Easy Humidity
4 Easy Humidity Tips
This post is for all you tropical plant lovers!
One thing that seems to be forgotten about is that plants not only need a regulated amount of sunlight, specific soil, and water, but also humidity. Plants use their leaves to breathe in-and-out and lack of moisture in the air can cause them to dry out and become brittle and discolored. There are a few simple ways to add humidity in the air if you have a ‘dry’ house. As pointed out above, this is mainly needed when it comes to tropical plants that are naturally from a humid environment. Cacti and other desert plants thrive better in dry climates so no need to add humidity for them. Hanging Ivys, dracaenas, lilies, pothos, and ferns are common house plants that like humidity. Dry crisp leave tips are one sign that they may need more humidity – although that’s not always the case. If your plant isn’t looking happy it’s really going to be a trial and error process to find out why, but maybe one of these methods will help.
1. Spray Bottle
This is an easy method that you really don’t have to do every single day. Fill a spray bottle with filtered water and mist the air above the plant (make sure your spray bottle will actually mist and not send a direct water jet towards the plant). This will let the water droplets fall naturally onto the plant’s leaves. — I keep a spray bottle hidden behind one of my bigger plant pots so I can grab it when it looks like my Ivys needs a spritzing.
2. Make a Riverbed Tray
This is more of a slow-release humidity option that is super simple to do. Get a terracotta saucer (or another waterproof tray like ceramics), fill it with some pebbles then add water and place below/beside your plants. If you want to sit your plant on top of the rocks make sure they are evenly distributed and do not make the pot rock back-and-forth. This method simulates a small river/creek bed and lets the water evaporate up into the air and around your plant. You can use small and medium-sized pebbles together for a nicer finish.
3. Make a Terrarium
This one is a little more tedious and depends on the plant you have because you will be limited by the size of the container. Most succulents and cacti don’t need humidity so one plant best suited for a terrarium is an air plant if you’re looking for color, moss and ‘bog’ type plants like creeping jenny. If you have a terrarium that is fully enclosed it’ll keep moisture in longer. However, if you have one with an opening (like the above) you’ll want to use the misting method every now and then. If you want to go this route be sure to do your research one what soil, sand, and container type you’ll need.
4. Use an Essential Oil Diffuser
This is a more unconventional approach but in my mind, it is more practical than getting a large humidifier (unless you need to change the humidity of a whole room). For a small set of desk plants, a tabletop essential oil diffuser works perfectly. When they first came out they were pretty pricy but with so many people buying them in the market the cost of essential oil diffusers has gone down a lot. I’ve purchased some for as low as $10 – and one time for $2 at a GoodWill! As long as you are using pure essential oils in them they should not harm your plant BUT it is still best to only put water in the diffuser and let it mist that out into the air.