Learning Perch: Plants as air cleaners - Paw Talk

Jodi · #1 01-31-2004, 06:52 PM

I found this interesting and wanted to share it. I've got a few of these plants (corn plant, snake plant, spider plant) and they're pretty easy to grow.

PLANTS AS AIR CLEANERS
by Constance Bacon

The article is a listing of various safe plants that will rid your home or office of not only carbon dioxide but also 1 or more of 3 other toxins.

Click for the article

Deja · #2 01-31-2004, 10:23 PM

Jodi, what great information - thanks!!

I've had a lot of those plants in my house. I knew keeping house plants was good for the air but I didn't know they got rid of so many awful things that could potentially harm our fids.
I seem to go in cycles with plants though. I keep a ton of them and really take care of them, some I have had for years... then I grow tired of them. They die. I wait a while and get new ones.
Crazy huh?

Jodi · #3 02-01-2004, 08:50 AM

Deja, I'm the same way. And I don't exactly have a green thumb. I love plants & I love planting flowers in the spring but sometimes I just can't keep 'em alive! Sharon got me this cute plant when she was my RAK buddy and I tried SOO hard to keep it alive but nope, I killed it.

Some of these big houseplants have been easier for me to keep alive!

SharonM · #4 02-01-2004, 10:05 AM

I have an extremely green thumb - I took Horticulture at a vocational school my 11th and 12th grade years. But I'm like Deja, I get all these gorgeous plants, double em in size ... then slowly ... lose interest ... I can't keep em in the house because of Liz - they're the one thing she'll climb up high to get to. My front porch isn't heated, so come winter ... they sit in a dark room and die. No point in having plants here!

Interesting article though - my mother has always swore by having spider plants in the bathroom and in the bedrooms.

Jodi · #5 02-01-2004, 10:17 AM

Hmpf. Maybe you should give me some pointers Sharon.

I have a corn plant that is growing great (lots of new growth on top) but on some of the bottom growth the very tips are getting brown. It gets good light (indirect) and I've been watering it faithfully. Can I cut off the brown stuff? Should I leave it? Am I killing it? Should I change locations? (it's in our bedroom by the big window) HELP!

Deja · #6 02-01-2004, 04:39 PM

Jodi I had a corn plant that the woman left for me when we bought this house- it was SO old! I used to trim all the brown dead stuff off it and I'd use Miracle-Gro on all my plants regularly. I'm just like Sharon - I can grow anything and keep them alive and thriving - as long as I stay interested! Once I lose interest - pfft - dead. Mine end up on the deck and I recycle the nicer planters.

I have a Jade plant in a huge ceramic container (I've transplanted it twice) that was also left by the previous owner - someone told me it had to be 30 years old!! I still have that one... for some reason I can always bring it back to looking good! It's amazing.

Try pruning it back, get all the dead off it and give it some plant food. I'll bet it starts turning around for you in no time.