It is very important to maintain the humidity necessary for flowers in the room. Some plants, such as asparagus, will never flower in a room with dry air, even if it is watered as required. In especially whimsical plants, too low humidity causes the fall of shoots and buds, slows down growth.
In nature, plants live only in those places where the climate is most convenient for them. And the climate for a plant is a voluminous concept, it consists of temperature, illumination, soil moisture, soil structure and air humidity. In our apartments, air humidity is very dependent on the weather, especially when the heating is turned off. Even when the windows are closed in spring or summer in rainy weather, the humidity in the rooms is rarely below 50%. But in winter, the air is strongly dried by heating systems. Sometimes the humidity is 10-15% (when the batteries are very and very hot in severe frosts), and when it freezes slightly, the boiler houses lower the temperature of the water in the batteries, and the humidity can be 30-50%. For some plants it is comfortable, others and such humidity is not enough.
How to increase air humidity
High humidity at home can be maintained in many ways. The most affordable method is spraying. During the growing season, most plants are sprayed daily in the morning and evening. You cannot spray the plant in the sun, as you can cause leaf burns. Carefully spray or not spray at all (use other methods of humidifying the air), plants with stem-bearing leaves - in such plants, the base of the leaf petiole covers the stem, as the wrapper wraps around it. Stagnant water in the axils of such leaves can cause decay, especially in cold weather. Plants with pubescent (velvety) leaves (gloxinia, violets) are not sprayed.
I must say that spraying is effective when the temperature in the room is about 24-26 degrees and the relative humidity is about 30-40%. But if the room is a little hotter - from 26-30 degrees and even higher, then spraying is already ineffective - moisture instantly evaporates.
What water to spray flowers
Spray water should be soft. Hard water containing salts can leave stains on the leaves. If, when spraying, water gets on the window glass, then after a week the clean glass loses its transparency from salt impurities. Therefore, it is desirable to use boiled water or distilled water for wetting.
Water for spraying should be warm. From cold water that has fallen on the leaves, yellow or brown spots may remain on especially sensitive plants. Therefore, pour warm water for your hand into a bottle or spray bottle. When blowing drops, the water cools and gets almost room temperature on the leaves.
When the plant necessarily needs moist air, specific recommendations are usually given - to place the pot with the plant on a tray with water, wet pebbles or peat. But sometimes such concepts as' frequent spraying ',' regular spraying'or' periodic spraying'are used. What is meant by this?
Frequent spraying and regular spraying are the same thing, meaning spraying in the morning and evening.
Periodic spraying involves spraying at least once a day, or after two days, this usually applies to those plants that do not require constantly moist air and periodic spraying plays a hygienic role or freshening the plant rather than increasing humidity.
If the plant does not need spraying, then it can not be sprayed, but if nearby plants are sprayed, then it will not be harmed.
If the plant does not tolerate spraying, then do not put it next to those plants that you will spray so that water does not get on it. In extreme cases, the air is sprayed near such plants, and then from a very small sprayer.
How to increase air humidity without spraying
If spraying does not help increase air humidity or flowers cannot be sprayed, you have to look for other ways.
Wide containers of water will help humidify the air - it can be any pallet, baking sheet or cat tray. You can increase the humidity of the air by covering the ground in a pot or between pots, moss and keeping it moist. True, moss, most likely, will have to be periodically changed - it rots. And also raise and check the condition of the ground under it. Here it is important to moisten only moss, but not to create increased dampness in the ground. Otherwise, insects (mushroom mosquitoes, podurs) can start in the soil, which are invisible in moss, but can cause significant harm. If heavily raw moss lies directly on the surface of the soil, the roots of flowers can rot from waterlogging.
If the source of dry air is a battery, then it is advisable to hang it with a damp sheet (folded in several layers) or a large terry towel. If you wet the matter in the morning and evening, you can reliably protect the leaves from a directed hot stream and increase humidity.
And of course, for the sake of this, humidifiers have been invented - devices that can measure humidity and increase it. When choosing an air humidifier, pay attention to power - more powerful humidifiers work faster and more efficiently in large rooms. It is advisable to pour only boiled or distilled water into the humidifier, even if the water in your area is not very hard, there is a high probability of salt dust settling on surfaces or salt deposits inside the device.
What you need to know about air humidity:
The main rule regarding air humidity is that it is never possible to compensate for the lack of relative air humidity with more abundant or frequent irrigation. The main mistake of beginners in floriculture is an attempt to increase watering when the plant suffers from dry air.
Signs of insufficient air humidity
The ends or edges of the leaves dry, no flowers form, ovaries and buds fall, when the flowers bloom, hold on for a short time, fade quickly, plants are often attacked by spider mites. If the soil is moistened regularly, strong drying of the soil is not allowed, then it is only a matter of dry air.
Signs of excessive air humidity
It should be remembered that excessively moist air can be as harmful to plants as dry air. With too high humidity, microflora harmful to flowers develops intensively - pathogens of various diseases (gray rot, spots), rot spots appear on leaves, flowers or stems. By itself, high humidity does not harm the plant, if not for all moisture-loving microbes. But the absence of air movement contributes to their reproduction. That is why in orchidariums, where humidity is very high, several fans are placed at once.
Some plants that do not require high air humidity or tolerate dry air (30-40%):
Aloe and most leaf succulents, acacia, albizia, aspidistra, asparagus, adenium, bocarnea, gasteria, hydrangea, hibiscus, ginura, godwit, calanchoe, callistemon, coleus, desert cacti, clivia, milkweed, scrubs, oleander, some species of peperomia, radermachera, strelicia, sansevieria, stapelia, stephanotis, sparmania, tradescantia, tolmia, ficus, haworthia, chemanthus, chlorophytum, choia, cyanotis, eucalyptus, euharis and several others
Cactus air humidity
You know cacti love spraying, despite what's being written about them. The only thing that needs to be taken into account is to spray from the smallest sprayer so that the drops of water are like dust particles. Spraying is done early in the morning and evening, at a time when dew falls outside. Spraying is carried out only in summer and only in a warm room. At the same time, drafts are avoided. You will say what it is for, but, firstly, this is a hygienic procedure, and secondly, dew loss is characteristic of almost all latitudes where cacti grow in nature, only dew there is not the same as in our meadows - legs are knee-deep raw, but very light.
Air humidity for senpoles
Violets (senpoli) do not like water to get on the leaves, but in summer on the hottest days they suffer from dry air. Therefore, on such days, pots with violets are removed from the windowsill and put on the floor. below, the floor has the coolest and less dry air (beware of drafts), in addition, air is sprayed from the smallest spray several times a day around violets, this method makes it very easy for plants to survive the heat.
A way to increase air humidity
In summer, in the heat, I sprayed the curtains on the window with a powerful jet at night, so that they were very damp, humidity increased and not only to flowers, but also to people it became easier to breathe, the curtains dried up by morning and did not lose anything from it. I did the same on very hot nights, when the boiler room did not spare coal and the batteries were fiery. In addition, I got into the habit of putting a damp terry towel folded several times on the battery with the heating season, I had to wet it three times - in the morning, after work and at night. In addition, I sprayed all the plants in the morning and in the evening. As a result, my plants not only do well, but also grow beautifully, among them adiantum and asparagus, which blooms annually.