Plants! (How to "grow" fresh air indoors)

[nelsonic]

According to Allen et Al 2015 (see link below), having pure/fresh air in your working environment significantly improves cognitive function. i.e. having indoor plants makes you smarter!

Associations of Cognitive Function Scores with Carbon Dioxide, Ventilation, and Volatile Organic Compound Exposures in Office Workers: A Controlled Exposure Study of Green and Conventional Office Environments ~ https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/27662232/4892924.pdf

Conclusion: Office workers had significantly improved cognitive function scores when working in Green and Green+ environments compared with scores obtained when working in a Conventional environment.

In addition to having a "herb garden" in the kitchen and a jungle outside,
we are going to have as many of the following plants as we can reasonably fit in the house:

• Areca Plam (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens AKA Dypsis lutescens) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dypsis_lutescens
• Mother-in-law's Tongue/Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sansevieria_trifasciata
• Money Plant (Epipremnum aureum) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epipremnum_aureum
• Boston Fern (Nephrolepis Exaltata) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephrolepis_exaltata
• Peace Lilly (Spathiphyllum) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spathiphyllum
• Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera jamesonii) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerbera_jamesonii
• Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorophytum_comosum
• English Ivy (Hedera helix) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix

https://youtu.be/gmn7tjSNyAA

https://youtu.be/lPNYdSZRSdg

https://youtu.be/9dG9K8IQo7s

Todo

• Take the list of plants to our local plant nursery to see how many of them they have "in stock".
• Check prices for different maturity/age of plants (we would like more "established" plants but they will be correspondingly more expensive!)
• Buy plants!! (budget: TBD!)
  • Add water resistant stickers https://www.averyproducts.com.au/water-resistant/outdoor-labels with following data:
    • Common Name (English)
    • Latin/scientific Name
    • What it's "good for" e.g: oxygenates air at night! (in the case of Snake Plant)
    • Date of purchase (or planting if available)
    • QR Code linking the plant to our "plant health manager" web app.

With the QR code on the plant we can easily keep track of it's location and when it was last cleaned or taken outside for Sun.

Please add plants to this list and ideas for how we can implement this quest!

Relevant Reading

• http://www.groomedhome.com/gardening/indoor/8-air-purifying-indoor-plants

[iteles]

Love this so much.
I have a lot of articles on this saved already 🎉

Have been looking to make the time to get into indoor plants for years ❤️

[nelsonic]

Further options of plants to consider in:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18192328

[Cleop]

I recommend Lucky Bamboo for dark spaces:

I have it in my bathroom where there is no natural light. It's impossible to under or over-water as it lives in just water, no soil. So it's low maintenance and very versatile. I don't know about it's impact on air quality but if nothing else it's pretty to look at and very good for people who don't know much about plant care. Plus it's reasonably cheap, you can buy a stalk from ikea for £1 or £2. Hopefully that's the case in Portugal too!

[nelsonic]

@Cleop good shout on having indoor Bamboo! 💡🌱

"Pet" Bamboo plants are available at our local ("big box") garden/DIY store:
http://www.leroymerlin.pt/Site/Produtos/Jardim/Sementes-e-plantas/Plantas-e-arvores/Bonsais/15694560.aspx

Sadly our family-owned/run plant nursery does not have a website so we can't share a link/screenshot of the product from them. But I will ask them next time we visit. 💬

We have a plan for bamboo outside (as a "privacy screen"):

and want to explore using Bamboo for vertical farming: dwyl/learn-aquaponics#22

[nelsonic]

Alpha testing 7 indoor plants on my desk
(in our “while we’re waiting for the house to be ready” apartment...)

Dedicated grow light. ☀️
I’m pretty excited about having an abundance of plants in the house. 🙌

[Cleop]

@nelsonic - are you using a regular bulb for the light or have you bought one that is designed specifically for plant growing? (It's something I'm interested in but have not explored yet!)

[nelsonic]

@Cleop good question! (worthy of a separate issue: https://github.com/dwyl/learn-aquaponics/issues ...) 😉

I did a heap of research into Grow Lights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grow_light a while back.
(long before I was as systematic about capturing/sharing my knowledge in public ... 🙄)
and the main thing about using "artificial" lights to grow plants is having the wavelength of light necessary for the plants.

I purchased a "basic" (IKEA RYET LED bulb E27 600 lumen 5000K) LED bulb with the appropriate "full spectrum" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-spectrum_light of light which simulates day/sun light. ☀️
£6 for a 2-pack (£3 each) is "reasonable" for a retail store ... 💰 👍
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/lighting/light-bulbs-accessories/ryet-led-bulb-e27-600-lumen-globe-opal-white-art-10363279/

IKEA also sell this (overpriced) LED Grow light specifically for indoor plants:
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/indoor-gardening/indoor-growing-cultivators/v%C3%A4xer-led-bulb-for-cultivation-par30-e27-art-60317483/

obviously if you were doing this at any sort of scale you would buy the appropriate lights in bulk ...
In commercial (indoor / year-round) growing they limit the wavelengths to only the two required for photosynthesis see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photomorphogenesis
i.e. they don't "waste" energy producing the "full spectrum" of visible light.

I have a few "commercial" grow lights which I used to grow wheatgrass "back in the day" ...
(for anyone reading this, I grew legal plants with documented health benefits, not "weed"!)

And I will be resuming indoor growing under "lab conditions" in Braga with full "open source data" for anyone around the world to analyse and learn from! 📈 📊
I'm excited that I will be using my own data to create a "Machine Learning" tutorial... #WatchThisSpace!

[GrosSacASac]

Also keep in mind that sun-light is a natural signal for human body, it can impact falling asleep
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_blue_light_technology#Effects_of_blue_light_on_sleep_and_circadian_rhythm

For computer screens https://justgetflux.com/ can help lower blue lights, in latest microsoft and apple OSes it is now built-in see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4027563/windows-10-set-your-display-for-night-time, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207570

[Cleop]

Thanks @nelsonic for sharing all that. I looked a little into grow bulbs in the past but didn't know that ikea did them. Through experimentation I managed to revive one of my own houseplants in winter by putting it next to a lamp when it started dying. I had placed it by a south facing window but it was the regular lamp that seemed to bring back to good health. When I have a bit more room one day I would like to experiment more with these things! ✨ 🌱 Super excited to hear about how this project develops!

[nelsonic]

https://youtu.be/ooMiIm8RItw

[nelsonic]

Low light house plants: https://youtu.be/VxdQp3s-7_o

[nelsonic]

For the exterior of the house, we need some sort of vine.
Vines That Will Not Damage Brick Mortar:
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/vines-not-damage-brick-mortar-33670.html