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.
tcoupler · 2h ago
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.
os2warpman · 40m ago
>you would need 10–100 plants per square meter to clear the air in the way the NASA study reported
I see they have met my wife.
Imnimo · 5h ago
>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"
nradov · 4h ago
Maybe those houseplant species have just been pretending to photosynthesize, and instead were stealing food out of the refrigerator when no one was looking.
bsder · 4h ago
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.
strict9 · 4h ago
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.
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.
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.
I see they have met my wife.
I don't understand why there's a "may" in front of "absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis"
Plants consume oxygen and respire when there is insufficient light just like we do all the time.
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
The NASA study claimed that plants could get rid of VOCs. It's a different kind of pollution.