It can be super hard to create adequate humidity for your house plants…especially if you live in a desert environment where there isn’t a whole lot of humidity that occurs naturally anyway! If you’re caring for a house plant like begonias, calatheas, dwarf cavendish bananas, or even zebra plants, you’ll likely want to substitute adequate humidity. Here are a few easy ways to increase humidity for your house plants and other indoor plant care tips and tricks.
How to tell if you need to increase humidity for your house plants
It can be tricky to tell if your house plants are in need of a little extra humidity. However, one of the most common symptoms is dried out leaf tips. If your leaf tips are dry and crunchy, a lack of humidity is most often the blame!
Additionally, if you have calathea plant, its leaves will often curl inward as a symptom that additional humidity is needed. Plants like ferns will become crispy when extra humidity is needed, and other plants might even develop yellow leaves.
If your plant has any of these symptoms, extra humidity is probably needed ASAP!
How to increase humidity for your house plants
One of the easiest ways to substitute humidity for your houseplants is to purchase a humidifier and place it in the direct vicinity of your most humidity-loving house plants. Typically, humidifiers go for around $20-$30 and can be found at big box stores like Target or Wal Mart. I’ve even seen indoor gardeners use oil diffusers before (without oils, of course!!) and these work pretty well.
If you don’t have room for a humidifier, or don’t want to spent the money, another easy way to increase humidity is by creating your own pebble tray. Pebble trays increase humidity for house plants by propping plant roots so that they hover just above a few inches of standing water. Learn how to make your own with this guide of mine.
Additionally, you can take your smaller plants into the bathroom with you when you shower for an added dose of humidity. Place the plants directly on your bathroom counter top when you shower and let your plants bask in the glory!
Another way to supplement humidity for your house plants is by boiling off a large pot of water on your stove. The water will boil off into the air to be enjoyed by your houseplants. However, this method can be hard on your pots and pans (especially if you are using tap water) so keep that in mind when picking a plant.
Other indoor plant care tips
You’ll notice that when talking about how to supplement humidity for house plants above that I never mentioned spraying or misting the leaves with water. Misting or spraying plant leaves is actually detrimental to most foliage plants and can help spread pests and diseases. If you’re looking to supplement humidity for house plants, use one of the other tips above rather than misting! This is one of my most important indoor plant care tips.
Like it or not, house plant soil can get pretty disgusting…to keep my plants feeling their healthiest, one of my biggest indoor plant care tips is to swap out the soil at least once a year. By changing up the soil, you can make sure that the plants are getting adequate nutrients as well as curb the spread of pests.
Another one of my top indoor plant care tips is to buy a moisture meter ASAP. Root rot is one of the most common culprits of a house plant deaths and moisture meters are one of the best ways to prevent it. A moisture meter will let you know how wet the bottom of your indoor plants are. This allows you to let the soil fully dry out before re watering, and will help you prevent root rot.
Of course, if you DO end up tangling with root rot–we’ve all been there as plant care owners– this guide of mine will help you recover your plant from this pesky disease.
Anyone can be an expert plant care owner by using the tips and tricks above. As always, let me know what you think by commenting below and let me know if you need any indoor plant care tips.
