Do Snake Plants Like Humidity? – How To Provide The Best Conditions

Snake plants, also known as Sansevieria, are very popular indoor plants because they’re easy to take care of, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t require the attention and care that you give your other plants. For example, proper environmental conditions are essential for a snake plant to thrive, so you want to make sure that you monitor the amount of light and how much humidity your sansevieria plant is getting. However, if you don’t know if snake plants like humidity, we’ve got you covered.

Keep reading to learn the answer to the question “do snake plants like humidity,” and learn how you can provide your snake plant with the right conditions to grow.

How Much Humidity Do Snake Plants Like?

Snake plants thrive in moist environments, which makes them easy to care for and difficult to kill. In other words, this is a great plant for beginners or those who have a brown thumb. If you find that you’re having a hard time keeping your snake plant happy, you may first want to check how much humidity it is taking in.

There are many types of snake plants, including sansevieria masoniana and sansevieria trifasciata. Snake plants originate from dry, arid regions, so of course, they prefer to be a little dry. However, this doesn’t mean that the snake plant does not like humidity. They prefer average humidity.

In general, snake plants grow best in a room where the humidity sits at 40% and a room temperature that ranges from 60 degrees to 80 degrees. Although it is a tough plant, if the humidity in the room rises or falls too far away from this percentage, your plant may struggle to stay.

How Does Humidity Affect Snake Plants

Snake plants can thrive in many environments, but high and low humidity can negatively impact the snake plant’s growth.

When the humidity is too low, the plant loses a lot of moisture through transpiration, which can negatively affect the plant’s health and make it droop. On the other hand, if the humidity is too high, the water won’t dry, resulting in a pest infestation, leaf spots, bacterial infection, and other diseases for the leaves.

Signs that Your Snake Plant Needs More Humidity

If the humidity is too low, your snake plant will show the following signs:

• Yellow leaves
• Brown edges
• Drooping or curling leaves
• Wilting

Be aware that most of these signs are similar to the signs of overwatering or underwatering, so it is crucial to stay aware of the environmental conditions around your snake plant. If your snake plant is getting the right amount of water, then humidity levels may be to blame for these symptoms.

How to Provide Good Humidity Levels for Your Snake Plant

Since snake plants like average humidity, depending on where you live, maintaining ideal humidity conditions for your snake plant should not be too difficult. Use the following tips to change the humidity in your snake plant’s room

Use a Humidifier or Dehumidifier

If you live somewhere very dry, then use a cool-mist humidifier to increase the humidity in your snake plant’s room. Conversely, if you live in an area with high humidity, you will want to use a dehumidifier to bring the levels down. Humidifiers and dehumidifiers are the most effective methods of controlling the humidity in your home.

Get an Aquarium

An aquarium is a fun solution to adding humidity to your snake plant’s environment because it will also brighten up the room.

If you put a small aquarium in the room with your snake plant, it can help raise the humidity levels of the room by quite a bit, depending on the size of the aquarium. The aquarium acts as a sort of natural water source, meaning that the water evaporates and raises the humidity level of the entire room.

The aquarium can have multiple benefits for your plants. Aquarium water is great for watering your snake plants. Aquarium water is an excellent source of nitrates, which will help your house plants grow.

If you’ve never owned an aquarium before, try to get one that comes with a starter kit to guide you through the process.

Keep Your Plants Together

Some plants don’t like to be near other plants, but most do. The snake plant is one of those plants that will thrive when it is near other plants.

Grouping plants together raise the humidity levels of a room since all the plants will be releasing a small amount of moisture into the air when they transpire. Therefore, when grouped, plants that need it will take advantage of this extra moisture, such as the snake plant, and thrive together.

Use the Right Type of Soil

Soil is important for the overall health of your plants, including the amount of moisture they get.

Your snake plant doesn’t need too much water, especially if humidity levels are right. However, you want to make sure that you use well-draining soil to ensure that your plant retains the right amount of moisture.

The best well-draining soil should have a mixture of pine bark and perlite. Pine bark helps lighten the soil and eliminate compaction, allowing more oxygen to flow through the soil with less pressure on your snake plant’s roots. Perlite provides aeration within the soil, helping to drain excess water and bacteria away from roots.

If you don’t have well-draining soil or can’t find any in your area, you can always make your own.

Use a Mini Greenhouse

If you live in a dry climate with very unideal conditions, a mini-greenhouse might be a good choice to help maintain the humidity levels of your snake plant.

A mini greenhouse will create an environment of its own that will help the plant thrive, even in bad environmental conditions. Mini greenhouses don’t have to be expensive, and some are compact enough to fit in small spaces.

Snake Plants and Humidity – What Not To Do

Now that you know that snake plants do like humidity to some extent and know how to create an ideal environment for it to thrive, you must also learn what not to do when it comes to snake plants and humidity.

Here’s a list of some things to avoid to make sure that your snake plant continues to thrive in ideal conditions.

Keep Away From Heat Source

Make sure that you keep your snake plant away from all heat sources, such as air vents, fireplaces, or wood-burning stoves. These heat sources may carry varying degrees of humidity and therefore harm your snake plant.

Furthermore, increasing the temperature also lowers the humidity because the hotter air holds less moisture than air that is at a lower temperature.

Although snake plants can tolerate various light levels, these plants prefer indirect sunlight, making them ideal for rooms with small windows or north-facing windows. Low light may slow down their growth, but it will not harm them.

Avoid Overwatering

Snake plants do not need a lot of water to survive. Snake plants do best when you almost forget about them. Overwatering your snake plant may cause root rot, which may result in a strong, sewage-like odor coming from your snake plant.

Make sure that you allow the soil to dry between waterings to avoid excessive moisture. Do not get their leaves wet when you water them.

Only water your snake plant every couple of days and avoid overwatering in the winter.

Do Not Mist Your Snake Plant

Unlike many other plants, snake plants do not like to be misted. There’s no need to mist snake plants, as they have thick leaves that help them store water for when they need it. Some people believe that misting snake plants may increase the humidity level in the room, but this isn’t effective.

If you mist your snake plant, and the humidity in the room is already high, it will take a while for the water to evaporate from the leaves. Instead, the leaves will stay wet, which may lead to fungus, brown spots, and even root rot. It may also lead to leaf diseases and pest problems.

So when you mist your other plants in the evening, make sure that you skip over your snake plant.

Summary

So, do snake plants like humidity? The answer is yes, but not too much. Snake plants enjoy average humidity levels and don’t do well when the humidity rises or falls by a large amount, so it is important to monitor how humid their room gets.

There are several other factors that you should also monitor to ensure the best condition for your snake plant, but overall, these plants require very little fuss.