How to Choose Environmentally Friendly Indoor Plants, Because Yours Are Not There
When we think about our personal impact on the environment, our first thoughts might be on reusable shopping bags or saving water and electricity. What about our indoor plants?
Countless articles over the past few years have listed the benefits of indoor plants – in particular, claims about their ability to ” purify the air .” But besides the fact that there is little scientific evidence for this “fact”, a recent article in The Telegraph details how some houseplants can actually harm the environment. Here’s what you need to know.
Peat is a problem
In short, most houseplants are grown on peat, which Matthew Appleby describes as “a soil-like nutrient that forms over time from decayed organic matter.” Sounds great, but this peat has to come from somewhere. According to Appleby :
Peat mining is now widely condemned as unsustainable, damaging the environment and causing carbon emissions. Like coal or oil, it is actually a limited resource. It regenerates, but only forms 1 mm per year.
And while plant parents are probably well aware of the environmental impact of fossil fuels, Appleby says few realize that the peat that comes with their plants is also a limited resource.
How to choose environmentally friendly indoor plants
Although public awareness of the problems with the turf is not as well known as, say, the impact on the environment of growing almonds for the production of almond milk, there is some evidence that it seems to be growing – at least in the UK.
Specifically, Harriet Thompson , an Appleby gardener interviewed for an article that breeds and sells peat-free houseplants, said demand for her houseplants in the first three months of 2021 was 200% higher than in all of 2020.
If this perspective on peat mining has motivated you to become a more ethical houseplant buyer, here are some ways to make your foliage as green as possible:
- Peat-free shop. It will take more time and effort than walking to the nearest Lowe’s store and browsing the garden center, so be prepared to do a Google search.
- Transplant your houseplants into peat-free compost. “Just get rid of the old compost and put it in peat-free compost,” Thompson says, “but maybe wait until your plants really need replanting so you don’t accidentally create more waste. In any case, be careful with the roots when replanting.
- Buy compost without peat. Not buying new plants, but continuing to maintain existing ones? Check the label the next time you buy compost and find peat-free compost.
- Grow your own indoor plants (from cuttings or seeds) instead of buying new ones. Need help with this? Earlier we looked at growing plants from cuttings as well as growing vegetables from kitchen waste .
In a Telegraph article, Thompson notes that houseplants are the horticultural equivalent of fast fashion: “We’ve all done it – you see a plant on sale and you think ‘it’s good,’ and you just buy it without thinking.” At the very least, thinking about houseplants in these terms – H&M in horticulture – can be helpful.