Misting

What are your guys thoughts on misting houseplants? Just a very light dusting or a downright jungle rainstorm?

I've read that a very light misting just once a week is fine. Too much and leaf rot and other problems can occur.

I keep Calatheas, a jungle plant, and they almost insist on misting. But in their natural environment a "light misting" is the last thing they're going to get, they'll get properly drenched, and with regularity.

I've started to take this on board with my Calatheas, some on a daily basis. I almost drench the leaves, taking care not to drench the soil too much as that could lead to different problems altogether.

I let them drip for a while and then put them back in my "tropical" room. A steady temperature of around 20°C ensures that any residual moisture on the leaves evaporates off, ensuring no standing water to promote leaf rot etc.

I don't know whether my approach is a common one. All I do know is that my Calatheas are thriving, which of course is the main thing.

I think the whole, "mist lightly once a week" approach is all very well, for a lot of houseplants, but depending on where they come from, sometimes you need to go that extra mile too.

Thoughts?

 

I have misting bottles dotted around my non- succulent houseplants and give a spray when I walk past- perhaps once a day. (When I grow up I will buy those very attractive Victorian looking beauties to replace the Poundland ones )

The Tillandsia stolen from Mallorca gets regular mistings several times a day as it's next to my favourite seat in the kitchen. No drench, just a mist.

Any serious leaf watering takes place 5-6 times a year in the shower. Dust gets washed off and any budding aphids get a good scrub with added washing up liquid if necessary. It's also great for the abdominal muscles to carry heavy pots up and down the stairs

Some plants such as Ficus Benjamin and Citrus thrive on a good daily misting.

In general I don't mist until soaking wet simply because the water drops everywhere making a mess. A drop of liquid seaweed fertiliser in the water sounds and looks right but I don't have any empiric evidence to show if it really makes a difference.

Your "tropical room" sounds wonderful @Esoxlucius , do you have any photos to share?

 

I call it my "tropical" room simply because my tropical fish tanks are in there, it's not really a reference to me harbouring an actual jungle in there, lol.

So if you envisage a wall to wall, ceiling to floor scene of huge palms and lush foliage and me swinging through them on a vine in just a loincloth, you are going to be disappointed.

Though, to be fair, if my wife was into plants as much as I am, then it would indeed look like that.....minus me in my loincloth of course, lol.

 

I tend to mist, well spray really, the Phalaenopsis and my pineapples once or twice a day.
To be honest I cant think once a week would make much difference other than move the dust perhaps.
I tend to think with most house plants it's about having a constant atmosphere which is not too dry.
Maybe using trays of damp grit to stand the plants on so that they get a constant micro climate.

 

We give our Calathea a light spray about one a week, and like you say, just enough to dampen the leaves without dripping all over the furniture.
Think its equally important that you both water and spray with room temperature water, preferably soft water as well, and not straight from the cold tap as some folk do.

Some folk advocate adding a bit of food to the spay as well.

Is your tank just fish or a planted tank like ours ?
Some folk even allow their planted tanks to grow out and mix with the houseplants .

 

I've had planted tanks in the past but my current stock would butcher any submerged plants.

And yes, it is quite common in the hobby to grow terrestrial plants straight out of the tank and up walls and such. Pothos is a classic example, it's very popular.

The best thing is that the submerged root systems extract unwanted nitrate from the water. Nitrate's good for plants, not much for fish.

 

I never mist any of my indoor plants, yet they are thriving. They are in every room in the house, and some, including a Calathea, are on a windowsill above a radiator.
I only water a houseplant when it wilts. I think people fuss too much over them.

 

Well, so far we have no misting at all....to drenching....with great results for both!

It certainly seems that there's no one size fits all approach to misting.

 

Some folk put their house plants in the bathroom and turn the shower on to them ! though probably wiser to do that in the warmer weather.

Do have a Scindapsus growing away in the same room as the fish tank, might try a cutting over the edge of the tank.

 

Because different plants need different conditions to do well, some of the old favourites put up with anything you do, others are a bit picky and like a bit more attention.

 

We grow a lot of orchids so now the plants are misted every day with rain water (we have a lot of that). During the colder months they are misted lightly every 2nd or 3rd day.

 

My house plants get an occasional shower (either in the bath or outside in summer) but it's not as a substitute for misting, it's because it's the easiest way of cleaning off the dust, particularly for things like Ficus benjamina that have lots of small leaves, and dracaena that have narrow strappy leaves. I don't mist anything like as often as I should, so I tend to stick with fairly un-fussy houseplants.

 

Mine go in the shower too @JennyJB with the small ones being done in the bath and left to soak for an hour so I know their compost is throrughly moistened then left to drain comletely so they're not sodden.

Taller ones get wheeled into the showe once or twice in winter. Nearly all of them end up outside between May and October so they have full light and any rain that's going. Things like the ficus elastica and benjamin never get direct sun but others like the hibiscus siniensis do.

I don't have any plants that need misting as it's very hot and dry here in summer and I'd be doing it every day.