[blessedwithboys]

ds1 just got a new set of bedroom furniture, and depsite giving it a week to air out before putting it in his room, the smell is lingering. we all have colds, and the chemicals from the MDF furniture is really not helping his cough.

i want to go get a plant to put in his room to help hasten the off-gassing. probelm is, i have a black thumb. i dont bother with houseplants bc i knwo i will kill them ina very short amt of time. LOL so i need something that can be kept in a small pot, something that i like the look of, and something hardy. i found this list so far:

Top 10 Houseplants for Cleaner Air

•Areca palm
•Reed palm
•Dwarf date palm
•Boston fern
•Janet Craig dracaena
•English ivy
•Australian sword fern
•Peace Lily
•Rubber plant
•Weeping fig

WRT asthetics, i like the boston fern the most, but i keep reading that it can be hard to keep.

whats a good plant for those who are not good at keeping plants alive, and is also good for cleaning the air?

 

[nurturebaby]

depending upon your light and everything - assuming there's not much of it, I'd think the ivy would be a good one to start with as it doesn't need a lot of light and is a little bit forgiving in the watering department.

There was another one that I thought was on that list - the snake plant or mother-in-law's tongue... I'm also horrible at keeping plants alive, but I've got one of these that has gone several months without watering!!! oops.

def. stay away from the ferns and the weeping fig.

Some of those plants can be toxic if ingested (I don't think like life-threatening, but it's something to be aware of), so just make sure your ds won't put it in his mouth.

There is also a product/sealer made by AFM safecoat that may help, although I'm not sure about your exact application: http://www.greenbuildingsupply.com/u.../?objectID=377

you could call and ask if they have any suggestions - their customer service is really helpful...

Or you could get a really good air purifier - austin air is a good one - we used that when we had a painter in and it was horrible!!!

 

[Mamita79]

Well, I am not the best person to answer this...I have had very few plants in my life and I've killed them all, but my aunt recently gave me what I think is a pink Hyacinth. I don't even know if it is really meant to be inside, but we live in a basement with very little light and I have even kept this plant in the bathroom where there are no windows, and it has held up. Right now all the flowers have died, but the leaves are still growing strong an the y are pretty hardy so I'm pretty sure some more flowers will grow eventually. I just moved it back to the kitchen for some light. I just water it whenever it looks dry which is at least every other day. I have no idea how much it actually needs!

 

[mi_amor]

I would recommed a golden pathos to help off gas. Plants don't live very long with me, but the golden pathos I've had for 9 years hasn't died despite lack of watering it!!! I usually water mine once it looks like it's wilting, and it comes back to life nicely.

Here's a link about plants and what they remove from the air: http://www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/up...0purifiers.pdf

It says golden pathos is good for removing formaldehyde found in pressed wood products. Hope that helps!

 

[deditus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessedwithboys Top 10 Houseplants for Cleaner Air •Areca palm •Reed palm •Dwarf date palm •Boston fern •Janet Craig dracaena •English ivy •Australian sword fern •Peace Lily •Rubber plant •Weeping fig

I think the easiest would be:
dracena
peace lily
rubber plant

Ivy is also easy, but needs watering OFTEN due to dense rootball. Ferns also need lots of watering and humidity. Palms are nice, but need high light, date palms have spikey things on them. Weeping figs are notoriously finicky.

 

[sunnysandiegan]

Peace lily... Hmmm... does that go by spathiphylum also? I have one of these in our project room and it is doing VERY well with very little attention. It doesn't flower in low light, but the leaves are gorgeous.

I also recommend golden pathos. Those things live forever with very little attention and are great to have in bedrooms, IMO.

I have had two ficus trees (started in 4-inch pots) for close to 20 years. They are the only plants that survived the "I'm a mommy and only grow babies now" phase when I accidentally killed every other plant I had, which was over 20. They do prefer good natural light, but seem fine with minimal attention.

The best thing I can say is to buy your plants at a nursery instead of a box store. A friend picked me up a type of dracena that looks like a palm tree and a pretty pot to put it in for our living room (from HD). I DID pay special attention to that plant since I had never had one and wanted to keep it alive. It looked perfect in our living room and our friend was so thoughtful to bring it to us after we got our house put back together after a major flood. I read up on it, etc. It died. I picked up another one from my favorite nursery and potted it in the same pot, etc. It has lived longer than the other one did now and I haven't changed anything. I think the first one was diseased because of the way the stalks died off one by one.

 

[annethcz]

I have a peace lily in my bedroom that has withstood too much abuse

. It can go weeks without watering, although it will get droopy if it needs water. As sunnysandiegan mentioned, it won't flower if it doesn't get a lot of light. But it's still pretty without the flowers. I bought mine at Ikea a few years ago, and it's still going strong.

 

[blessedwithboys]

thanks for all the ideas! i'm not worried about toxicity as ds1 is 15yo! LOL i am going to the nursery tomorrow with my list

 

[SandyBeachBums]

Spider Plants are awesome and they make babies!

 

[pauletoy]

I think the snake plant is kind of a manly looking plant and nearly impossible to kill.