How to Increase Humidity for Outdoor Plants

While some plants love a dry and arid environment, others need humidity to survive. When it comes to houseplants, this is easy enough to provide – simply flick the switch on your humidifier or move your plants to your bathroom when you shower and they’ll flourish in the moist air.

However, things aren’t quite as simple when it comes to trees and shrubs growing outdoors. After all, surely there’s not much that you can do to change your natural climate? Turns out, there is…

 

Group Plants Closer Together

All plants release moisture, and this is usually quickly lost in the air. However, group your plants closer together and the cumulative moisture released by each one will help to significantly increase the humidity of the air that surrounds them.

If most of your plants are in pots, then this is easy enough to do – simply rearrange them so that they’re closer together. However, if your humidity-loving plants and trees are in the ground, try placing some potted plants of various heights around them. Alternatively, consider planting a few more specimens around the original. As an example, we often recommend planting a group of single-crown Dragon Trees together, rather than just one on its own. Not only does this help with the tree’s need for humidity, but the visual effect of this mini forest is also breathtaking!

 

Mulch

If you don’t yet mulch your garden trees, then you’re really missing a trick. An organic mulch will feed your plants while also suppressing weeds, improving soil structure, boosting fruit tree yields, and, you guessed it, increasing humidity.

This is all down to how a mulch prevents quite as much water from evaporating out of the soil, while also holding on to water of its own. As a result, the air surrounding a mulch has higher moisture levels.

 

Create Levels with Your Plants

If possible, try to reorganise your plants so that they’re sitting at different levels. Arrange them so that the higher plants drip their excess water down onto the lower plants. Surround smaller plants with larger trees – these will provide a “wall” that will help to keep moisture in that area.

 

Mist Those Leaves

This tip is one that many houseplant owners follow, but it works well on outdoor plants too. Granted, misting the foliage of all of your garden trees may take some time, but it’s one of the most effective ways to boost humidity.

However, try to avoid using tap water when doing this. Instead, set up a bucket or barrel to collect rainwater and make sure that the temperature of the water is tepid before spraying this onto your plants.

 

Water in Trays

Simply placing some trays filled with water around your plants will lead to a rise in humidity. Yes, that water will evaporate, but it’ll also saturate the air, filling it with moisture.

Just about any type of container filled with water will do this. However, surface area is what you want to focus on – shallow but wide trays will bump humidity up faster than deep but narrow buckets.

 

Summary

If your garden is filled with plants that are native to your local environment, then these will have already adapted to natural humidity levels. However, if you’re growing a variety of tropical and subtropical plants, yet don’t live in a tropical or subtropical region, a lack of humidity will severely compromise growth over time, so pay close attention to those air moisture levels.

 

1 thought on “How to Increase Humidity for Outdoor Plants”

  1. Hello sir , Do You Have Any Excavation of water as Per Plant ? How much I put water I put near to the plant ? & How much humidity ll be increased??

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