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Clean Air Plants
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by Diana Roberts |
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Category:
Disease-Pests
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| In today’s world, we must worry more and more about products that we bring into our homes. New carpets and furniture may have traces of formaldehyde in them, paints and varnishes could contain toxins, ammonia is in many cleaning supplies and the list goes on and on. For many years, we have heard how spider plants remove toxins from the air of your home. The good news is that the spider plant is not the only toxin-eating plant you can grow. |
Health
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| We all want to be as healthy as we can be, so it is up to us to counter any of the toxins we inadvertently bring into our home. It is not always easy to know just what poisons are lurking within our homes, so it may be a good idea to grow plants for a variety of toxins. |
Benzene
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| One toxin is benzene. It is a flammable liquid which may be in solvents and cleaning products you use every day. If you are not sure if it is an ingredient in your cleaning products, you can check the labels or grow a snake plant, dracaena, English ivy, chrysanthemum or gerbera daisy. Any of these plants will eat up this toxin. |
Formaldehyde
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| Formaldehyde is another product which we don’t want in our homes, though it could be there, hidden in glues used on furniture or carpets. The Boston fern will take this toxin out of the air, as will a bamboo palm, chrysanthemum, dwarf date palm or gerbera daisy. |
Ammonia
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| Ammonia is an everyday household product which can be gotten rid of by growing a chrysanthemum, lilyturf, lady palm or flamingo lily. These will not only clean your air, but they will also look lovely decorating your home. Xylene is also found in many varnishes and paints, though the labels should have this information on them. To get rid of this toxin in the air of your home, try growing dieffenbachia, dracaena draco, dwarf date palm or areca palm. |
All-purpose
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Of course as I have already stated, we may not know what is really lurking in our homes, so here are some all-purpose plants which could rid your home of many toxins at once. The peace lily will rid the air in your home of ammonia, formaldehyde, xylene and benzene. The beautiful weeping fig (a plant which I have always grown in my own home) will take xylene, ammonia and formaldehyde from the air. A flamingo lily eats up xylene, formaldehyde and ammonia. English ivy is great for getting rid of xylene, benzene and ammonia as well. If you force tulips to grow inside your home (this is a process which involves a cooling process to trick the tulips), they will take care of xylene, ammonia and formaldehyde in your air. |
Leaves
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As you can see, there are many beautiful plants you can grow that may keep you from getting sick. Of course, these plants will not continue to clean the air in your home unless you look after them properly. Air-cleaning plants must have their own cleaning schedule. They need to have a shower about once a month to clean the toxins off their leaves, which also enables them to better clean your air. Be sure to set your shower at a tepid temperature to prevent damage to the leaves.
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Cleaning
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You may need to use a soft cloth or brush to properly clean your plant. Be careful not to bend and break your leaves in a rush to get them cleaned. Many times I have been in a hurry to get finished and accidentally bent a leaf which ended up too damaged to leave on the plant. A little tender loving care goes a long way toward keeping your plants healthy. If you keep your plants properly watered, fertilized and give them enough light to ensure their health, they will help to ensure your health for many years to come.
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