i have had some mangroves for about two months now and i am starting to see great growth with the ones fully emerged in water. the problem is i am seeing less growth with the one whose tip is out of water. i have read that misting mangroves is good for them, so i was wondering how often i should mist them and would could i use one of those automatic misters for reptiles and such?

thank you

As I understand it, mangroves export salt out of their leaves, misting the leaves helps clear the salt off, otherwise I believe the leaves will die sooner and drop off.

I don't think automatic misters are necessary; using a simple spray bottle should be fine. Here's some good info (check the links at the bottom):
http://moon.ouhsc.edu/pwhitby/mangrove.htm

Mine are all rooted and at least 6+" of each are out of water. I try to mist them weekly to keep the salt off the leaves.

They tend to collect a lot of creep from splashing in the sump/salt export from the plants themselves.