A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Humidity? Maybe?

Hello everyone,
I am a novice to the max. But I love to learn new things. I can grow almost anything outside in a garden. The most I have grown inside is a few vines, a banana plant and some mangroves in my salt water aquarium in the sump. They all grew huge with no problem. Oh and some bamboo. LOL Any way I have a question and topic that may help everyone who lives in Arizona. I hope there are some experts that will join in.
I moved from Tucson Arizona to Prescott Arizona about five years ago. Tucson is hot and they use swamp coolers down there. Basically what that is. A box with three pads that have water running thru them and a fan inside. The fan blows the cool air into your home. Hence humidity and cool air. Cheaper than regular air conditioning. But in Prescott they mainly use regular air conditioning because there is humidity outside. And swamp coolers don’t work with humidity. We are 5000 feet.
I went through a divorce and she got the aquarium, plants and all. Who knows how they are doing or if they are even living. My eight year old said she sold them.
Anyway he likes to help me so I bought a lot of plants on sale that nobody wanted. Some I know what they are. Funny the ones I don’t know are doing great.
Here is my dilemma. I have a banana plant, a fiddle fig, some bromeliads, and a few different kinds of lilies. I have had them for four months now. I have noticed that on all the latter plants I mentioned the leaves are brown on the edges and some are all brown. The fig has some leafs that are dried and yellow. And it had lost a few leafs. Now I am not sure but I have been going crazy trying to figure out what is wrong. Then I watched a show called Holmes on Homes. Where he had to gut a home that had been used to grow pot plants. All because of the mold and humidity. Then it dawned on me that my nose is dry.
I am thinking that the normal air conditioner is dry. I may need to humidify in here. Just a guess. I mean I keep the watered like everything I have read. I have done it all. I am wondering if I should buy some humidifiers. I know it sounds a little crazy. I really don’t want to have those going and in the living room. UGLY! Any ideas? I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks

Yes, a/c can and does do a job on humidity that plants often need. But before laying out cash for humidifiers try adding humidity to their growing area. Like a saucer full of water and pebbles to keep the plants from sitting in the water. Place your plants on these. And see if that helps. Also keep them out of direct draft from your a/c.
I use swamp coolers here in my California desert too. I don't like a/c.

Tina,
Thank you so much for the reply. I will try your suggestions. They sound great to me. That will be my project today. I wish we had swamp coolers here. But with the humidity outside they just would not work. Like I say I am a novice. And I bet there are people who have had this happen and not figured it out.