idle wrote:I like pot plants but the sun lamps might be a little too bright next to my desk!
There's nooo way i'd have a pot plant that would require a lamp either! so we pick a plant that doesnt need one
[caffeine-free edit] oooh, you mean those 1000w lights haha *taps nose and nods*
netmaestro wrote:Not legal in my country just yet but by this time next year it will be, I'll give it a try then.
Yes dont worry most of the rest of the world is still living in or feeling the adverse effects of the 1930's war on drugs propaganda nonsense too, sadly. All i've seen is the war on chemotherapy patients, but i'll keep politics out of this.
normeus wrote:all kidding aside I would love to know which plant can survive my over/under watering and get rid of the hot gas I exhale. PLEASE GIVE ME THOSE NAMES
Surprisingly quite a lot of those plants are easy to grow, and NASA did the study with the aim of finding out which plants would be suitable for cleaning space habitats so im guessing they were looking more at "indoor plants" in the first place too.
There are really three key 'go to' champions in the field of air cleaning, of course all listed in NASA's study, in no order ...
- Areca palm, Golden Cane Palm -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dypsis_lutescens
- Mother-in-law's Tongue, Snake Plant -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sansevieria_trifasciata
- Money Plant, Golden Pothos, Devil's Ivy/Vine -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epipremnum_aureum
The easiest one to start with is the Sansevieria (Mother In Law's Tongue aka Snake Plant). "If you have a difficult time with your house plants, the Sansevieria is the plant for you."
http://www.ourhouseplants.com/plants/sansevieria
- removes 4 of the 5 main toxic chemicals in the NASA study (only 2 plants removed all 5, but neither of those are particularly suitable for me as a non-gardener). Of course it removes a bucketload of others too (170+ i read the other day), but NASA were looking at 5.
- its very hard to kill (while ornamental it can be considered a weed in the wild)
- doesn't need much watering (you're more likely to overwater it).
- nice and clean; no old dead leaves or pollen dust to collect.
- doesn't need much light. You dont need any direct sunlight, just a window somewhere really. A good description i read was "loves dark, moody low lighting but appreciates a little dappled sun from time to time. A bit like a teenager"
- inexpensive and very accessible; should be able to find at any nursery in most countries
- its one of the few plants that actually creates oxygen at night (most plants don't and actually just consume a little bit), so it's considered "the bedroom plant" of the 3
- amazingly no batteries or electricity required, yet these babies generate oxygen and absorb toxic chemicals 24/7
- because formaldehyde is one of the key toxins it removes its also good for people with allergies caused by formaldehyde - i know somebody who gets eczema which doctors ultimately traced to formaldehyde allergy (its part of standard patch tests)
They grow very slowly and you typically get them as 3-10" little guys, but they can grow quite tall even in a small pot (never 'too tall' though, i dont think they get past waist high):
Mother-in-law tongue, aka Snake plant -
Sansevieria trifasciata
but as you can see they dont take up much space except vertically, and everyones got vertical space!
I like their punk rock hair attitude look too! lol. suits their beautifully variegated leaves
In the TED talk about it i think the person mentioned you would need 6 waist-high Sansevieria's if you wanted to live in a sealed cube with zero air input or output (ie. full CO2 absorption and oxygen replenishment required to sustain 1x human life in for example a space station), and when you think about how much you breathe out every few seconds that's some seriously hardcore WORK being done by those plants, almost slaving away for us! (i would love to see that oxygen generation somehow visualised!)
ps. great Christmas gift i think (i dont think they would be if they weren't so low maintenance!)
