Top 12 air-cleaning plants

Top 12 air-cleaning plants

According to the Health eOffice website, the top 12 air-cleaning plants are:

- Areca Palms (chrysalidocarpus lutescens)
- Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa)
- Bamboo Palm (Chamedorea Seigrizii)
- Rubber Plant (Ficus Robusta)
- Dracaena Janet Craig (Dracaens deremensis "Janet Craig")
- English Ivy (Hedera Helix)
- Dwarf Date Palm (Phoenix Roebelenii)
- Ficus Alii (Ficus Macleilandii "Alii")
- Boston Fern (Nephrolepis Exalta "Bostoniensis")
- Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum sp.)
- Corn Plant (Dracaeba Fragrans "Massangeana")
- Golden Pothos (Epiremnum Aureum)

http://content.honeywell.com/yourhome/eiac-air_cleaners/plants.htm

Thanks Darius. We just moved to new offices and I want to get some plants.

Darius, great to know, I might have to get me a rubber plant.

boston ferns also absorb negative energy.... (so says a therapist I know).

thats why I love growing thousands of em. Feels good in those greenhouses.

Darius, thanks for posting the list of air cleaning plants. There is another that you didn't list and of course since i am trying to think of its name i can't . It is a very common air cleaning plant, has long narrow strappy leaves with long stalks growing out of the center. Anyway here is a not very good photo of my Boston Fern. Couldn't seem to get a picture without either the window or the bed and clutter in it. Of course i could have moved the plant!!! Donna

Donna, yeah, I know the plant... name escapes me too right now. I had one white with green centers and one green with white centers. Makes lots of "babies" and you can never give all of them away.

darius is the common name for that maybe airplane plant or spider plant. I have those and someone told me that everyone needed to have one in every room in the house. And all those babies they shoot off are cute as a button in a little pot with some extra plants .I have sold some at flea market and they really loved the little garden .

I'll go for the peace lily.LOL.Jody

You are right Spider Plant is what I was thinking of, Chlorophytum comosum, no wonder i couldn't think of it. I do have a couple of them. Thanks for putting me on the right path. Mine is vittatum the kind with white central striipe. Donna

Interesting I wonder what plants they tested? Jody

Thanks so much for the great info, Darius! :) I was happy to see that I already have a few of those! Are Boston Ferns difficult to care for? What light do they prefer, I'd assume a little lower light?

When I moved into my boyfriends apartment it was a total bachelor pad. It was pretty gros, dry, and stuffy in there. I eventually brought all of my plants there and what a difference they made. It really does make a difference, I always thought it was just a myth. Mere

hugahost, I'm not Darius, but thought i'd tell you where i keep my Boston fern. It has been fairly near a north window in the same spot for at least 9 years. I water it about once a week with a weak fert water. I do try to put it outside under a sprinkler once or twice in summer to rinse off the dust. Hope that helps. donna

hugahosta, I usually do better with ferns than most folks... likw Donna said, inside mine got weak but consistent light, food and watering. Misting 203 times a week helps but they will still drop leaves.

They went outside as soon as nights got above 50º for the summer and fall.

I always divided and repotted my Boston fern every summer, but failed to do summer 2003. It was so root-bound after 2 years that I didn't bother to bring it in last month when it began to get cold.

I had 2 I had nurtured when I lived in Atlanta and sold them at my yard sale for $35 each. They were gorgeous, fronds probably 3+ feet long!

Thanks, Donna and Darius. I love the way ferns look, but they do sound a little fussy. Any suggestions for a "beginner" fern. I have a large north window above my garden bathtub in the master bath. I'd really like to hang a fern from the ceiling there.

P.S. Donna, did you get my thank you for the seeds? That was sooo sweet of you! :)

hugahosta, yes thankyou I did get your thanks. I was gone for a little more than a week visiting my daughter in Va for thanksgiving and got a little behind in my DG.

Actually I don't think of Boston fern as being difficult. Some ferns are. I would thing hanging one from the ceiling in your bath would be ideal. Just water every week with a weak fertilizer solution. I haven't even transplanted mine in several years. That is when i seem to have problems is when transplanting. It is difficult to get all the fronds out of the hanging wires. One time many years ago I had a large one that had lots of fronds and some were getting pretty ratty looking, so I just cut off all the frond just above the soil line, repotted in slightly larger pot and it grew nicely. Good luck. Donna

Thanks for the list - only one I'd heard was a good air cleanser and it wasn't on the list - the lowly spider plant! :)
rutholive - if you have one of those pots from greenhouses, the plastic wires can be removed with a butterknife, without breaking them and the wire ones, I just untwist and pull them through the holes to get them out. Lots easier than trying to get a plant out or in without damaging it. But those macrame ones (which are coming back in vogue) are next to impossible to maneuver. :)