"Winter is brutal for tropical houseplants. Central heating turns living rooms into deserts, leaving once lush calatheas with brown, crispy edges. Misting can increase humidity, but the effects are short-lived. The hack An electric humidifier delivers a steady mist to boost humidity around your plants. You simply fill the tank with water and let it run for a few hours a day, so humidity levels feel more like the tropics than Trafford."
"How it works Unlike pebble trays or misting, humidifiers provide consistent, measurable results. Plants lose less water through their leaves, meaning less stress and more energy for growth. In theory, it should prevent the dreaded crispy-edge syndrome entirely. The test I tried a tabletop unit next to my prayer plants. After two weeks, the difference was visible: no new brown tips, glossier leaves and fresh growth."
Winter indoor heating creates very low humidity that damages tropical houseplants, causing brown, crispy leaf edges. An electric humidifier supplies a steady mist, raising local humidity to tropical-like levels when run for a few hours with a filled tank. Humidifiers deliver consistent, measurable humidity compared with misting or pebble trays, which reduces plant transpiration, lowers stress, and frees energy for growth. A two-week tabletop humidifier trial next to prayer plants stopped new brown tips, produced glossier leaves, and encouraged fresh growth. Drawbacks include regular refilling, cleaning to prevent mould, background noise, electricity use, and variable build quality and cost. For humidity-sensitive species like calatheas, humidifiers can be the difference between barely surviving and thriving.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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