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I live in a wet climate and the house I currently reside in gathers a lot of moisture on the windows, this is due to no ventilation on the windows among other factors. We are only renting so I'm looking for an alternative. I know I could just buy a dehumidifier, but what fun would that be?

What I'm looking for is a plant or flower, anything, that acts like a natural dehumidifier. What I want to achieve is to reduce the moisture by putting plants on the windows or around.

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    Dead ones; assuming that they died because you stopped watering them.
    – Mazura
    Dec 18, 2017 at 20:34
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    What do other people in the area do to keep their windows from "leaking" and causing bad things like mould & rotted wood? You probably want to do whatever they're doing
    – Xen2050
    Dec 20, 2017 at 3:44

3 Answers 3

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With plants, you would be doing yourself a disservice.

The average potted plant takes up moisture (water, salts and other substances from the soil) from the soil with their roots and a significant part of this water is expelled by the leaves and evaporates. In short, the plant acts like a humidifier. This is why we water our plants.

How much water a plant will bring into the air depends on the plant, which has adapted to its natural habitat via evolution - where a cactus will do its best to minimize evaporation, my sundews literally "pump" water from their boggy pots into the "dew".

There are plants that don't show this mechanism, because they don't have such roots, e.g. Tillandsiae and some orchids. But even they can not simply draw water from the surrounding air, they rely on regular dew or rainfall for their water needs.

Conclusion:
Either find a way to vent your rooms or buy a dehumidifier.

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    thank you for a great answer, I never taught of it like that before, lucky for us everyday is a school day Dec 18, 2017 at 10:55
  • Maybe use the plant to absorb condensation? i.e. If the issue is not the humidity in the air, but the pooling of water from condensation in undrainable areas, maybe then the plant option becomes valid?
    – JohnLBevan
    Dec 18, 2017 at 21:01
  • It's easy to find how much water a plant and its pot evaporate: it's the same water used for watering the plant.
    – Pere
    Dec 19, 2017 at 10:22
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While you may not get the de-humidifier action from them most cacti, many tropical leaf plants and some blooming tropical plants can live off nothing more then the water in the air in a humid environment.

It won't stop your windows from dewing up, it would allow you to have quite a few low maintenance plants. Just make sure to talk to the nursery about the plant's needs.

For example a Cactus may not more water then naturally condenses on it's pot, but that may only be true in environments with 80% RH. Your house may have 60% and the windows still dew up.

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A technical version of @Stephanie's answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpiration

Transpiration is the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from aerial parts, such as leaves, stems and flowers. Water is necessary for plants but only a small amount of water taken up by the roots is used for growth and metabolism. The remaining 97–99.5% is lost by transpiration and guttation

Guttation is the exudation of drops of xylem sap on the tips or edges of leaves of some vascular plants, such as grasses. Guttation is not to be confused with dew, which condenses from the atmosphere onto the plant surface.

It's why hothouses are so humid...

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