It is true that plants are great things to have around the home.
Toxin removal, oxygen plants, humidity control are all buzz phrases used by sellers to make you want to own a plant.
But care is needed when you buy your online plants for a reason.
Years ago a book was published called "Yes, you can grow your own fresh air".
It was based on scientific studies, rather well done, to figure out which plants filter which toxins from the air. Some plants do it better than others. The book had great pictures with a summary of each plants features.
Sellers jumped on that bandwagon. Suddenly there was a reason for spending money on plants.
What they didn't tell you is this:
■ To have really significant effects on, say formaldehyde in your home, you would need several very large plants.
■ To improve humidity in the home, even buying something like a huge hanging pothos plant , the effect would be very local. Place it near your desk, great. Put it in the bathroom, not so great.
■ The fresh air idea is very dependent on having a mass of large effective plants all over the house. Easy propagation is therefore a must. Fussy plants might be your favorite, but if they don't easily make new plants from offshoots or cuttings, you'll need a large investment to do your "fresh air" thing.
■ From my experience with houseplants over the years I would rank the following houseplants highly if you are going for fresh air, oxygen level improvement, and toxin control. They filter well in all departments, don't die, propagate easily and ship nicely.
1. Pothos. You need lots for filtering and especially for humidity increase in winter months.Get a few plants in 10 inch pots and subdivide immediately on arrival.Warmth plus water in a well-drained pot is the secret for fastest growth.
2. Parlor palms. Buy the tallest you can online and at least 18 inches soil level to tip. These plants are slow growing, so you'll need a 2-3 year plant for efficient filtering. I haven't yet found a way to hurry these along, so I rank parlor palms number 2 for those on bigger budgets who can afford a large plant at the outset. Remove from the pot, shake off the soil, and cut the roots vertically to make new plants. Yes, it's easy as that and gets my vote.
3. Sansevieria plants. These are winners because they do get the filtering job done and are relatively trouble free. Again, these are slow to grow in height and slow to develop offshoots for new plants. But they tolerate dry spells and need little care.
4. Philodendron plants. Caution is needed here. The newer varieties with colored leaf margins or bright yellow are less viable than the common or garden old fashioned philodendron. So I would go with that. Ranked number 4 , this plant just needs warmth and light and water consistently for fast growth.
It is best in hanging pots because the beauty of this houseplant is this: it loves to grow long dangling stems. If you like compact tidy plants just snip the stems off and start new plants hydroponically.
5. The Philodendron Congo. This I ranked 5 but it's my favorite houseplant. In Florida it grows in the garden and is very resilient. In the home it grows well too and with its large leaves and willingness to live under most any conditions, gets my vote. Chop off stems for new plants. Place unrooted bits in water for a hydroponic plant which quickly develops amazing roots. Unfortunately less available than plants 1-4 because the big growers haven't discovered it. Yet.
Plants that are highly recommended in the literature as "high performing " fresh air Plants sometimes fail to do the job. Based on emails over the past decade, these are the "problem" plants.
Plants in the "failure" group.
Ivy. All kinds, but especially English. Too wet, they rot. Too dry they dry up and leaves go crunchy and drop off.
Peace lilies. Watering is essential. They are in fact water plants. Too much water though and the roots are a soggy smelly mess and they don't produce flowers.
Dracaena plants. They look grand when healthy, but inside the home rarely get the high level of light needed for growth.
Ferns. These lovely,but, difficult. Lighting needs to be right depending on variety, watering needs to be regular, soil well drained. It's hard to grow one large enough for significant air filtering, and propagation cannot be hurried along.
Fittonia plants are simply not big enough for air quality improvement. Yes, they do have nice features, pet friendliness being the most often mentioned, but they are delicate and need tender care, a problem if you don't have time for something bringing you very limited rewards.
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