A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 To mist or not to mist?

I'm pretty new to houseplants, other than a couple philodendrons that I've had for years, that never seem to grow, but don't die either (a separate question)

I'll occasionally mist it. Recently I acquired a number of new houseplants, and have been told alternately to mist, to not mist, to mist just some, etc.

Is there a general rule of thumb for misting? Or will I have to list all my houseplants, and have you tell me which ones to mist and which to leave alone?

Ronni

I don't know if this will help,but I've always heard to only mist a plant if it has slick leaves. If it has soft or fuzzy leaves,you don't mist as it can cause fungus problems. Also whenever it rains I always stick my plants outside to get some fresh rainwater.

Karen

Misting is one of those commonly misunderstood plant topics.

Unless you mist hourly, 24 hours per day, then misting does very little to raise the humidity. If humidity is a concern - and it is not a concern for 95% of the most common houseplants - then a humidifier or pebble trays are the ways to do it, not misting.

Unless, your water is hard, misting does no harm and it does make some people feel better if they do it. However, it is not an obligatory for any plant and you shouldn't spend much time thinking about it because it is largely irrelevant.

If you think you might have some plants that really require high humidity, send me the list and I will let you know. Chances are that none of them do.

Thanks guys.

Will, to be honest, I'd never even made the humidity/misting connection. Now that I think about it, I'm embarrassed to admit that I'd never even considered WHY one mists. It's just something that I've always heard that you DO, with houseplants.

The only other rationale that comes to mind, and I don't know where I got this from, is that misting helps slick leaved plants to stay cleaner.

So, I'll take your advice and give this no more thought :-)

Ronni