A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 To mist or not to mist...That is the question

I've read and heard several things about misiting. Although I don't worry myself with it;my ferns get misted every morning and evening after the sun has set. After reading a post here it seems it's good to mist the Arrowhead too Then there's a friend of my visiting a few months ago when my Dieffenbacha was looking bad that said "No, you don't mist that one,just the ones with the dark leaves." Now, I KNOW that African Violets don't like water on their leaves and I don't have one. I mist as a method of cleaning the leaves. I don't mist my recooperating Peace lily.(it's now in the bathroom so whatever misting it gets comes from the shower steam)Can the fact that I had misted the Dieffenbacha cause its demise/leaf loss, etc.?

Mr. Creed says that misting is basically a way to increase the amount of humidity. But if the air in your area is dry and won't hold the humidity, then it isn't really a good idea to mist anyway. *thinks* I mist my plants, but that's how i water them, because i don't want big ugly holes in the soil from pouring water :p

But ya ^.^ that's what i read.

My part time job is taking care of plants in my university's library. There are several ferns in the collection. 4 asparagus and 3 boston.Because the library air is dry for the books my ferns don't get the right amount of humidity, so I mist them, very lightly, every 1-2 days. They are looking good. But if your home has a decent amount of humidity anyway, then I don't suppose misting is needed.