Unfortunately, Houseplants Don't Purify the Air | Hacker News Reader

Unfortunately, Houseplants Don't Purify the Air

goodhousekeeping.com

35 pointsnradov11 comments

Houseplants need our help. They are in need of emotional support people and you should adopt one today and just love it, try not to judge it.

Potted plants got a big rush from movies like Silent Running, that a tightly woven biosphere could engage in complete symbiosis with people, bunnies and Joan Baez.

Then as NASA gave plants the cold shoulder, the idea that plants were collectively 'the lungs of the world' took hold completely and gave them solace. House plants stood a little taller and dreamed themselves into a crucial role in keeping their critter-buddies alive, with help from their distant friends in the Amazon through open doors and windows.

Then cruel scientists popped that dream bubble, and awarded the 'lungs of the world' role to bluegreen algae in the oceans. The plants who must struggle to put out every leaf were eclipsed by little things that multiplied all day long.

So houseplants have become neurotic and anxious.

The only thing my plants are anxious about is that I forget to water them. Overwatering makes them much more anxious, though.

I think my snake plant is just stoned. I can leave it in the dark for months and come back and it looks exactly the same.

Your snake plant has a special way of doing photosynthesis, which involves splitting it two-ways, in a day and a night cycle. This might have something to do with its ability to tolerate the long nights of tcoupler‘s terror reign. It’s not high at all… 'coma' is probably the word you are looking for.

>Its results suggested that certain common indoor plants, like pothos, ivy and ficus, may absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis, and provide a natural way to remove toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene from the air.

I don't understand why there's a "may" in front of "absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis"

Because the light flux may be insufficient to cause enough photosynthesis to balance respiration when not illuminated.

Plants consume oxygen and respire when there is insufficient light just like we do all the time.

Your comment made me think. I think it’s wrong for growing plants. We are oxidizing stored sugars, by the things we ate. Where is the energy coming from in plants? What’s the carbon source getting oxidized? Where does it come from? The soil?

While a plant may be in a carbon oxide positive state (beyond the night) for a while, I don’t think that’s sustainable. As long it’s alive, every new leaf should fix some carbon in its construction. Of course in decay it’s more or less net zero again.

Maybe those houseplant species have just been pretending to photosynthesize, and instead were stealing food out of the refrigerator when no one was looking.

That's OK. The maintenance and visual aspect of plants can be good for mental health.

If you want cleaner air you have to move air through a filter at high speed. I have some consumer grade purifiers but the Corsi–Rosenthal Box [1] is easily the most effective of what I have. Both in feeling and measured. And it costs less than $100.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsi%E2%80%93Rosenthal_Box

A CR Box is good at getting rid of particulate matter.

The NASA study claimed that plants could get rid of VOCs. It's a different kind of pollution.

Wonder how much activated carbon is needed to clean VOCs from a room.

I'm not surprised. I've always thought you'd need a crazy amount of plants to make any meaningful difference to the air quality in your home.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com