I was WRONG about humidity trays
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- Опубликовано: 31 мар 2023
- Humidity trays are a common suggestion to increase humidity around your plants. Unfortunately, I do not believe they are very effective. I think your efforts are much better spent ensuring your plant gets adequate sunlight and you are fertilizing effectively.
If you like using humidity trays, you can keep using them. Other than becoming a breeding ground for pests and mold, there isn't a significant negative impact on your plants health if you continue to use them.
Make sure to check out @ScottGrowsanAvocadoTree! Thanks Scott.
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It works better if you just use your entire floor as a tray.
lmao
😂
I am doing this but the apartment below me keeps stealing all the water. Will try again tomorrow.
it's simple, just live in a pool.
Wow! How did I not think of this! Thank you great oracle!
Your closing remarks are spot on. In my opinion, if it gets too complicated then it's not a sustainable hobby that brings you joy, it's a chore.
agreed
It's a lifestyle
Yesssss 👏👏👏
Hey Lee, I normally troll a little in your comment section but I wanna be serious this time. You’re absolutely right. I work in a greenhouse with actual rare plants (plants that you literally couldn’t buy if you wanted to rare) and one of the humidifiers broke two days ago. The humidity in that room should be around 80%, but without the humidifiers it sits around 50%. One of us has to come in three times a day and spray water in the air with a fine mist hose for about 20 minutes and water the floors just to get the humidity up to about 70%. It’s just not as good as a humidifier
How did the super mega ultra rarer plants fare?
@@FuzzySpaghetti No one can buy them because they died from over-hydration.
Lee you crack me up, "this is covered in fungus gnats." ❤ I believe humidity and how much one provides is a total myth in terms of houseplant health and success growing. We are recently relocated to the desert of South NM and this is the driest environment I've ever grown in and my indoor garden is doing better than I have ever seen. And we relocated here from Savannah GA a place safe to say....extreme humidity. For me understanding consistent moisture has been key, or not letting plants dry out to the degree I used to....I gained this idea from Ashley the soil scientist. Changed the game for me. But honestly, the best part of the desert and lack of humidity is the rate my soil dries out, and the increased rate of wet dry cycles, that is, I get to water/feed constantly now because of this dry air.....and the plants are constantly getting more. More nutrients, more heat, more dry, more wet. It's amazing. They love it. Another reason I think humidity totally unimportant is other growers' experience, like that guy who spent a year acclimating his pitcher plants to CA humidity and now successfully grows them on his windowsill. Or that commenter who grows 400 ferns and advises to chop a struggling fern back to the soil and let it regrow and it will adapt to your space. My humidity here is currently 26% dry😐 sad face, lols. But very happy plants. Happier here than in Savannah, like me, lols.
Oh boy I can’t wait to get my wet towel trays going.
We're all waiting on the next experiment! 😁
Thank you! I’ve had this argument with orchid Society members for 20 years now. Las Vegas is dry, 2% humidity outside right now. My plants (200 or so) make my home at 30% on a good day. Never has a “tray” closely monitored and watered ever made a difference. Domes and cabinets are what I do now, if it needs above 30% 💚😎💚
Yes! I'm down in Arizona and I totally agree, for us a cloche, cabinet or green house is the only way. Anything else is useless.
Dang, that's a long argument.
@@KillThisPlant well I don’t hold a grudge- I just roll my eyes when a new member comes in and swears by it. But most of us, let’s say seasoned growers know better. 💚😎💚
I was like; wait what’s going on here.
Was going to tell you to blink trice if the humidity police is holding you hostage.
People just like to think that the time they are putting into humidity trays and misting is paying off.
😐😑😐😑😐
@@KillThisPlant lmao😂
Heck, yeah! 😆my plants are growing and doing good because of ME! 😆
You're doing it!
You have to put your towels in the washing machine with water, top it with leca put a mesh tray & put your plant on top. Unfortunately, you’ll need to buy a washing machine for each plant. Thanks for sharing!
I got confused and now all my plants are in the washing machine. 🥲
🤣
Great shoutout to Scott Grows an Avocado Tree. I've really been enjoying his channel as I've been nurturing my firstborn avocado, Gus.
I covered my entire house in wet towels to raise humidity. What a great hack!
Hi Lee. I love your videos and you are super funny too. Ending your video with, “this…is covered in fungus gnats”. 😂
I may have taken the part about you not wanting to do these kinds of videos, a little too seriously?? I hope you don’t stop making videos. I enjoy the content and your humor. 😁
Love the inspiring background music when you give us the plant parent peptalk.
I hope you keep doing your videos… my monstera is really healthy thanks to you. I love your sense of humor.
This is a freaking great video! The seriousness at the end was true and more people need to say it!
Your ending sums it all🤣
You are always a voice of reason.
I LOVE this video! Thank you! Your energy is so beautiful!♥
Agreed!! And one further, I never had so many pests than when I used a very small one room humidifier and no closed door atmosphere!! You nailed it buddy and I will never use a humidifier or anything else to increase the humidity in my house, ever again!!
A simple cheap water fountain is the best!! I have a little water pump in a bowl of water in my green house cabinet, it keeps the humidity over 80%, when it runs out of water it goes down to 40%.
Hi Lee, love your clip, as always.
I vote for a humidifier. Everything else is too much trouble and not really worth the effort.
Yesssss, I enjoy your content so much! Humor, your education and then you add other creators content ✨️✨️✨️✨️ yes thank you for your time
Great video. Thanks!
Thanks! I'm glad I saw this before I tried the tray.
Glad to hear it, one less thing to worry about. Another great video 😊
Thank you!!!!
Love this that you’re keeping it real! Of course people are passionate about their hobbies, nothing wrong with that. But when it becomes a chore…not worth it. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of the good. Just enjoy. 💕
You are funny but real and I appreciate your honesty ❤😂😂
The last 2 seconds had me cracking up!!! Another great video! BTW, how DO you stop fungus gnats??
I saw that title and I was questioning everything 😂
Loved every funny bit.
I have been thinking lately about how attached some people are to their growing methods (especially “hacks”).
I suppose I am too but the difference is, I experiment and observe. If an added step isn’t adding enough (or any) value, I eliminate that step.
It’s because I don’t want to exert any more time (or other resources) than necessary if the results aren’t worth it.
I think some people don’t want to believe they wasted their time and energy, so they can’t let themselves consider other options.
And… then they keep doing it to prove they believe in their approach.
All fine but…
They continue to recommend it.
And… they become angry when others question it.
I bought a lot of cheap hygrometers to verify the theory and found it super interesting.
Thanks for saving people time and money by doubling down 🤑
The best way I've found to whack your humidity up is by turning on the big evaporative air con we have. It out did my big humidifier by leaps. Evaporative air con added an extra 30-40% to the over all humidity in our house.
Thank you for this video. I just bought a rose painted calathea and started going crazy on the care videos and was about to start spending too much on trays and stones etc. my plant will be in my office and I hope the best for it going forward. I do run a small humidifier for myself but I’ll let the plant get some too but it can’t run for hours and hours so I thought I must have humidity trays 😭😭😭 but just going to really pay attention to the lighting, and soil moistness and hope. Love your vids
thanks! i hope your plant does well.
Thank you for your content
My pleasure!
totally agree! lol I love towels bc I have a janky humidifier - it’s a wet towel in a bowl of water laid over a fan 😳 my humidifiers got nasty and they were so hard to clean so I switched to towels because they’re waaaay easier to clean but just throwing them in the wash
Yeah, I just recently covered an ailing calathea white fusion? I have a lot of indoor humidity, 70% is normal, since I live in a Northern rainforest. I've always been a chronic underwaterer, so it had been suffering. I had a cloche but just never got around to using it, kind of like a lot of my stuff. Anyway, wow, wow, wow!! It's been loving life under the cloche. I've learned my lesson for sure. And on pebble trays - they just get nasty, that's a hard no!
Having a setup similar to a evaporative humidifier is the most effective, low cost option: humidifier wick (or towel) upright in a basin of water with a fan behind it. You can even use your heater/ac instead of a fan.
Unfortunately passive humidifiers like pebble trays don't do much in a standard room
Water trays lcan be decorative, beautiful, depending on the container. If they in addition add a little humidity, that s fine.
Decorative water fountains work in a closed cabinet.
I live in Georgia. Right now, the humidity is 86%, and the temperature is 70 degrees. I would love to live in a low-humidity area. 😍💚🪴
My plants do better when I do better. I love your sweatshirt!
lol "this is covered in fungus gnats mic drop! perfectly executed!
Damn this is a very deep and hilarious video. New follower!! Thanks for your content.
Thanks for subscribing!
"It's not always about optimizing everything all the time." YES.
Lol! Thanks for this video. 😊
Agreed. I just use a humidifier. If I need more humidity than that, thale plant isn't for me. 😁
Yes I agree.
I finally bought some humidistats online and was pleasantly surprised that my Minnesota mid winter house has between 35-40% humidity. I think that’s down to: a. Radiator heat rather than forced air, b. We hang our clothes to dry rather than use a drier, c. I have quite a few plants. I’m not going to buy a humidifier yet this winter, my plants will go outdoors soon enough. But I’m definitely going to get a humidifier next winter and see if I can get my sunroom up to 50%.
In addition to plant videos I watch a lot of baking videos. I had a hilarious conversation with some bakers from London who can’t make 80% hydration bread recipes because the humidity in London is 90%. 90%! My 80% hydration dough just looks like normal dough, not even particularly wet. Sigh, I was so proud of my 35% humidity. Bonus though, all the little humidistats I bought also show temp, so I’ve been able to really control the temperature of my sourdough starter.
00:26: 🤣 Love the M.M.A. theme music. Look out humidity trays, he’s coming for ya!
I adore the way you end this video! My most successful plant space is in the corner of my dining room, which, by midday, is generally sitting at an arid 30% humidity. I previously had my plants in the living room with the humidifier belting, in a vain attempt to make them thrive - needless to say, I created a beautiful environment for spider mites, because it was damp and dark(ish). I lost 2 alocasias, 2 ctenanthe, and god knows how many Calathea to the aforementioned, and god knows how many maidenhairs because they were so deprived of light that there was no way they could survive and thrive!
Thank you for your realness 👍🏼
Yes, I have brown tips at times, yes, I’ve lost fronds on the maidenhairs, but I have
Sorry, my phone bugged out 😂 y’all get my point though!
Yay it’s me!!! 🎉
Finally something useful to do with all those extras towels! Thanks for the advice! 😂😂😂
hahaha awesome video! you rock
I think this would ONLY work if you had every single surface area in your home, including the floor, covered in humidity trays. I have reservoirs for leca plants everywhere and the ambient humidity hasn't really increased at all. I know this not due to the humidity reader in the room remaining unchanged, but also I don't get condensation on my windows any more than normal in the winter. It's literally the same amount of window wiping. Thank you for your testing and demonstration.
The end had me falling out of the chair 😂
Next experiment.....grouping plants together! Great video, Lee!
No, you do it 😩
@@KillThisPlant we all know group does nothing lol you'd need to maybe cram all of them in a single room and close the door for it to really do much
Whilst there might not be any value in a pebble tray for humidity, does it have any value for root growth when you don't want a plant sat in water? Roots after all are amazing at finding water 'reservoirs'.
Welp I almost choked on my coffee laughing at the sike and the music change.
I've got some starts in LECA pots sitting on a tray of water and the humidity is ~15% higher than the rest of the room. BUT, they're also set on a heating mat and in a mini greenhouse-like container. I doubt humidity trays are a good solution if it's not enclosed or in a small room. I use a humidifier to raise the humidity for the plants in my office, which typically uses 1 or 2 gallons of water a day (depending on the weather).
Can anyone recommend any humidifiers ? Ones that don’t get mouldy quickly
HAHAH awesome intro!! love this channel
Lol, April fools 😂😊.
Thank you for the information 👍🏼
How to get rid of fungus
Gnats
Look, I have 30+ aquariums in my plant room and my humidity barely changes if I remove all the lids. I also see it everywhere but I have noticed more water evaporation in the tanks that have more surface agitation so maybe if there was a “fountain” it would up the percentage slightly more than stagnant water. But I bought a humidifier 🤷♂️
I'm growing Scabrida Bamboo indoors next to my mature Banana Plant and use a humidity tray (kind of). My humidity tray is actually a large, deep, clear, plant pot saucer meant to catch water coming from the plant pot drainage holes. Since I water the crap out of the Bamboo, it made sense to elevate the pot by adding fish tank gravel and allow the overwatering to rest in the gravel.
I don't know if it helps but even if I get 1 - 2% more humidity it's better than nothing and it's actually easier to take care of than draining extra water from the saucer (Bamboo is heavy lol).
...but in the interests of clarity, I've between 34 - 45% humidity in my apartment at all times because it's a jungle so does it make any difference overall, don't know?
It's just easier to maintain.
Great right after spending an hour in Tx looking for rocks lol
The second I read the video title I yelled WHAAAAAT?!!!!!!!!!
Fungus gnat watering hole. Gather round!
Psych! 😂😂😂 I love your videos. Because of you, I'm expecting my first Monstera to be delivered any day now. Your video about setting it up properly from the beginning will help ensure my success. Thank you! Now...what should I name it?
Pringles
so... what exactly do the pebbles increase the surface area of? if anything, they decrease the water surface, by just being there, right? maybe, at the beginning, when you fill water in, some of the pebbles would be wet and therefore the surface area actually evaporating would be larger...? but the moment those pebbles are dry (like 10 minutes in) they only take up space where otherwise there would be an open water surface, so what surface area is actually increased? the dry surface area? :D
I use humidity trays for a lazy reason. They catch the water from the pots and because they have grates, the plants do not sit in any water. 😂😂😂😂 oh and as far as fungus gnats go. No problems I grow sundew plants . I adore watching them digest fungus gnats 😂😂😂😂
If you heat your humidity tray, didn’t you make a bootleg humidifier. 😂
Enjoy the video. Are you still tracking plant prices? Love to see a chart and prediction on Burle Marx Flame, Variegated rhaphidophora tetrasperma, Carmel Marble and whatever other crazy hot plants are trending. Loved the data.
People always talk about humidity but at the same time it's impossible in most climates to get the same high humidity like in the jungle, and also getting a mold problem at the same time
OK the very last line wiped me out and I have to go lie down for a while.
We have low humidity here that dries out my sinuses just from breathing at night. So I just want to raise the humidity for my own sake lol.
Last year i had lower humidity compared to this year. What was the differece? More plants, a lot more 🤣
I tried humidifiers but my plants sit in a corner of an open room, a humidifier running 24 hours was able to raise it about 10 to 15 points more. Not bad, but the maintanence was to much for long term. My husband has asthma and i had to cleaan the humidifiers at least twice a week, just so i don't worry about mold. Also, once i found one that was very easy to clean, it required distilled water or it would make white dust.
I gave up and got a greenhouse cabinet for the more fussy plants. The rest of them have to rely on eachother. Survival of the fittest.
Hello Lee! Love you, your great sense of humor (keep 'em coming) & your channel! Viewers: SUBSCRIBE!!! ❤
Thanks so much
Let’s all use wet towel trays 😂
On a more serious note, I have humidity trays under all of my begonias and they are doing so much better then they did before. I use mostly leca, one does have some sort of decorative pebbles I had on hand. My husband doesn’t like plants and is CONVINCED that a handful of little humidity trays is making our ac window units have to work extra hard to cool the house 🙄 I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that it’s almost 100 degrees outside lol.
❤
"this is covered in fungus gnats" 😂
I tried humidity trays but I noticed they would spill if knocked into (cats and humans). What I have now seems very stupid but simple for me - a coffee mug with water in it placed around plants. Don't know if it helps but better than nothing and I'm not going to have a humidifier (for a couple of reasons).
My two experiences with pebble trays resulted in unwanted pests. Maybe coincidental, but still my reality. 🚫pebble trays.
I invested in two humidifiers that run 24/7 in my plant spa room. Target is 50-60% Humidity. Dehumidifier is necessary to keep humidity in check as to not rise above 65% which encourages mold, bacteria, fungus, etc.
I don't mist often as much as before. I think some of the plants miss it. So I give them a light neem oil mist and tell them it's just water.
I support this gaslighting of your plants.
@@KillThisPlant 😁😆🥰🤣😂
Yes, it is probably gaslighting, but it is a Spa room with almost 200 tropical plants and a Norfolk Island Pine. I just couldn't mist the Pine enough so the humidifiers were necessary and since December my Maranta Prayer Plants are finally bouncing with moving big leaves no brown tips.
🧑🏿🌾keep up the great work! 👍🏾
I just covered my plant with a clear plastic bag at night...and removed it during the day.
What you say from 2:41 - 2:55 can apply to the parenting of human children as well - hehe!
😂😂😂 that escalated quickly
Hi just joined your channel. Great content dedicated to monstera. I have a question. I moved my monstera from outside (mostly shade where it was thriving ) to inside ( I live in hot and humid place). I started to see some browning/burnt leaves.. is this result of too much sun? I placed it against the window which gets strong sun about 3hrs a day. There isn’t much natural air flow unfortunately as outside. What should I do?
It could be sunburn, did it happen immediately?
Buying a light meter to compare the light intensity might be a good investment.
@@KillThisPlant probably sun burn. I think it was quite immediate. I only noticed it once I moved it inside. It was under shade most of the time when it was outside. Can I cut away the burnt part of the leaves without cutting the whole stalk?
@@4leafclover243 yes.
Lol! you got me,
oh ... they are humidity trays? i use them so my floor and shelfs are not being damaged :D I had no idea thy were supposed to have other use :D
2:38 "maybe I am the humidifier"
This would have worked if you performed a ritualistic sacrifice to the humidity gods. They don't work without their blessing.
I live in a country with more than 80% humidity….soooo i really do not need that, but it was interesting the experiment.
Plants are dangerous xD
I Just had some Basic plants till start of March.
Like a Pachira aquatica which i have since 4 years and is over 2 meters high now.
Some Basic Epipremnum pinnatum also since 4 years
and 2 Ficus trees, arround 1 meter high, one pure green, one variagated with white.
To my birthday i got an monstera deliciosa variegata, and now im in Plant fever.
Since then i bought some Alucasia and a second Monstera Thai Constellation
Making my own soil and even bough some growing lights.
Get rid of my dryer and use my plant room? Got it!
-watchs/cries in 80+ avg humidity -
But what if you grow an entire rainforest as bonsai in the tray to mimic the high humidity there?
Have to construct my own ozone layer first.
I need to admit; I made my Monstera Deliciosa cry. It is still weeping today.
Heck ! We got bamboozeled
You are correct. Speaking as someone academically trained in horticulture and pedology: These trays will not raise the ambient humidity in a common room under most conditions. It's basic physics.
What is the volume of the room? Say it's a 14x14' foot space with the windows and doors closed. With an 8' celling, you have a 1568 cubic foot area. That's before accounting for extra air movement through the structure, ventilation systems, and any air-exchangers of condensers that may be in the building (most of which are designed to pull out humidity).
What is the volume of the tray? Let's be generous and give that little pot a 1x2' tray 2" deep... 48 cubic inches or 0.2 gallons of water. Less if you have pebbles or another media displacing water. What would you expect .2 gallons to do in 1568 cubic feet? not a whole lot.
And if you're trying to argue it somehow creates a micro-climate, No. Because you did not go through the steps to change conditions in the room around that pot or tray to create micro-conditions. It's subject to the same conditions as the rest of the room. You may at most raise humidity within the first inch or so, but it will quickly disperse through diffusion with the rest of the room as you increase distance from the tray.
As you point out, what does work: Purpose built technology to raise ambient humidity inside a multiple hundred cubic foot area. Or Actually creating different micro-condition like enclosing the plant and water source inside a much smaller air volume such as a propagation tray, terrarium, cloche, or tent which both isolates that container from external conditions and drastically reduces the cubic footage which has to be saturated with evaporation from the tray and evapotranspiration from the plants.
Now, what are these trays really good for? Catching excess water that free drains from or spills over the pot during watering events. They protect furniture, floors and shelves. And for that, they are usually worth having.
And I completely agree with your closing statement. Why are so many plant hobbyist's obsessed with efficiency?
Are you a commercial grower where time and space mean your bottom line financially? Probably not. These arguments make sense if you're a commercial production facility (none of which rely on humidity trays as their only solution).
It's a hobby, enjoy the process. The goal is keeping these plants alive and thriving for years in your home, to get satisfaction, gratification, and enjoyment from knowing it's alive because of your care. Or if you're like me, staving off seasonal depression as you surround your work area with grow lights and dense green foliage year-round.
The simple take away is this: if you can't keep a plant alive due to insufficient humidity, because you're trying to grow a tropical plant in a non-tropical room. Putting a tray under it won't do it. You need to provide the plant with tropical conditions by either changing the conditions in the room, or creating a smaller space (I personally like enclosed terrariums) that maintain tropical conditions.
Thank you for such a detailed summary, and sharing your expertise.
I think people have become obsessed with efficiency because social media, and wider adoption of this hobby has made it inherently competitive.
I'm not absolving myself from responsibility, a lot of my videos can be interpreted as you must to A, B, and C to grow the best plant as fast as possible.
I think people like to think it works because they need to convince themselves they provide the best care possible. Coming from the orchid world I was thinking that orchid don't perform the best because of the humidity. Nah, they were just getting used to my place. They do perfectly fine now without humidifier. I think people should really be more concerned with overwatering then humidity.
what about if you used orbeeze?
😒
@@KillThisPlant haha, you know I had to do it 🤣
This would've worked if you lived in a humidity dome
Maybe one day. That's the dream 🥲
My solution is to stop buying plants that require high humidity. It's more a pain than it is a joy. Pothos and other simple plants on the other hand, they are pure joy!