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By Janelle Sorensen, Healthy Child Advisory Board and Margie Kelly, Communications Manager
Did you realize the average American spends 90 percent of his time indoors? That’s a lot of time. Unbelievably, air pollution inside your home or office can be worse than the pollution outside, which is why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ranks indoor air quality as one of the top five environmental risks to public health.
There are many things you can do to clean up the air in your home. First, stop buying products made with toxic chemicals that pollute your living space. Products like air fresheners, vinyl flooring, pressed wood made with formaldehyde, and harsh solvents fill your air with nasty chemicals that harm your health.
Ventilating your home by opening a window, even if it’s for just a few minutes a day, will improve your indoor air quality.
Also, placing common household plants in various rooms of your home is a way to grow fresh air!
Researcher Kamal Meattle discovered that three common houseplants, used strategically throughout a home, could vastly improve the indoor air quality.
Here's the breakdown:
Areca Palm is "The Living Room Plant" - This plant is a daytime oxygen factory and Meattle recommends having 4 shoulder height plants per person.
Mother-in-Law's Tongue is "The Bedroom Plant" - This plant is an evening oxygen factory and Meattle recommends having 6-8 waist-high plants per person.
Money Plant is "The Specialist Plant" - This plant is the filter that removes formaldehyde and other volatile organic chemicals from the air.
These three household plants will certainly improve your indoor air quality, even if you don't have quite so many. And, if you're not satisfied with just three options, other new research has identified five "super ornamentals" that demonstrated high effectiveness of contaminant removal.
These include the purple waffle plant (Hemigraphis alternataa), English ivy (Hedera Helix), variegated wax plant (Hoya cornosa), Asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus) and the Purple heart plant (Tradescantia pallida). [Remember to check all plants for toxicity to dogs and cats via the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).
Of the 28 plants tested, these five were effective at reducing levels of a number of common household VOCs, including benzene, toluene, octane, alpha-pinene and TCE. The work, funded by the University of Georgia's Agricultural Experiment Stations, was published in the August 2009 issue of HortScience.
Ready to grow your own fresh air? NASA studies recommend that you use one good-sized houseplant in a 6 to 8-inch diameter container for every 100 square feet of your home. Though, additional research is being done to identify exactly how many of each type of species is necessary for remediation (as in Meattle's work). You should also be sure to keep the foliage clean and dust free (so the leaves can do their job). And, keep the top of soil clean and free of debris, as in some cases, that's where the bulk of the filtering is taking place.
The healthier your plants, the more vigorously they'll grow, and the better they'll clean the air for you.
Are you concerned about indoor air quality? What steps have you taken to improve the air in your home or office?
Posted by Solar hot water heater Peter on 08/07/2011 at 09:47 PM
Houseplants are little oxygen factories that can improve the air quality in your home read which plants are the best.
Posted by energy management on 05/12/2011 at 04:03 AM
Houseplants are little oxygen factories that can improve the air quality in your home: [link] Read which plants are the best.
Posted by Cherish on 05/10/2011 at 10:44 AM
I think that incorporating nature into your home is a great idea. We all share air and water! And honestly, if you dont grow your air who will? Frito Lays, Aquafinia? F** that! be accountable for yourself. and hey i think we all should be trying anything we can to improve our enviornments ALL THE TIME. little things add up when theyres so many people on one earth. Good little things or bad little things…
Posted by Greg on 10/23/2010 at 03:11 AM
Some of the listed plants are toxic to cats, English ivy & asparagus plant, so use caution if you have any pets.
Posted by fillip on 10/17/2010 at 11:34 AM
what about opening a window? being allergic to air has a similar cause like all allergies ... keeping ourselves away from nature. just like a baby that’s too clean will become allergic to all kinds of stuff being afraid of the outside makes us allergic to indoor air. I can make sense of using these plants in a space station, but actually suggesting to improve the quality of air with plants in your home is ridiculous. And if you find the air outside harmful too maybe you should move out of your beloved megacity or buy a hybrid
Posted by Rebekah on 10/02/2010 at 04:25 PM
Mother-in-laws tongue and Snake plants aren’t actually the same plant, they are similar though the Mother-in-laws tongue is much smaller of the two.
Though another good tip is to look up plants you want to buy to see if they are poisonous to your pets or children, English Ivy, for instance is highly toxic to dogs and Foxglove makes your heart beat slower and harder and also can kill you.
Always try to talk with a local nursery to see what kind of plants would be good for your home.
Posted by solartronenergy on 08/28/2010 at 02:51 AM
Okay, it’s great that people can grow plants in their house and improve air quality (not a little known fact btw), but that is an excessive number of plants. Most people barely have room for their furniture, let alone “6-8 waist high plants per person”.
Posted by solar hot water on 08/14/2010 at 04:29 AM
I wonder if these house plants will really improve the air quality for everyone, including people with certain allergies. I think they’re worth trying, though.
Posted by sylvia yang on 08/06/2010 at 09:29 AM
I always heard that it is a bad idea to put plants in a bedroom because they release co2 at night? also what if we put fertilizer in the soil are we ending up breezing the chemicals?
Posted by Spanky on 08/05/2010 at 02:42 PM
Any of these plants harmful to pets at all?
Posted by miami web design on 08/04/2010 at 10:42 AM
i have a few of these at the office
Posted by steven on 08/03/2010 at 11:59 AM
4 of the plants you mention i keep around the office. Great “zen” like environment. love the article
Posted by Emily on 08/01/2010 at 04:00 PM
When I went to the local nursery and asked for the areca palm, the gardner said he tries not to keep too many around because they are prone to bugs. He said it’s a big job keeping them bug-free. Just wondering if there are other palms that have the same benefits.
Posted by anthony pittarelli on 05/11/2010 at 12:35 AM
totally agree, even with being an avid plant owner and having a house full(25) of plants
Posted by Benjamin Koshkin on 05/07/2010 at 02:49 PM
The idea is great, but for a large family it’s not practical.
Benjamin Koshkin
Posted by Robert on 04/23/2010 at 11:50 AM
I do know Philodendron does provide formaldehyde removal, so that may be the ‘money plant’. Mother in Law Tongue is also known as a Snake plant.
What’s wonderful about both the Mother in Law Tongue AND the Philodendron is that both can easily be propagated from cuttings. After cutting the Philodendron can be placed in a bottle or glass of water and after a few weeks roots should grow.
The snake plant cutting can be placed directly in soil but kept moist.
So, although it takes longer for the plants to grow as opposed to buying them from a nursery, its cheaper and perhaps more exciting to grow them yourself.
Posted by Holly on 04/21/2010 at 05:01 AM
Would it be possible to specify which particular species of plants these are?
Common names are ambiguous; apparently, the palm name speaks of an entire genus, and as far as I can tell, there are more than one species bearing the nickname “money plant/tree”
Consequently, I’m not quite sure which plants I should be looking into purchasing. ^_^;
Posted by Janelle Sorensen on 03/26/2010 at 09:34 AM
TheAL - I’m not positive about care guidelines for all of these plants, but I know Mother-in-Law’s Tongue thrives in low light. We’ve had these plants for years and years and they are incredibly tolerant plants (just don’t over-water). They’re also very easy to find at garden centers and nurseries.
Posted by TheAL on 03/26/2010 at 06:10 AM
This is a great. I’d love a living room plant. Do any of these thrive in the shade or with little light? Thank you!
Posted by VickyC.me on 01/17/2010 at 03:44 PM
I want the Mother-in-law’s tongue one.. and a money plant!
I guess it’s time to go to the flower store! :)
This is a really insightful article! Thank you! :)
Posted by PJ on 01/15/2010 at 12:03 AM
You can never have too many plants. I am starting to look for some of these. I already have a couple.
Posted by Janelle Sorensen on 01/12/2010 at 08:06 AM
Kamal Meattle’s recommendation would indeed mean having roughly a dozen large plants per person, but his study (and needs) were very extreme. Living in the heart of one of the most polluted cities in the world, he literally needed to grow his own fresh air in order to survive. The average American home certainly doesn’t need so many.
Posted by Erin on 01/07/2010 at 07:40 PM
As someone who loves all things natural and green, I thought this was really cool insight into how to help ourselves without cleaners and fear. Rock on!
Posted by Emily Lynne Ion on 01/07/2010 at 02:09 PM
Hi Jared,
I would agree that 22 houseplants is excessive! I think its the strategic placement, per every 100 square feet in the house, that is most crucial. Though he did suggest multiple plants to get the benefits of “Mother in Law’s Tongue”, I wouldn’t turn your bedroom into a hothouse! Think more about the placement rather than the quantity.
Thanks!
Emily
Healthy Child Staff
Posted by Jared on 01/06/2010 at 06:10 PM
So if I just want o2 and nothing that helps filter the air of certain toxins, this guy is suggesting that for me and my wife, being a household of 2, we have at LEAST 22 houseplants? I love plants but damn, it seems an Ionic breeze would be an easier option.
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