Misting Plants – Good or Bad?

In my indoor veranda, I used to have so many cute succulent plants. One day I felt thirsty looking at them; they were just so dry. They were dusty too. I started to mist them with a spray bottle. Slowly, I started spraying water on those succulents regularly. But something disheartening happened. All my succulents had died. Do you know why? Because of misting them. They don’t like misting. Succulents are drought regional plants. So they can survive in less humidity.

 Misting indoor plants is good or bad?

Misting plants has a controversy. Arguing between horticulturists and planters makes us confused.  Tropical plants love to be misted. Because it gives them proper indoor humidity.  Most of the planters have suggested misting the plants except for some plants who don’t like it at all. 

Misting is giving extra humidity in unwanted weather to the plants. When you increase humidity in the air, you are changing the humidity for succulents too. Learn the accurate humidity for indoor and outdoor plants so that you don’t lose your plants like me. I decided to give some guidelines about which plants like to be misted. Let’s begin 

Do Plants like Misting

Plants are very attachable with misting. But not all species. I will talk about two sections of plants. Indoor and outdoor. The reason behind it is to give you proper knowledge about plant misting. Do only indoor plants like misting or outdoor also. Often we have confusion about this. We have varieties of plants both indoor and outdoor. we don’t know which plants are actually liking the misting. To make a diaphanous concept, let’s make a partition between outdoor and indoor misting of plants.

Do Indoor Plants Like Misting?

Most of the time, indoor plants do not love misting. Because the room temperature and humidity remain under a tolerable state. Misting gives them a reliant atmosphere to breathe in but indoor plants don’t need higher humidity than outdoor plants. Are you a little bit flurry about which plants are most loving? Then let’s have a look at these indoor plants like-

• Lucky Bamboo
• Aloe-vera
• Zebra plant
• Orchids
• Ferns
• Arrowhead plants
• Begonias

These plants are happy when they get misted. They feel fresh after misting. Whenever you see unfurling leaves indoors, mist them to boost up their humidity. According to some plant experts and horticulturists, indoor plants don’t need any misting. Some of the plants like-

• Succulents
• Fiddle leaf figs
• Spider plants
• African violets

They feel comfortable under room humidity. Succulents are drought-tolerant plants that love to remain under humidity. Because they have a balanced humidity inside the room. Misting is quite impressive to outdoor plants. Let’s talk about outdoor plants.

Do Outdoor Plants Love Misting

In experts’ opinion,  watering is the best way to keep plants satisfied. But to increase humidity to plants, misting is a nice and comfortable process. Maximum outdoor plants don’t need frequent misting. Because they get water every day. The most important fact is to check if the soil is wet or dry. Try to avoid misting while the soil remains dank. It causes damage to the plants, even death.

 Convenient Time of Misting

Excess in anything is too bad. Likewise, over-misting plants is not a wise decision for plants. Like watering, misting has a specific time. Over misting can drown the plants. Before misting the plants, you need to check some conditions of the plants. For sample-

• Soils are dry or wet
• Plants are very green or brown
• Are they in bright light or dark light

First, you need to understand the misting time verifying these factors. Whenever you notice that soils are dry then it’s a flexible time to get some humidity to the plants. Most of the planters have a doubt of misting. Where to start misting. From down to top or top to down?  It’s better to start from down to the top. Because it helps to reduce heat and can balance the temperature of the plant. Sometimes plants remain in the face of sunlight. Leaves stay hotter on sunny days. If you mist them from top to down it can burn the foliage. For more details, you can have a look at this website to know which is better for misting methods.

Second, sometimes plants’ leaves are brown due to poor air circulation. That indicates the plant needs some more nutrients for its body. You can mist them at that time to get them some minerals and nutrients. In short of the photosynthesis process, the leaves turn brown. To keep going in the photosynthesis process, the misting will help them a lot. That time the water droplets will enhance their energy.

And when you keep your plants toward the sunlight, their photosynthesis process will regulate fast as they are getting the sunlight. That time misting is good for plants. That increases the energy of plants as well as the minerals and nutrients. Their humidity may differ from the dark light plants. Because they are lower in temperature than the outdoor plants. Because of bright sunlight, the soil may dry faster than dark light. In that case, misting is favorable to the plants.

So be sure when you are going to mist the plant’s foliage.  Careful about the factors mentioned above. Because there are advantages and disadvantages of misting plants. Keep scrolling down to know more details.

Advantages of Plant Misting

The advantages of misting the plants are pretty broad. Misting plants is to help the plants to grow them as they like to grow. The benefits of misting plants are-

• Misting increases the humidity in the air to make them feel fresh and happy. Whenever they feel down in hot air, misting gives them a recline from the hot air. Their foliage looks green and happy.
• Misting decreases the regular watering of the plants. In the hot season, soils get dry fast. Then the plants feel drowned, lacking nutrients and minerals. At that time, misting is a blessing for them. Overheating can cause the death of the plants. So misting is very conducive to acclimatizing the heat faster where water vapor helps them to get stable humidity levels.
•  For making the foliage beautiful and fresh, misting is the easiest way. Because of dust, the plants get a dust layer on their leaves. In that case, misting is a very productive remedy. But during misting, you have to be very careful about the plants’ position. If indoor plants and under indirect light it’s okay to mist. But if it is in direct sunlight, then do not mist it in hot air. Let it be down the sun and then go misting.
• As misting reduces the regular watering routine, it doesn’t affect the root rot. Because the root gets proper nutrients while you are misting. Root rot happens in the period of not getting water regularly and for over- watering. So misting in this period is really nice to plant growth.
• Sometimes misting triggers the growth of the plants. Because water droplets are helping them to get nutrients and reduce the over watering at the same time. To get healthy plants, you need to optimize fungal spores which affect the plants’ growth. Extra moisture helps the plant to breathe.

You have already gained good knowledge about misting benefits. Let me share the disadvantages also. Because everything has a good and bad side.

Disadvantages of Plant Misting

Misting may create some problems for some plants who don’t like it at all. Other than there are some disadvantages like-

• Over misting can cause death to the plants as I have mentioned. Regular misting is fit for some plants but not for all. For outdoor plants misting is an alternative to watering. So if you are watering your plants regularly then do not go misting daily. An increase in humidity can result in the death of the plants.
• Misting for direct light habitat plants is going to pay you. Water droplets magnified the sunlight to the foliage. And it damages the leaves of the plants. Different bacteria can get their place of living in the leaves of the plants.
• Regular misting can cause root rot. When plants are getting water and again misting, their foliages refuse to accept more water. Then the water transpiration and photosynthesis system may fail due to over misting. Plant leaf can cause fungal infection due to overwatering.
• Misting with tap water can increase calcium levels in the surface or soil. Excessive salt ion surface is not healthy for the plants.

So I think you are getting what you actually need to know about misting. Try to follow the pros and cons mentioned over.  Worried about whether your plants are getting proper misting or over misting? You can skip regular misting and acquire some alternatives.

Alternatives of Misting

Many of us don’t get the fact whether the plants are getting more water or not. In that case, you can pick some other ways to keep humidity in the plants’ favor. Those are-

• Keep the plants in a group
  

While you are keeping your plant in different places, it’s hard to keep good care of them. Keeping together or making them a group increases the humidity the plants want. It’s for indoor plants. Outdoor plants are a bit happy as they remain together.

•  Increase Soil humidity
  

Increase the soil humidity for the house plants. So that the plants get a proper portion of the nutrients and minerals. Try to water the plant at the base. From the base the whole plant gets their fuel to keep on their food process. Check if the soil becomes hard or wetted. Once in a while, you can see the soils are stuck. Use a hoe to make them ease. So that water and other nutrients you are giving can pass easily. For tropical plants, the level of humidity is 50-60% for tropical plants. so to give extra moisture, avoid a dry environment.

• Equable temperature
  

Get the plants in a humid condition and balanced temperature. Keep indoor plants in bright light if possible to increase humid conditions. Keep indoor environment like outdoor base plants in a way where a minimum direct light can get. Cooler temperatures can decrease the system of the stomatal pore where extra water vapor gets flyer.  Plants at night increase their transpiration process to release CO2( carbon-di-oxide). Don’t let them in the hot sunlight for too long and also don’t keep them at shadow place. Because it may cause bacterial infection to the plants.

Materials to Mist

You can take it the easiest way and a bit easier. You will need only a plastic bottle and get spray nozzles in it to afford it in the easiest way. Or if you want to buy some misting bottle you can do so to keep your mind satisfied.  Tap water is good but rainwater is more perfect for the plant mist. For more details about the misting process, you can pay a visit to this link here

FAQ

Final Thoughts

Misting isn’t bad for all the plants. It differs opinion for outdoor and indoor plants. As the humidity isn’t the same everywhere and in every season. Hot summer days are best for misting plants. In the winter season try to do less misting in your plants. By doing so you can get healthy, bushy, and fresh foliage plants in your home. Do mist and help your plants be happy.