This Week In Houseplants

A deep dive into the air-purifying properties of houseplants

The idea that house plants can purify the air is easily as widespread as the myth that misting increase humidity.

I HATE stuff like this because it’s perpetuated by lazy writers and the problem is getting waaay worse with the advent of AI tools.

My initial intention with this video was to list the various myths surrounding houseplantsm starting with the air purifying thing. I read the NASA study and it was so MINDBOGGLINGLY ridiculous that it was a video all by itself.

I’m gonna link the video and article below BUT I’m going to share a condensed version in the newsletter because, honestly, it’s mad.

Click here for the article

And here’s the video:

Things they don’t tell you about the Clean Air study:

• NASA got on board later. It was actually sponsored by the Associated Landscape Contractors of America. Here’s a screenshot from the study:

So yeah, people who stand to gain financially from an increased interest in houseplants.

• The gaslighting is intense:

'It is common knowledge that plants give off trace levels of volatile organic chemicals under certain conditions (...)'

Is it? IS IT?? Because a LOT of the people that think house plants absorb toxic chemicals would be VERY interested to know that they’re also releasing them.

And would you like to know what those ‘certain conditions’ are?

Basically any conditions that cause the plant to grow faster.

• The last line of the study before the acknowledgements is hilarious:

‘Activated carbon filters containing fans have the capacity for rapidly filtering large volumes of polluted air and should be considered an integral part of any plan using houseplants for solving indoor air pollution problems.’

Sooo if you want your houseplants to purify the air, er, they won’t unless you also have an air filter.

The word ‘integral’ suggest the plants won’t do very much at all.

• The plants were kept at 30 degrees celsius (86F).

There is no explanation of this (that I could find). Whose home is this hot? Is the ISS this hot? WHY NOT DO THE EXPERIMENT AT A COOLER TEMP?? They used grow lights to control the light (125 foot candles, if anyone cares, which is around an east-facing window on an overcast day).

Between the air filters used and the fact that plants release as many VOCs as they absorb, I wonder why they bothered releasing it at all .

EXCEPT

I mean, it worked.

Which is…terrifying.

Let’s move onto nicer things.

Look at this freaking bathroom

I don’t like baths, but I think that I would change for this one.

This somehow manages to look incredibly classy whilst also being utterly bizarre. I need a follow up in a decade to see how it’s fared.

I’m very proud of my new candlesticks:

please excuse Voldemort

There’s something very grown up about buying candlesticks. I did, however, forget to buy candles. Never mind.

I managed to successfully get a leaf out of my P. Pink Princess. She is THRIVING in the brighter light and whilst the leaf was still all scrunched up, it was less scrunchy than previously. I just very gently used the leaf to slice through the sheath by sliding my finger between the leaf and the petiole.

It’s starting. It’s gonna look stunning in a few weeks if all those buds open.

This little one seems to love her little cloche! The reflection makes it a bugger to photograph but there’s a little flower emerging.

Ever see a plant and think… you’re beautiful but I don’t think I could meet your needs. This Strobilanthes purple looks…tricky. I have no idea if they are, so if you’ve got one, let me know if my initial assumptions were correct or if I should run back and grab it. It was £22.99 which is not cheap enough for me to risk.

We went for a walk round Dalby forest on Thursday and it was stunning. We saw wild oxalis!

I also picked up a Philodendron Jerry Horne for £4.99 and a Philodendron Burle Marx Flame for £24.99. Both are extremely small (hence the prices) and I’m determined to keep them healthy so I also bought a terrarium for them to grow up in.

In my experience most philodendron are pretty hardy once they got a few leaves under their belt so I’m hoping once they’re big enough to be out of the terrarium they’ll be ok.

They’re currently just…in the terrarium, in their pots.

(Burle Marx Flame is at the back).

TBH they both just look like green leaves atm but I’m excited for them to grow up and look cool!

The terrarium looks massive in the picture, but it really isn’t. Perhaps 50cm?

Have a great Easter, see you next week!