Some houseplants enjoy an occasional mist while others don’t really love it. How can you know which plants to mist and how important misting is anyway?
Misting houseplants is a hot topic among plant enthusiasts these days. While some claim it’s necessary if you want your plants to thrive, others don’t think it’s important and believe that it can actually harm the plants. The truth is somewhere in between.
Generally, houseplants that get misted tend to enjoy the added humidity. Between 30 and 40 percent of humidity is ideal and many homes are dryer than that. If you notice your plants’ leaves get curly or yellower, it’s a good sign they need more humidity. This is true for plants like palms, orchids, zebra plant, ferns, philodendrons, ctenanthe, croton, banana, begonia, etc.
However, plants with fuzzy leaves, like African violets and piggyback plants can get spots on the leaves if you water them. For them, it’s good to use a humidity tray—any tray, bowl, or plate that you can fill with water and place the plant on top of it without it touching the water.
It’s also not a good idea to mist the plants that don’t require a lot of moisture, like succulents, fiddle leaf fig, yucca, etc.
