Looking to do a little spring cleaning indoors as we start to thaw out and warm up? Houseplants can help – at least as far as filtering out pollutants from the air goes, anyway. In a 2013 study performed by NASA to help determine ways to clean and recycle air in spacecrafts, researchers determined that certain houseplants like English ivy, chrysanthemum, peace lily and the snake plant can remove up to 87 percent of common airborne pollutants using their natural photosynthesis cycles.
Pollutants are present in small amounts in lots of the typical household items that we use every day. Benzene, for example, is found in ink, paints, detergents, gasoline and cigarette smoke (it’s filtered out of air by the peace lily, gerbera daisy and English ivy, though). Many common building materials contain formaldehyde, including insulation, grocery bags, pressed wood and fire retardants, but the azalea, spider plant and snake plant remove accumulations in the air.
For maximum clean-air benefit for your buck, NASA experts suggest using at least one beneficial plant per 100 sq ft of home or office space (that’s a lot of plants!). If you’ve only got room for one? Make it a chrysanthemum, which researchers have determined removes the widest variety of common air pollutants.
Keep those all-natural houseplant air filters healthy and bug-free year-round with Garden Safe® Brand Houseplant & Garden Insect Killer. Made with botanical insecticides (also derived from the chrysanthemum flower!), this formula controls bugs right up to the day you pick treated flowers, edibles and herbs.