Hydroculture: Soilless Potting


To reduce mold and other soil-borne problems in houseplants, experts suggest planting indoor foliage in a nonsoil medium, a practice know as hydroculture.


Hydroculture kits, which include an outer container that holds water and a smaller inner container that holds the plant, potting medium, fertilizer and watering device, are available online and at specialty stores. Or you can assemble your own, says environmental consultant and author B.C. Wolverton. All you need is a watertight container (no drainage holes in the bottom), clay aggregate pebbles (about $6 for a 1-gallon bag; available in sizes ranging from that of a pea to a grape), a PVC pipe that’s few inches taller than the container and a ruler or dowel rod marked in inches.


You can assemble the plant outdoors or in the kitchen sink, following these steps:


  1. 1.   Remove soil from plant by gently brushing roots and rinsing with room-temperature water. Cut off any dead

  2.    roots.

  3. 2.   Fill container about half full with clay pebbles.

  4. 3.   Place plant in container on top of pebbles and spread out roots. Hold in place as you add more pebbles around

  5.     the plant roots, up to the base.

  6. 4.    Inset PVC pipe into container. Pour enough water into pipe to create a reservoir about 2 to 3 inches deep,

  7.     depending on the size of container.

  8. 5.    Measure water reservoir depth by inserting ruler or dowel rod, and add water as needed.

  9. 6.    Periodically check water level with ruler or dowel rod. Water plant through PVC pipe as needed.


Source: St. Petersburg Times January 18, 2008

 

Go Green As You Clean

Indoor plants with the ability to clean toxins from

one’s home may help the residents breathe easy.

By Yvonne Swanson, Special to the Times

 

Wolverton rated 50 houseplants grown in potting soil on several characteristics, including ability to remove chemicals from the air, pest resistance, transpiration rate and ease to grow indoors. “What I always tell people is to pick your favorite plant, and if you pick one that is less effective, you need to use more plants,” he says.  Plants in Wolverton’s study were placed in sealed Plexiglas chambers, which were then injected with chemicals. Philodendron, spider plant and golden pathos were best at removing formaldehyde from the air, while gerbera daisy and chrysanthemum excelled at eliminating benzene.








Critics, among them the EPA, claims that houseplants, especially those that are overwatered, are a breeding

ground for micro-organisms that can trigger allergies. Wolverton acknowledges that mold can be a problem in soil-based indoor plants. That’s why he switched to another way of growing houseplants, called hydroculture which uses porous clay pebbles instead of soil as a potting medium. The method not only decreases the possibility of mold, but actually results in the plant’s increased ability to rid indoor air of pollutants, he contends.


“It’s easier to pull the chemicals into the hydroculture. It’s porous. It’s almost like activated carbon,” Wolverton says. He recommends potting all houseplants in a nonsoil medium to boost air-cleaning ability, eliminate mold growth and reduce care and maintenance.


Newer homes especially can benefit from air-cleaning plants; that’s because new construction is better insulated and sealed to conserve air conditioning and heating. As a result, pollutants can be trapped indoors, especially if the windows are rarely opened. 


Experts suggest using 15 to 18 houseplants in at least

6-inch to 8-inch containers to improve air quality in an average 1,800-square-foot house. Keep them healthy for best performance. Decorative plastic plants don’t count. In fact, they release formaldehyde and solvents into the air.


Yvonne Swanson is a freelance writer in St. Petersburg

and is a master gardener for Pinellas County, Florida.


Source: Saint Petersburg Times January 18, 2008


Among the most powerful air-cleaning plants

are golden pathos, lady palm, areca palm, bamboo              palm, English ivy, peace lily, Boston fern, snake plant, spider plant, philodendron, dracaena, rubber plant, chrysanthemum and gerbera daisies.

If you’re trying to establish a “green home” by using environmentally friendly products, recycling and reducing energy use, don’t forget about Mother Nature’s power to rid your home of unhealthful air. Strategically placing houseplants throughout the home may help reduce airborne contaminants produced by everyday household products (such as fabrics and plastics) and building materials (including plywood, particleboard and carpeting), experts contend. Volatile organic chemicals, including formaldehyde, benzene, trichloroethylene and xylene, are absorbed by plants, which break down these nasty pollutants in their roots.


It’s not rocket science, despite the fact that in the 1970s scientists at NASA were among the first to discover the cleansing power of indoor plants while testing the safety of a futuristic closed ecological life support system in outer space. Other academic and environmental groups have since contributed to a growing body of evidence supporting NASA’s findings, which can be applied to the home and office.


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, however, doesn’t support the use of houseplants to remove indoor pollutants. But B.C. Wolverton, Ph.D., the senior NASA scientist who conducted the original studies at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, says “EPA’s position is ridiculous. They don’t know what they are talking about.” Wolverton, retired from NASA, is a respected environmental consultant and author.


The EPA hasn’t conducted its own studies on indoor houseplants, but the agency has analyzed other groups’ research, and considers the finding impossible to apply to “real-world environments,” EPA spokesman Dave Ryan said. “The ability of plants to actually improve indoor air quality is limited in comparison (to) adequate ventilation,” Ryan said by e-mail.


One of Wolverton’s books, How To Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home or Office (Penguin, 1997), identifies the houseplants that can most potently clean indoor air through their basic life process of producing oxygen and moisture through the tiny openings in leaves. Some plants are better at cleaning than others, largely because of their individual rate of transpiration (water evaporating from a plant’s leaves). Some transpire more than others, and therefore remove more volatile organic contaminants from the air. As water is absorbed through the plant’s roots, air is conducted into the root zone. The naturally occurring micro-organisms in the plant’s roots break down the VOCs to produce food and energy for the plant, Wolverton says.

 

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