Page Updated: 10-24-2011

Information Therapy
Health Feed

How To Grow Fresh Air Indoors With Plants - Natural Air Purifiers

Dr. Bill Wolverton, author of "How To Grow Fresh Air," explains how plants, and their companion microorganisms, are used to develop closed ecological life support systems for long duration space habitation. Dr. Wolverton's studies utilized plants as a component of wastewater/nutrient recycling and the purification, and revitalization of indoor air.

Using knowledge gleaned from his NASA research, three common indoor house plants have been identified as ideal for filtering indoor air. These plants can produce enough ready-made oxygen for healthier breathing in home, work, and play environments. Indoor air pollution is often higher inside than outside, especially in closed winter environments. For larger buildings this approach works to reduce energy requirements, providing a cost savings approach to ensure indoor industrial air quality standards. Also, forest fire smoke can make air unsafe to breath, resulting in entire towns needing to be evacuated.

Here are the three indoor plants, and the numbers required, to help provide a healthy indoor breathing environment:

Day Time - Activity Area Plant

Areca Palm - Golden Palm - Chrysalidocarpus lutescens

4 plants, shoulder-high, per person

Breaths in CO2 and breaths out oxygen during the day.

In excessively dirty air conditions such as the city of Mumbi, the leaves are wiped once per day with a moist soft cloth, and once per week in cities with cleaner air. Areca Palm prefers to have it' soil slightly dry between watering's and like the full sun. Move the Areca Palm plants outdoors every three to four months to rejuvenate healthy growth. More info on growing Areca Palm plants.

Night Time - Sleep Area Plant

Bird's Nest - Snake Plant - Sansevieria trifasciata

6 to 8 plants, waist-high, per person.

Releases oxygen duringthe night, conditioning indoor air while humans and animals sleep.

The Birds Nest plant prefers intermittent dry conditions, and full sun, but it can survive in the shade. More info on growing Bird's Nest plants.

Toxic Air Filtering - Work Area Plant

Pothos - Money Plant - Epipremnum aureum

3 plants per person, 18 inches high

Absorbs toxic vapors, working to remove toxic volatile organic chemicals, (VOC's) such as paint fumes, solvents and gas fuels. Many toxins are kept secret from flame retardants in furniture, to household cleaners - nearly 17,000 chemicals are secret , according to the Environmental Protection Agency, as 700 new "secret chemicals" are added to products every year in the United States.

The Pothos plant is a moisture loving plant, that thrives using hydroponics and handles shade conditions well. More info on growing Pothos plants.

With these three plants, it's possible to grow enough the fresh air to stay alive inside a closed environment for a long periods of time. Generally, petswill not eat these 3 types of indoor air filter plants.

Office Building, Air Quality Research Results

These three plants where tested for 15 years at Paharpur Business Centre and Software Technology Incubator Park in New Delhi, India. The building is 20 years old, 50,000 square feet, employing over 1,200 plants for 300 working occupants.

The Parharp office building is rated the healthiest building in Delhi by the Government of India. This study was published on September 8, 2008 by The Goverment of India, Central Pollution Control Board and Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Kolkata, India

The study found that there is a 42% probability of increasing blood oxygen by 1% if one is inside the building for 10 hours. Compared to other non-planted buildings in Delhi, the Parharpur Office Building showed reductions of:

Eye Irritation - 52%
Respiratory Conditions - 34%
Headaches - 24%
Lung Impairment - 12%
Asthma - 9%

15% in energy costs where saved by injecting much less that the 15-20 cubic feet per minute of fresh air into the building as suggested by ASHRAE industry standards. This is significant considering how 40% of the worlds energy is used to maintain all building environments.

The most surprising discovery in this study was a measured increase in human productivity of 20%, aresult of fewer sick daysand increased employee productivity.

Another experiment sealed all fresh air and exhaust from the building for 6 weeks and found that that the air quality inside the building was better than outdoors

Healthy Soil = Healthy Plants = Healthy Air

There are three approaches to soil gardening and farming.

1. "Chemical" fertilizers are molecules created in a laboratory.

2. "Organic" fertilizersare chemicals found in nature.

3. "Biologic" uses zero chemicals. Aerobic microbes found innaturally productive top-soils provide nutrient cycling for the plants andhumans.

Chemical and organic fertilizers can be costly considering the time and money taken toobtain, create and ship products that come in a container with an unfinished life cycle.On a larger scale, the over use of nitrogen fertilizers leads to coastal dead zones, areas in which nitrogen run-off creates anaerobic algae blooms, removing the majority of oxygen from the water while disrupting productive habitants. View, fertilizer use impacts on coastal dead zones.

Getting the right fertilizer amounts can be complicated. To much fertilizer can lead to nutrient lock-out from fertilizer salt build-ups, as well as, root burn. Not enough fertilizer may yield poor growth.

Research by Dr. Elaine Ingham shows how the simple and productive effects of "biologic"growing techniques, utilizing the natural diversity of micro-organisms found throughout healthy eco-systems. Soil and plant studies are showing how aerobic microbes and fungi providea self balancing, symbiotic relationship with plant leaves, shoots, roots and soil. Just add sunlight and water, meanwhile the fungi are digesting rock, minerals, metals and lots of wood. Next aerobic microbes digest the fungi, excretingwaste used as food for the plants. This microbial waste consists of highly bio-availablenutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, (N,P,K) along with a host of other micro-nutrients like calcium, magnesium, sulfur. boron, etc. Fungi are the first group of organisms to feed on barren rock.

Diversity appears to be the survival strategy of nature.Healthy biologic soil analysis reveals a large the number of beneficial aerobic organisms, consisting of many undiscovered species.

According to Elaine Ingham, PhD a soil microbiologist, “High quality composts, containing billions of microorganisms per gram, are essential for making effective compost teas.”

Feeding Soil Microbes = Feeding the Plants

Many aerobic microbes feed on carbon sources in the form of decaying plant material called humus. Aerobic compost, worm castings, peat moss and coconut fiber are rich sources of humus, providing a well draining soil media in which to grow indoor plants. Well draining soil allows for plenty of oxygen favorable to these healthy aerobic organisms. Perilite is often added to increaseair and water holding capacity.

Instant Compost Tea Recipes- Encouraging Healthy Soil

Apply to roots and foliage weekly during vegetative and flowering growth.

Annual fruit & flowering plants
Thermal Compost - 40 ml/gal
Worm Castings - 80 ml/gal
Seaweed Powder - 1 tsp/gal
Liquid Fish - 15 ml/gal
EndoMycorrhizal Fungi - 1/2 tsp/gal
Humic Acid - 1 tsp/gal

Perennial fruit and flowering plants
Thermal Compost - 80 ml/gal
Worm Castings - 40 ml/gal
Seaweed Powder - 1 tsp/gal
Liquid Fish - 30 ml/gal
Endo Mycorrhizal Fungi - 1/2 tsp/gal
Humic Acid - 2 tsp/gal

How to Make Instant Compost Tea

1. Fill - Using a clean bucket or barrel with water,* combine measured soil amendments into the BioExtractor Bag. Roll bag top three times to secure contents, and then fasten the buckle closed.

2. Extract - Knead amendments by hand in water for 2-5 minutes.

3. Feed - Apply immediately as a foliar spray and/or root drench.

*If water contains chlorine or chloramines, neutralize with humic acid prior to use.

Special thanks to Dr. Elaine Ingham and Biologic Systems, Inc. for helping to develop and test these compost tea recipes.Learn more about soil biology and the benefits of biologic soil testing, visit: Soil Food Web Approach

What's the Best Way To Grow Air Filter Plants Indoors?

South facing windows provide the maximum light available for indoor potted plants to thrive. However, sunny locations can lead to increased water consumption and increased growth. To accommodate the increase, larger pots containing more soil willhold more water, allowingless frequent watering's while the plant takes longer to dry between watering's. The planting pots should have holes in the bottom to prevent over watering. Use a catchment tray for watering overflow. Don't letplants sit in standing tray water for more that a few hours.

Feeding Indoor Plants With Instant Compost Tea

Healthy Soil = Healthy Plants = Healthy Air.

Here's some practical starter suggestions for using "biologic" growing methods without chemical fertilizers.

Growing Healthy Strawberries

Here's a collection of recent research about the effectiveness of strawberries, and other fruits, on human and animal health to help discover the best practices on how to grow fruit for optimal health.

What's Inside the Soil?

View high resolution microscope photographs of organisms provided by Soil Food Web Laboratories

Atmospheric Aerasols

Atmospheric tests show high levels of aluminum, barium and strontium.

Mojave County, Arizona blood test group high in barium.

Soil pH is made alkaline by aluminum oxide.

Hawaii's "Clear Sky Ordenance" initiative is taking action.

Clean Air Comments