Keep a misting bottle filled with clean water near your growing area and spray the plants every so often. Misting is especially helpful at the beginning of the winter season when the humidity drops rapidly with the temperature.
Plants thrive as long as temperatures remain 90 degrees or below. Above this, they decline. Plants that aren't heat tolerant suffer even more. The longer it stays warm, the worse it gets.
Plants that like coffee grounds also respond well to watering with coffee liquid. However, it is a fairly strong fertilizer, so this watering should not be done more than once a week. To prepare the mixture, boil the coffee and pour one and a half times as much water.
Placing a drip tray under your plant is key. If a drip tray is not available, simply put your plant in a basin, mist it and then put it back to its former place.
By regularly spraying your houseplants with water, you raise the humidity around their leaves, keeping delicate species from the tropical regions of the world happy in distinctly untropical homes.
In general, houseplants' potting soil should be kept moist, but not wet. They normally need watering once or twice a week in the spring and summer, but less in the autumn and winter. However, depending on the type of houseplant, this is not always the case.