Can Indoor Plants Oxygenate The Air

I love having indoor plants around our home, they brighten up the house and make me feel happier and more connected to nature when even when I'm inside working.

You may have heard that certain plants can remove pollutants from indoor air, but the science is a little more complicated than you might think. 

This week, Isaac Olson from Nursery Near Me takes a closer look at the research behind air-cleaning houseplants and shares some great options for growing indoors, along with practical tips on how to care for them. While a few plants won't replace fresh air and good ventilation, they can still make a lovely addition to your home!

Best Indoor Plants To Oxygenate The Air And How To Keep Them Alive

By Isaac Olson, Nursery Near Me

Every list of air cleaning houseplants goes back to one piece of research: a NASA study from 1989 that tested which plants removed benzene, formaldehyde and other volatile compounds from sealed chambers. The plants did remove them. The catch, which later studies pointed out, is that a sealed chamber is not a living room. In a real house with doors opening and air moving, you would need dozens of plants per square metre to match what a cracked window does in an afternoon.

So the honest version is this: a few plants will not scrub your air, but they do raise humidity, which makes dry winter rooms more comfortable, and they do something to how a room feels that no study has had to prove. If you want the plants the research named, these are the ones that survive ordinary neglect, and the one thing each of them actually needs.

Peace lily. The most forgiving of the lot. It tells you when it is thirsty by drooping, then stands back up an hour after a drink. Keep it out of direct sun, water when the top of the mix is dry, and wipe the leaves now and then so they can breathe. It flowers in low light, which almost nothing else does.

Snake plant. Grown for people who forget. It stores water in its leaves and rots if you fuss over it, so water every two or three weeks in summer and barely at all in winter. It takes a dark corner or a bright window with equal patience.

Devil's ivy. The trailing one, also sold as pothos. It will grow along a shelf or down from a hanging basket in almost any light, and the leaves lose their gold marbling if the spot is too dark, which is a useful signal. Let it dry out between waterings and cut it back whenever it gets leggy; the cuttings root in a glass of water.

Rubber plant. Big glossy leaves, slow growth, and a tolerance for the dry air of a heated room that most large leafed plants lack. Give it bright indirect light, water when the top few centimetres are dry, and turn the pot a quarter each week so it grows straight.

Bamboo palm and kentia palm. The palms the study rated highest, and the two that do best indoors. Both want bright, filtered light and steady moisture without a soggy base. Brown leaf tips mean dry air or fluoride in the tap water; letting the water stand overnight before you use it helps.

Dracaena. The striped and spiky ones, including the dragon tree. Tough, slow and architectural. They dislike wet feet more than anything, so pot them in a free draining mix and water less than you think.

Philodendron and monstera. The same family, the same habits: bright indirect light, a drink when the surface dries, a moss pole or a wall to climb once they get going. Both are poisonous to cats and dogs if chewed, as are peace lilies, devil's ivy and dracaena, so put them up high if you have a chewer in the house.

Three rules cover most of what goes wrong. Overwatering kills more indoor plants than drought, so check the mix with a finger before you reach for the can. Light matters more than feeding; a plant in the wrong spot will not be saved by fertiliser. And every plant needs a pot with a drainage hole, whatever the cover pot looks like.

For a longer version, with the research and a plant by plant guide to light and watering, click here.

Isaac Olson is a director of Nursery Near Me, an Australian online nursery with more than 300 free plant care guides.