Misting Your Plants

Stop misting your plants. It’s possibly the most pervasive houseplant mistake, and experts agree it’s useless for raising humidity

“Misting plants has been a way a lot of us try to raise humidity but unfortunately, this is not very effective,” says Matt Aulton, head grower at Plant Proper, a plant nursery and online seller.

Ruth Carll, Master Gardener and state program leader of the consumer horticulture and Master Garden programs at Rutgers University, says the effect is so brief it essentially does nothing. And it can actually do more harm than good. 

“Sporadic water sprayed on the leaves makes the leaves have to switch from humid to not humid to humid to not humid,” says Carll, who also warns against using life shines.