Green Thinking Blog

I read an interesting article in the July 2008 issue of Publix Greenwise Market magazine. Apparently, one of the best ways to create a clean, non-toxic air environment in your home is to bring some plants inside. NASA has been using this trick since the 1980s when it completed some research on using plants to clean air in space capsules. It worked, and the research found that plants help metabolize chemicals by using them for food and energy.

A lead scientist on the NASA study, Bill Woverton, Ph.D., says bringing plants indoors is even more important today because “houses are more tightly sealed than in the past and contain a higher percentage of synthetic materials and products versus natural products.” The synthetic materials actually emit chemicals into our air indoors. Other recent studies confirmed plants can help reduce the level of pollens, dust, and allergens and keep humidity at a healthy range. Even more studies found that houseplants help reduce systolic blood pressure, increase productivity, decrease pain, and improve healing after illness or surgery. Simply amazing!

The GreenWise article said any kind of plant is fine to bring inside, just pick what fits you and your lifestyle. My tip is to figure out where you want to put the plants before you hit the store. This way you’ll know what to look for on the labels. Does the plant thrive in bright sunlight, partial sunlight, or low light? Here are a few suggestions from the article with a little help about how to take care of each:

• Ivy - Grows best in bright light, but avoid direct sun. Two-tone ivy likes more light than all-green ivy. Allow soil to dry before each watering.
• Calathea - Enjoys moderate light (put near a window facing east or north). Direct sunlight can burn up the leaves. Keep soil moist and mist the plant to provide a very humid environment.
• Fern - Likes low light and does well in a window facing north. Too much light will do damage. Mist the plant often. Allow soil to slightly dry before each watering.
• Croton - Keep in a warm place with good light, but not in direct sun. The light will help the leaves maintain their pretty range of colors. Allow soil to slightly dry before each watering.
• Anthurium - Likes bright light. Mist the plant often to provide high humidity. Allow soil to dry before each watering.
• Fittonia - Enjoys low light and windows facing north. Mist often to maintain high humidity.

Want more ideas? Head on over to Associated Content for their list of The Best Indoor Plants for Your Office or Home.

What else can you do to ensure your air at home is healthy?  Use less cleaning chemicals and bug sprays, keep it well ventilated, and check that your humidity is beweeen 30% and 50%.

Hmm…I wonder what kind of plants this house has inside? The outside is completely covered!

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.