06 May 5 Air Purifying Indoor Plants for Styling Your Home
In 1980, an American Scientist Dr. Bill Wolverton conducted an interesting experience, he enclosed a couple of his houseplants in a gas chamber. He did so because his objective was to see if those plants could remove any pollutants (chemicals) from the air. So, he basically introduced all kinds of pollutants in this chamber, one by one & measured the pollutant levels in the presence of indoor plants whether it has been increased or decreased.
In 1989, NASA used this report to come up with a list of air purifying indoor plants. So, this post is all about my 5 favorite air-purifying indoor plants which everyone must have in their sweet home for purifying the air & styling as well.
ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas Zamiifolia) – It’s a zero maintenance that means it does not require care at all. Also, don’t water it. Yes! you read it right. You can water it like 10 days or 2 weeks a day. Keep it away from direct sunlight, in fact, you can keep it a place where there is no light. It removes Toluene & Xylene toxic from the air, so basically, these are pollutants which occurs due to traffic pollution.
Rubber Plant (Ficus Elastica) – For this plant, you must keep the soil always moist but it doesn’t mean, you will keep it saturated with water, just maintain moist in the soil such that the soil should be sticky on your finger. Don’t keep it in direct sun. This plant removes pollutants from the air like formaldehyde.
Fiddle Leaf Fig Plant (Ficus Lyrata) – I love this broad leaves plant, it helps in removing chemicals from the air but also effectively reduces humidity as well. You can keep it in direct sun or indirect sun but don’t keep it dark spot. You can also keep it near a window to faster growth.
Areca Palm (Dypsis Lutescens) – You can keep this plant in the area where there is no direct sunlight. And, if your areca is turning yellow like if only tips are turning brown then it means there is water related problem in the plant as this plant prefers moist soil. But if its stems or leaves are turning yellow from below side then ensure that it’s away from direct sun.
Monstera Plant (Monstera Oblique) – There are a lot of variants of monstera plant, the one I like the most is cut leaf plant. This plant also removes formaldehyde effectively. Keep its soil moist, you can also keep a soil layered with moss on the top to keep it moist. Better not to keep this plant in direct sun but a well-lit spot in your house. This plant can also grow as money plant from cutting.
Pro Tip: A medium-sized house like 800-1000 sq ft then you would need 8-10 medium size (4-5 inch) plants for that much space.
Note: All the above images are from Google Search Results.