Orchids and Air Quality
 

:X I'm beginning to wonder if I'm asking too many questions/making too many threads.
I bow to your collective wisdom! :bowing


Anyways, I'm a bit of a science nerd. I was wondering, I've been growing/developing Spider Plants for years and years now, and have a few in each room of my house to help clean the air.
~12 Spider Plants will completely filter the air in an average house everyday.

I'm wondering if some orchids are that efficient?


BTW, if anybody would like a GOOD spider plant, I've never shipped any before, but I'd consider it. Not entirely sure how I did it, but I've molded them over the years into a plant with rather broad, heavily variegated leaves that don't get stringy unless they aren't getting enough light. Most drought tolerant ones I've encountered.
I'd say they're about 8th generation. (if that's the right terminology)
They're like geraniums, so forgiving, and just give give give!

I read something somewhere about them being good for headaches by reducing chemicals in the air that can contribute to them.

That makes sense flowerpower.

I would believe orchids are actually better then cleaning the air then spider plants. since orchids take in air and water throughout the entire plant.leaves roots etc.

I did a search to see if I could find the article I read for you. The first thing I found was that some orchid fragrances are thought to cause headaches! Oh dear!

I could always use more plants :D So I wouldn`t mind a couple depending on shipping and so forth. Air quality here is terrible always getting sinus infections. Thinking about getting an air purifier or something. I don`t see how they couldn`t help air quality. As to what degree i`m unsure.

Sandrilene- :D I'll definitely keep you in mind when the spiders go to town this summer, when I get most of my pups. Honestly I probably wouldn't charge anything if people paid for shipping. Of course I'll have to look up the best way to ship them.

Well that's not surprising! I can only have one Stargazer Lily in my house at once, so it's not just Orchids. :)

When my zygo was blooming I couldn't be in the same room for long with it early in the day as the fragrance was so strong it did give me a headache. Lovely fragrance just strong! Fortunately the fragrance fades as the day wears on, and also fades the longer the plant was in bloom. But - that is the fragrance, not the plant itself. I have read a couple places that orchids and broms are particularly good for us to have in our homes. But I don't recall the specifics.

Lillies can be brutal - but I believe it's the pollen frequently - that stuff goes everywhere! And - is toxic to cats, just an fyi
I think I read a post on the board saying orchids don't blast out their pollen everywhere, so they usually aren't a problem allergy-wise. I have allergies, and haven't noticed a problem with blooming orchids in my house. I have learned not to have daffodils in the house! Love the blooms, but need them to stay outside!

I'd base it on how fast the plant grows, and the size of the plant....if spider plants grew faster then they probably clean more. This is because there would be more tissue to store the crap in the air. But this is a hypothesis...

orchids are far too diverse of a group BTW...I bet different species have very different qualities

Ive heard or read about orchids ability to purify air, but I cant remember what I read as I dont think it was particularly interesting enough to remember.

However, orchids CAM properties lead to me to believe that they wouldnt clean air as efficiently as something (I dont know what a spider plants photorespiration deal is) that has its stoma open all day when more pollution is present.

That's interesting SOS! I'll have to look into that.

And I know that this is a pretty big generalization with orchids being so diverse, I was just wondering if there were ANY that were. I know how annoying broad statements can be. :) Sorry I didn't make it clearer.

It would make sense to me that epiphytes and plants like Spider plants that grow somewhat airborne (for lack of a better word...) would "use" (again, for lack of a better word) the air more? I can't find a better way to explain my thought process, hahaha! Thus, process more CO2 and filter more air in a day than a more terrestrial plant. I hope that kind of makes sense, I could be completely off track for all I know.

Find out which orchids dont fall under the C3 C4 CAM area, I suspect those are going to be your "filterers".

Could you explain "C3 C4 CAM"?

C3 carbon fixation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
C4 carbon fixation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crassulacean acid metabolism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Youll get more out of those I think.