Hi, I'm Dave Epstein with Growing Wisdom. And today, we’re going to talk about humidity trays.

The inside of your home in winter can be very dry. That’s not good for you and it's not good for your plants either. Today, we’re going to make a humidity tray to bring some moisture to those plants.

Many tropical plants including orchids love humidity trays. Ferns are another variety of plants that will benefit from a humidity tray. A humidity tray is simply something that can hold water and that you can put some stones in to raise the plant out of that water. The key here is you don’t want the bottom of the plants sitting in water. The reason it will wick up the water and make the plant too moist. Our goal here is just to increase the humidity around the plant.

You want to get a tray that’s big enough for your plant. You could use something as simple as 49 cent plastic bottom to a plant or you could just use a coated dish. What you don’t want to use is a terra-cotta clay pot bottom. These are porous and the water will end up wicking out unto your furniture or table.

For this little orchid, we’ve got a tray that’s about 8 x 8 inches across. I like to put some of those felt pads in the bottom of my humidity tray. That way if it slides, it's not going to scratch any surfaces. This also keeps any potential moisture from getting on my wooden furniture.

So, how do you make them? It is very simple. Take your container and you can pout in some stones, some gravel, some pieces of charcoal. You can get those at any landscape or home goods stores. You want to fill the tray with the gravel. This is going to provide the base of the plant will sit upon. Now, it's time to put the aster in. we’re just going to add enough water to fill the tray. Place your orchid or your fern in the middle of the humidity tray. And the moisture will continue to evaporate around the plant. Humidity trays are great way to increase moisture for your plants indoors in the winter.

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