Houseplant Myths Busted | Maybe give these a miss! | Misting, Humidity, Soil Drying and more 

I agree that misting for humidity specifically isn’t going to work, but I wouldn’t say there aren’t situations where it can be helpful. Spraying emerging leaves on some of my plants a couple times a day has definitely helped them come in and harden off with less damage, but I think that’s more of a lubrication thing than a humidity thing.

Just wanted too share my experience with euphorbia. I had a plant I was bored with. That standard column green euphorbia. It would never grow or get the cute leaves, they’d fry off. I got fed up last spring and put it outdoor under a tree “death row” lol. It shocked me! In a month of getting outdoor summer rain regularly it doubled in size and is covered in leaves. Went from a dud to one of my faves. I know it’s really hot and getting some dappled direct light so hard to replicate indoor but the pot was plastic with just regular well draining soil and it never rotted. This works with dud Hoya and calathea too. Thank you for another video! I like to read the comments you inspire.

“Water your orchids with ice cubes!” I’ve had more than one friend be excited that they know this care “requirement,” because it’s always passed on as this insider tip, and so newcomers feel like “yay, I know something!”

My calathea are in aroid mix and I water them like any other plant. With tap water 😂 They are thriving. 😊

I mist my plants. A habit I picked up from my Mom. However, she does it for humidity. I do it because I have a lot of dust in my 122 year old house. I know that a lot of rare plant keepers say it can cause issues for the plants depending on the stomata. However, I, being an intellectual understand that outside- it rains on plants. I mist to get the dust off of them a couple of times a week. I have a humidifier I use during the winter but during the more humidifier growing season, I just fill jars and bottles and group them with my plant groupings and it stays around 70%. Just remember to change the water out so it doesn't grow funky things.

@Everythingplants has a RU-vid video on testing the different methods of shining leaves😊

Please can you do a video on hydrogen peroxide Epsom salts bicarb soda and the likes what they do for your plants if anything

I have started with plants only in spring 2023 so I don’t have much experience but I’m kinda going through all the RU-vid videos I can and hence have learned that misting isn’t always a good idea. A friend told me that her grandma said you shouldn’t mist plants with a fuzzy foliage. I have tried misting my tradescantias but both didn’t seem too happy about it and I stopped and now they’re thriving! My pilea on the other hand seems to like it. I don’t know about my pothos … I have been spraying her from the beginning and haven’t tried stopping yet 😅 Also she is getting used to a new soil mix so I’ll wait with further changes. What I have also learnt that makes lots of sense to me is that we should do it in the evening so that the foliage has the chance to dry or the water could affect the pores or be burned by direct sunlight. These points also make sense with the “not mist fuzzy foliage” thing because it takes longer to dry :) To light: I have an aloe vera who just seems to hate light. Even now in winter (Germany, not much light in my semi-shady windows) it starts turning brown when I put it on the windowsill. 2,5 meters from the two windows on a shelf it thrives and grows its new leaves 😂 It’s really a weird one. It’s also very long and thin and the mother plant it came from is the same.

I live in a semi-desert area. My typical humidity in the winter time is 17%. I bought hygrometers to monitor the humidity level in my house, and I have one in every room. I tried grouping plants together, and it did nothing to raise the humidity level. I also tried pebble trays - same result. I have 2 humidifiers running - one in the living room, and one in my office. The humidifier in my office has the humidity level up to around 30%. The humidifier in my living room is too small to do anything but create a microclimate, but it still gets the humidity level in a small area up to 26%. In addition, I mist my plants every day. Not only does it raise the humidity level by a good 5 to 10 points, the humidity hangs around for roughly 20 minutes or so. Misting also helps wash dust off the leaves. Is misting a long term solution? Of course not, but it does help. Especially if one can do it a couple of times a day.

Okay! I'm going to comment on this while I watch. - Talking to plants - who would have thunk but there is some science behind this. Smithsonian and Nasa published research finding that plants respond positively to low levels of vibration. The vibration improves photosynthesis. In short, talking nicely to plants does have some positive impact; shouting at them has a negative impact. When I thought more about this, I was like, hmmmm birds, bugs, wind - all make vibrations so maybe? - Misting plants - I think this has been linked to increasing humidity when actually the benefit of misting is to annoy pests (the link probably comes from an increase in some pests as the air becomes dryer, and less pests when you mist - but it's annoying the plants that helps, not the increase in humidity) - Low light - I always find this topic super interesting - Dry out substrate - I hate this advice. For plants that do like a drier period - 75% dry is enough. I think this advice comes from trying to prevent people from overwatering, or rather, keeping the substrate too wet all the time. - Calathea - I think this is like peperomia, it's not about keeping them evenly moist, but rather, it's about not letting them dry out too much. I advise my customers to water when 25% to 50% dry (finger or chop stick half way into the substrate to check) - Humidity - "high" is subjective. I think a better way of saying it is, most plants won't thrive in low humidity, or most plants would do better in humidity at 50% plus. Weird tip - I've always used a dash of lemon juice when wiping my leaves. As a kid I loved doing plant chores with my mum and my favourite part was mixing the water and lemon juice concoction and this ritual followed me into adulthood. I asked a scientist recently why they thought my mum would do this, and he said there's no benefit to the plant BUT the lemon juice would help to break down any salt build up (water marks) on the leaves. Great video.

Also, (hopefully I don't have a new comment for every myth in this video but no promises 😂) I really agree with your point around letting your plants dry out - I've moved to housing most of my "better" plants in a massive turtle tank, and it has heat mats on the bottom, grow lights above and in a window. Yep, lots of light, lots of heat, and I get good year round growth with this method, but my plants dry out quickly, and when they're dry they can't tolerate it for long due to the high heat. I had some plants at the beginning get their roots burned. I've had rot a couple of times now due to letting my plants dry out, and they were Hoya, so I was letting them dry out more than I would say a philodendron. I've had to learn that even Hoya don't like to stay dry for more than a day in my conditions because it's just too much for them.

Just wanted to first say that this is the very first comment I have ever written on you tube! I look at what earrings you have to make sure that I haven't viewed it already. (Always interesting!) I've had orchids for years and lightly mist them every week I water them to simulate rain. It seems to help. Just purchased a humidifier for them and aroids that I've become obsessed with, so I will stop misting. I have a question; do you ever go by the weight to gage if the plant is dry? I bottom water some and top water others. Bottom watering isn't really an easy way to tell how dry a plant is.

I did the mayo leaf shine years ago. I had a large corn plant I’d polish every few months. I think the thing was the oil shined the leaves and somehow this was good for them. 🤷🏽. It worked in that they were shiny and I didn’t kill the plant. I stopped cause I didn’t like the residue. I talk to my plants. Yes C02 helps minimally, but to me it’s just putting those good vibes out there. Praising a plant for putting out a pretty new leaf or producing the perfect strawberry gives me more. Even if it’s just in my head 😂. I don’t mist, for the sake of it, but I’ve tried foliar fertilizer feeding (meh), mist with alcohol when I see mealy bugs, and I will “mist” the soil daily with BTI when battling fungus gnats so I don’t overwater as a side effect.

Oh my!!...back in the 1980's, there was a plant shop (USA Rockville, Maryland) that recommended to me to use mayo to shine leaves. Yes it works and the shine lasted. You would apply the mayo (a very sm. amnt.) on the leaves, then you take a dry cloth and wipe to shine. I totally forgot about this trick until you brought it up.

Such a great idea for a video - I think it could continue with at nos. 2 & 3 at least, since there are so many myths people believe in :-D Here in the Czech Republic, people believe all of what you said plus also: putting coffee sediments into soil as fertiliser (bullshit - my friend tried it in a bigger scale and very much regretted it - it spoiled the soil, she got mildew problems in it, and she warned me never to do it :-D ), using various herbal solutions to fight thrips and other pests (pests didn´t care about it at all and went on munching :-D ), using cinnamon to kill pests and destroy mildew (doesn´t do anything except for a lot of mess), or that to combat spidermites/other pests, you cut off all the plants leaves and put it in a plastic bag - it´s supposed to increase humidity and kill the mites (didn´t work at all - got mildew, spidermites happilly lived and multiplied in the soil and ate ever new leaf the plant produced, so they can easily survive it). The misting nonsense is very popular here and encouraged by plants shops as well, which is suprising given how cheap and easy it is to buy a hygrometer and actually measure the results. I actually measured the humidity with hygrometer, and misting and peble trays made no difference: misting increases humidity by about 10-20% (depends on the amount of water) for max. 10 minutes, peble trays not at all unless there is a lot of water, it sits on heating that is set on high temperatures. Humidity is strongly affected also by temperature, amount of dust in the air and ventilation. For humidity, the only thing that really worked is a) good quality humidifier, b) greenhouse cabinet, or c) opening a window when it rains outside :-) I think if people stopped believing at least some of the myths, it would make their lives and lives of their plants much easier :-)

Put 2 or 3 banana peels in a big glass and top with water. Wait 2 or three days. Then use the water on a flowering plant's roots when in flower. The plant will flower profusely! Lots of potassium, I guess. I have not tried this indoors.

I´ve recently found your channel and am enjoying your videos a lot, especially your giggles, I giggle right along with you. It´s been less than a year since I got into houseplants and even with my limited collection and experience I´ve already got to the same conclusions. These myths and even many of the general caretips don´t work (well). So far I´ve managed to kill part my my (so called) indestructable ZZ-plant, and NOT by overwatering, since I tend to the opposite. But I´ve got a Calathea Network that´s thriving in an airy, soilbased Aeroid-mix in a selfwatering pot, that I do let dry out for a few days after the water is gone. They both have the same conditions, since I keep them on my coffeetable and in normal (fluctuating) household humidity, like all my other plants.

I would think that putting mayo on the leaves would hinder its ability to breath. Also, Yeah i have a ZZ plant that sat in a north window (facing an alley) for a couple years and it is huge. It's so big that I think I'm going to end up putting it back because I can't figure out what else to do with it.

Thank u!

I found one low light plant and it's Epipremnum Shangri-la, if it gets too much light the leaves unfold 🤔

I know you're mostly talking about tropical plants, but I find with succulents particular my many aloe varieties they definitely like to be bone dry before watering again. Previously I watered when they were a bit dry and got root rot. Now I leave them weeks they are all thriving, growing so much, putting out pups, flowers as well on a few. My alacosia collection though are being hard work. Too much, not enough water who knows they get moody whatever I try! Re. googling, isn't it tedious, so many websites tell you the complete opposite. And these sites when you look up symptoms, oh yellowing bottom leaves could mean too much water or not enough water. Yeah cheers for that really helpful haha.

great video. but I'd like to add my own experience with my plants: 1.I agree misting can't really rise humidity(in a big unsealed environment like a big house even humidifiers and pebble trays don't really rise the humidity that much) but I still like to mist some of my plants mostly tropical ones because I'm too lazy to clean their leaves regularly. misting helps me have clean, dust-free leaves and prevent spider mites, also most of my plants seem to really like it(but I keep all the windows open to have proper air circulation in my house) 2.I always tend to underwater my plants and whenever I had root rot issues, I'm pretty sure it's reason was leaving their soil to reach bone dry levels. in my experience, even the plants that are known to appreciate dry soils like zz plants, sansevieras, Madagascar palms, ponytail palms, hoyas, string of pearls and some other succulents, do much better when they never experience bone dry soil. I believe even these plants when recieve lots of light and are in very very well draining soil, prefer frequent watering.I try to water them when their soil is "almost" completely dry but not 100% bone dry. 3.I agree not all plants need high humidity but I have had an interesting experience with cactus and succulents. I live in a very dry county. but northern cities of my country are very humid. I've never seen huge cactus plants in my dry city outdoors but in those, super humid northern cities, huge cacti grow outdoors like weeds.ponytail palms,,madagascar palms,huge jade plants,euphorbias. they thrive in mentioned cities! so this observation made me think even those tough guys might appreciate higher humidity levels

I dont think the "selection" of house plants for household conditions work the way you say. Golden pothos is not resilient for low humidity because they are cultivated like this for centuries, it's the opposite. Golden Pothos or regular Monstera have fat glossy leaves and thick roots, they are naturally adapted for low humidity. Both are known to NEVER grow in dense humid rainforest but rather on the drier and sunnier edges of the forest. And this is why they are both feral in semiarid climates. And this also why other glossy Monstera (peru, standleyana...) and pothos are so popular. They may be new on the market, but they are naturally designed to widstand neglect. Once injected in the hobby they just dont disappear.

I tried the mayonnaise to clean one plant leaves(a Phalaenopsis), it worked great but after a while it became a dust collecting magnet. I think it works best if you plan on taking that plant to a show. Otherwise not for me.

My grandma used to clean the leaves with buttermilk. Idk?

HeYyYyy! I love your content! Always giving great information on plant care.🥰 Would you happen to know what causes liquid filled blisters on Philodendron Pastazanum and how to treat it or if it should be tossed? I just received one in the mail today and Every leaf has one on it and one leaf is yellow with green spots but isn’t wilting at all!😞

Thank you for this video (and all of them). This is not the first time I have heard that misting provides little benefit. It is hard to believe, given almost everyone mists. Hearing it from you has pushed me toward convinced. You seem to know your stuff. It may be a hard habit to break,. But I plan to try and see if I notice any difference. I will not miss the guilt when I don't have the time for it. Do you think an electric mister would be able to provide enough moisture on and around the plants to make a difference? (Also, could you tell me in which video you showed your cork planks? I cannot seem to find this again.)

I will admit, I enjoy spraying my few indoor plants with a spray bottle and talking to them. I think if it’s not harming the plant then it could just be for your own personal therapy. Also, I like to think that spraying them every so often helps keep the bugs from sticking. Then again most of my plants are still small and manageable.

Totally agree with you an as far as the Calathea go, I let them dry out too. There’s 3 I’ve had for 2 1/2 years now an their growing well. 💚💚

I'm in the UK, when I was a little girl my mum would ask me to wipe down the monstera leaves with milk 😂

My hoya Serpens is 10 years old. It was really, really small. It now has 7 or 8 flower peduncles and is actually growing leaves because I started misting it every day in 2022... ( Hoyas are strange )

The only time I think misting is helpful in my experience is to help with emerging or unfurling leaves on my anthuriums or philodendrons to prevent them from getting stuck. In my opinion I think people(including myself in past)just enjoy the habit of misting everyday, maybe it's a relaxing,nurturing activity?

I think do what works for you. watching from Australia

I’ve heard that coffee is good for plants! I’m nervous to try it, but I remember my grandmother talking about this. Thing is, she didn’t have indoor plants! 😂 I don’t know the parameters, like frequency or dilution, but it seems like an older wive’s tale? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think some tips depend on where you live, not the mayo thing, that's just dumb. I live where the humidity is 5% or under, so I do keep most of my plants on the damp side. My dragons and other alocasias only survive in a dish of water.

Hi I'm so concerned about the the flat mite on my hoyas what are your thoughts .