I can't recommend a specific one because where i live we have the opposite problem; but in general the type of humidifier is the most important when it comes to resilience and maintenance, best info source i can point to is ths video from technology connections where he talks about different types; all of the ones he talks about in the video (aside from the big one) are fairly simplistic in construction, so they'll start as soon as power is applied.
Also be mindful about the size of the room, since a small one may not be fast enough.
It's very hard to kill a golden pothos. Just cut it up and throw it in dirt, or throw it in a bowl of water for a week or a year, it really doesn't care. The plants don't die
This may be a bit of an unusual recommendation, but I've found biological warfare to be the best solution for fungus gnats: Drosera capensis, Cape sundews, are like nature's bug vacuum.
There is a bit of time waiting for the plant to get ready to go, maybe a month to six weeks, but they require virtually no care aside from ensuring they're in a bath of water at all times, and they absolutely EVISCERATE gnat populations. I used to have a terrible problem with them until last year when I got my first D. capensis, and roughly counting, one plant in a month caught over 170 bugs. They're super fun to own and their colors are dazzling.
Thank you for the recommendation! I've definitely considered carnivorous plants. Actually I ended up throwing all my plants in water last month (except for some succulents which weren't part of the problem) to convert all of my plants to a semi-hydro system instead. I haven't seen a fungus gnat since! Once it warms up outside and I can rinse off the substrate with a hoze I'll be potting them up in a soilless mix.
I am living in a dry region (now it's like 60% bc it's winter, but in summer reaches almost 0%humidity). I was like you and also got humidifiers before, but my recommendation is that you forget about it and just let nature do it's thing and plants adapt to your environment.
Obviously we cannot have ferns, but some plants like hoyas and such, you may be surprised that they adapt at the end and even thrive. At the end you do as you think best, but overcaring for plants that may be sick or cannot live in your climate is too big of a challenge long-term, take that into account
Got it. Winter + forced air heat opens up the possibility of a whole home humidifier but since you can't go that route a evaporative humidifier or two is the way to go.
My only recommendation is that you should spend a little more money on specifically an evaporative humidifier. They’re a bit louder (I think I’ve got a Vornado EV100 or something?) but the cheap humidifiers on Amazon will cover everything in the room in very fine white powder after a few weeks/months, which gets super annoying. The evaporative-type humidifiers don’t do that. Not sure about smart-plug compatibility, though.
Found it by the trash bins by our house! We’re not fancy enough folks to have oil and vinegar at the table every meal, but I did receive a bunch of pothos cuttings as a sort of housewarming gift.
In fact, so not fancy that I peruse the trash bins for treasures…
Houseplants
Oldest