10 ways to raise the humidity in your house
Humidity is essential for tropical plants to be happy, but it can be quite difficult to get the humidity high enough. In this guide I'll explain 10 ways to raise the humidity in your house and around your plants. Level up your tropical plant care!
Is it too dry in your house and are your plants suffering because of it? You're not alone! It's a very common problem people have, especially during the winter months.
Plants, like us humans, need a certain level of humidity to feel happy and to help them grow. Some plants love a dry environment, while others prefer the humidity you'd find in a tropical rainforest. If you're wondering whether your plant is getting the right level of humidity, make sure to check out What are the best humidity levels for houseplants?.
If you already know your plant needs higher levels of humidity, you're in the right place! In this plant care guide, we're going to look at 10 ideas that can help you to increase the humidity in your house or around your plants.
Here is a quick overview of the 10 things you could do to raise the humidity levels:
Now we'll look at each one more closely and see what it means and how it works. You can use these things on their own, but you can also combine them to raise the humidity levels to the ideal levels. Let's help your plants thrive!
Mist your plants as often as you can
Misting your plants is one of the easiest and most interactive ways you can raise the humidity around your plants. I like to do this because I get to inspect my plants' needs while I'm spraying them. With some other solutions on this list, you're a passive bystander, but by spraying your plants you're actively helping them.
Misting your plants exposes the leaves and soil to water particles which will evaporate, raising the humidity. I recommend misting your plants at least 3-4 times per day if they look wilted or dehydrated.
Put bowls with water next to your plants
Another very easy way to increase the humidity around your plants is by placing bowls or jars or water around them.
The goal of putting bowls, cups, or other containers with water around your plants is to expose the air to water. This will slowly evaporate the water and raise the humidity levels in the air. A lot of the solutions on this list are variations on this concept, by simply exposing the surrounding air to water.
I've combined this with water propagation. I've placed several jars with water around my plants and put Spider plant sprouts in them to grow out their roots.
Make a stone tray to put your plant onto
A stone tray, combined with a closed-off area to trap moisture.
A stone tray is a good solution, but you're going to need space for this one. A stone tray is essentially a tray, like a serving tray, filled with rocks and poured water onto.
The rocks on the tray will keep the pot with your plant above the water line, so you're not accidentally overwatering your plant. The water will evaporate and the air in your house will be exposed to the moisture, raising the humidity levels around your plant.
I've also added a glass dome over my stone tray to create a small humid climate for plants that need extra humidity. This helps to trap some of the moisture and makes sure it doesn't all disappear into the air.
Get a humidifier
If you're looking for a quick way to increase the humidity around your plants, a humidifier is your best option. A humidifier can be used for a lot of purposes, like keeping your house at a certain humidity level in the winter.
Place the humidifier next to your plants and just let it run. The proximity of the humidifier to the plants will help them to benefit from this humidity. If you have a good humidifier, you might even be able to place this anywhere in the room and the plants will benefit from it.
I have a humidifier in my living room, where I keep most of my plants. I also like to use it when the temperature drops too low in the winter months because it helps me to maintain an ideal humidity level for all of my houseplants.
Keep the door open while you're taking a shower
A cheap way to quickly increase the humidity in your house is to keep the bathroom door open while you're taking a shower. Keeping the door open while you're taking a shower is a bit similar to the humidifier option, as you're using water vapor to spread humidity throughout the rooms around the bathroom.
If you don't want to keep the door open while you shower, you can also just trap all the steam in the bathroom and when you're done, open the door and let all the steam get out. This way you're both helping your bathroom by letting everything dry properly and your plant by providing it with much-needed humidity.
You can also move several plants into the bathroom while you're taking a shower and move them back to their original spot after you're done. This will expose these plants to plenty of humidity for no extra cost or effort from you.
Let clothes dry next to your plants
After you've washed your clothes, you could consider drying your clothes in the same rooms as you keep your plants. If you've ever done this during the cold winter months, you'll know that after a little while, condensation will appear on the windows. This just shows that drying your clothes inside raises the humidity levels in your house.
The closer you dry your clothes to the plants, the more they can benefit from this. Just make sure the clothes aren't touching the plants because not all plants like to be touched.
If you're looking for a way to quickly increase the humidity around your houseplants, drying clothes in the same room as them is a great option. This won't take you a lot of extra time or energy, but it will give your plants much-needed humidity.
Have a fishbowl close to your plants
Having a fishbowl close to your plants might sound a little silly, but it's very similar to putting cups and bowls of water around your plants. The exposure of water to the air will slowly raise the humidity levels in the room.
As an added benefit, you'll have a nicely decorated fishbowl which could contain some great-looking water plants. You can always add fish to the fishbowl or you can just leave it and go with the decorated fishbowl. Not everyone likes to keep pets, so this is all up to you.
The fishbowl will help to increase the humidity in your house, but it won't be as powerful as a humidifier. Consider this option if the plants you want to keep are low-maintenance and need only minimal amounts of humidity.
Get a desk waterfall
Getting a desk waterfall has two benefits, it could be therapeutic and it raises humidity levels. Since the water in your desk waterfall is constantly moving, the humidity is raised more rapidly.
This could be a great solution if you need to be able to quickly raise the humidity levels, but you will need the space to place your desk waterfall. I didn't know this existed until I saw it and they don't look horrible. I've considered it myself, but unfortunately don't have the space to be able to place this on my desk or around my plants.
Put plastic bags over your plants
Putting a plastic bag over your plants sounds strange because you won't be able to see your plant. This is true, and it's also not meant to be a permanent solution.
This technique is used for propagation and especially for fiddle figs. It traps all moisture coming from the plant and uses it to create tropical environments inside the plastic bags.
This could be a good way to give your plant some crisis humidity but don't expect to do this permanently. Your plant won't like it and neither will you, because you won't be able to see your beautiful plants.
The plastic bag technique could be used to raise humidity levels when the plants are in trouble, but don't rely on this as your only source.
Put your plants close together
Plants, like humans, sweat. The water evaporates from their leaves and soil after they've been watered. This means that there is an opportunity to use this evaporation to raise the humidity nearby this plant by using itself and other plants.
If multiple plants are close to each other, each having water evaporated from their leaves and soil, they can create a micro-climate around themselves. Of course, in most cases this won't be enough, so you can supplement the humidity with any of the other methods. Then you can ensure you've got plenty of humidity in the air to make the plants happy.
Thank you for reading this post! I hope it helps you to keep your plants healthy and beautiful! If you're looking for more guides on specific plants, you can always request a plant guide to get a guide for the plant you have trouble with.
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