AC Dehydrating House Plants

I have a 10x10ft bedroom with some house plants, some in plastic pots others in ceramic. I recently installed an air conditioner which removes humidity from the room and I am having a hard time keeping up with my house plants.

Would plastic pots wick less moisture into the air than ceramic??

I started using plastic saucers under the pots regardless of their composition but the AC drains the whole saucer in a day and the soil dries out. Keeping water in the saucer goes against everything I learn about plants though; I always thought it is best to let a plant dry then give it a thorough watering from the top which soaks the soil and draws oxygen down into the soil as the excess water drains out the bottom (aka do not water every day) so this makes me think saucers are not necessarily the healthiest thing for plants.

My next idea was adding a clear doughnut shaped cover to the top of the pot but that may promote mold and cut the roots from oxygen??

My soil has no Perlite that might help a bit if I added some right?

For plants that do not require as much attention this is not a problem but specifically its a problem for my I don't know what you want to call them...mini house palm trees?

Any ideas?

When you say ceramic pots, if they are glazed they are water and vapor poof where the glaze is. The traditional terracotta flower pot does loose moisture quickly. I grow Christmas cactus in them for that reason.

While water evaporates from the pot and soil much of it is lost through the leaves of the plant. As the dry air tries to desiccate, the plant draws water from the potting mix.

Perlite aids drainage, not water retention.

The thing with saucers is that most plants don't like to have their roots continually soaked
If the sauces are drying out in a day then I don't see any harm in it, but I keep an eye on them.

If plants are where it's dry they are going to have to be watered more often. I had tomato and pepper plants out in 8 ounce cups last year in the sun and 90 degree heat I was watering them TWICE a day.

The best bet is to move the most sensitive plants if you can. Even moving them a little out of the air stream will help.

Needing to water often is good, from the plants' perspective, but if it's making you crazy, that's not good. It also is not good if it is because the pots of so stuffed with roots that there is not really any 'soil' left. Either way, bigger pots would hold more soil, so dry more slowly. Agreed, if plants are using water that quickly, the root rot concern is unlikely. I do wonder if the plants are as dry as you think they are, rare is the potted plant that needs water every day, even baking in the AL sun all day - unless really underpotted. When roots run out of room to grow, the plant is kind of on hold, as far as being able to grow new foliage, both must happen together, even if it means cutting a lot of old roots off so a plant can fit back in a same pot.

If they were glazed they would be glossy like clear coat, right?

I thought that the Perlite held water until it's surrounding soil was dry then it released its moisture into the soil?

The plants are not in the air stream, maybe larger pots with more soil will help the watering cycles.

The pots are over 90% soil, the roots were cut back. They deff are as dry as I am thinking because the bottom leaves fall off with the touch of your finger when they are dry.

The pot is your standard terracotta flower pot and looses water through it. If you cut the roots back 90% you plant is having a very difficult time going enough water into itself. I'd expect a 90% prune on the roots to kill most plants. The only way the plant has to try to save it's life is to loose leaves.

The plant that you have is a Dracaena marginata.
In my opinion, When you have a plant that is in need of repotting, it's best to repot into a one size larger pot, instead of doing a root pruning. But that's just my opinion. Having said that though, if what you did was a 90% root prune? Your plant has probably gone into a bit of shock, and as Doug said, it's not able to get enough moisture or nutrient to maintain the growth that it had. Your plant will lose leaves, and it will be putting all it's energy into trying to regrow roots. At this point, all you can do is to continue with the care that you had been giving it all along, before the root pruning, and hope for the best. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/732/

And if you do have plants that you feel may benefit from more humidity, creating pebble trays can help, and also an occasional misting.

It's normal for this plant to lose its' older leaves as it grows new ones. After the removal of some roots, it would be normal for several leaves to be discarded at once soon after. That is much healthier in the long run than leaving the circled, strangling mass alone and just adding more soil around the edges.

As long as the pot is still so dark in color, it still has moisture to release. Since you've just repotted, root pruned, and there's still so much space at the top of the pot, I would anticipate that in the spring you should have a very well-formed root system that would need very little trimming or disturbance if you wanted to finish filling the pot with soil, to give it even more room to grow. (Remove plant, add about 1 1/2" of new soil, replace plant, fill edges if necessary.) As long as the roots are actively growing, there is enough light, the soil isn't too moist or dry, (either of which can kill roots,) your plant should do well.

Instead of letting water sit in the drip tray, which can allow concentrations of tap water chemicals to build up in the soil, it might be better to take your plant to a sink. When soil becomes extremely dry, it can be hydrophobic, so may not get fully hydrated by putting water on it once. A lot of what you think is evaporation may be extremely dry soil taking a long time to rehydrate, and the clay pot absorbing a lot of the water. By taking your plant to the sink, you can avoid both. Add some water. 5-10 minutes later, add more. When it's finished dripping, sit back in place.

This discussion may have some info you find helpful:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1304686/

No I did not say I cut 90% of the roots back I said the pot is 90% soil...I cut probably 40% of the roots back it is doing fine granted it does not dry out.

Thanks for the identification, a pebble tray just sounds like a saucer and I would have to mist it everyday I am going to try a plastic pot.

It looses leaves faster then it grows new ones specifically the days it goes dry, maybe once there are more roots to hold water it will do better. I always lift and add soil rather then adding to the top or else you will choke the root flare (which loves oxygen).

Maybe I damaged the soil because I baked it in the oven with a little water on the bottom of a closed tray, this soil just goes dry way too quick and takes on a very dry appearance with some white spots like salt.

So you baked your soil? I did that once or twice years ago when I read something about making your own potting mix -- is that what you were doing? My suggestion to you would be to use a different potting mix, something with more peat in it, like a "soilless" mix, which is what growers use, and can be had from private garden stores, or over the net.

Here are a couple of points for you to consider. Interior landscapers, the people who take care of all the plants in hotels, restaurants, lobbies, offices, etc routinely 'double pot' the plants. That means the plant in its grow pot is placed into a plastic liner, then both are inside a decorative container. When the plant is watered, there must be enough water to create a run-off, to make sure the root ball is thoroughly moistened. The liner is never emptied, the plants are visited every one - three weeks, and a well-filled liner insures that large plants in high light have enough water to be healthy until the tech returns. (Unless the plants are on sub-irrigation, which is a different kettle of fish.)

The trick is to test the soil for moisture - ALWAYS - before watering. And adjust the amount of water to allow the plant to get properly aerated (that means lose enough moisture out of the soil to
allow the correct amount of air in) before it's watered again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf-8InSamYQ

And yes, 'scapers are very focused on having plants stay beautiful as long as possible. Replacing plants is expensive, and keeping customers happy is imperative.

The other thing to consider is that probably 98% of commercial accounts are air conditioned, so there's nothing in AC per se that makes it difficult to keep plants. Unless, for health reasons, you have a special system that removes all humidity. In that case you might want to consider cacti and succulents.

Misting doesn't increase humidity, unless you do it every 15 minutes. I think your problems will be addressed by a different potting mix, and different watering techniques.