Choosing the Right Plants for Every Room in Your Home

Lighting | Humidity | Temperature

Humidity

Humidity levels in your house can vary depending on their location. Rooms near the kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom will have a higher humidity level. In addition, warmer rooms are usually more humid than cooler ones. Luckily, humidity levels are one of the easier things to alter in a room. Most houseplants need a humidity level that is between forty to seventy percent. Plants that are losing leaves or turning yellow are not getting enough humidity. No amount of watering will help a plant endure low humidity.

However, there are several ways you can raise a room's humidity.

• Place several plants next to each other. Humidity is increased by placing more plants in a room and by moving the plants closer together.

• Set the pot on a bed of small pebbles filled with water. Use a two-inch high tray filled with about one-inch of gravel. Fill the tray with water until the water is just below the gravel, and set the plant on top of it.

• Mist the plants in the morning using room temperature water. This will work for most plants, except ones with fuzzy leaves. Be careful not to mist the plant too often or it might rot.

• Double pot the plant by placing its pot inside a larger pot (or basket) and filling the space between the two pots with moist peat moss.

• Use a humidifier.

If none of these methods seems to work, consider purchasing cacti, succulents, or other plants native to the desert environments that tolerate lower humidity.

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