Misting: What is it actually useful for?

Look, if you enjoy misting your plants, go ahead and do it for your plants with waxy leaves (leaves that are hairy, like Begonias and African violets, may develop fungal spots) – I’m just saying you shouldn’t feel obligated to do it for raising humidity.

But there are some situations where spraying water is the optimal way to deliver moisture to a surface. Here are three great uses for misting:

1. Moistening a Moss Pole

In order for a climbing plant to root against a moss pole, the moss should be moist. Unfortunately, sphagnum moss exposed to air dries out within a few hours – especially if it’s just a thin layer of wrapped moss. If watering the plant in the shower or in the sink, I can also moisten the pole, but when it dries out in between waterings (which basically happens within a day), taking the whole plant to the sink just to moisten the pole is a hassle and you wouldn’t be able to use a watering can without getting water everywhere. Misting to the rescue!

The fine water droplets can be directed to the moss without getting too much water elsewhere – a few other surfaces are bound to get a bit wet but not nearly as much as if you tried to pour water onto the moss.

2. Helping an Unfurling Leaf

Even inside a Greenhouse Cabinet where the humidity is 60-70% you can still get plants like Philodendrons struggling with unfurling without kinks, Instead of trying to raise the humidity of the entire cabinet even further, you can just spritz the unfurling leaf, which seems to help it slide out as it grows. You don’t have to actually pull it out unless the bend is really bad.

3. Air Plant Pick-Me-Up

The usual way to water air plants is to soak them on a weekly basis (assuming they get enough light), but we have noticed that the ones growing under grow lights and near the fan got dry rather quickly. Instead of increasing the frequency of soaking, just spray them with water in between the full soaking to help them along.