We were on a mission to grow some more plants in water. This endeavour ticks the beautifying the home environment box, the life and chemical science for homeschooling box and improves the air quality in our environment box. Winning! On top of that, this is such an interesting method to grow plants. You can see the roots growing, you don’t have to water them and it’s not something you see that often. I first saw a plant in water at a fireplace store and it just captured my attention; it was just very cool.
I currently have a Snake Plant growing in a water jar and to be honest I probably should add in some fertiliser. But it’s doing great either way and has been for the past two years. The Chinese Doll behind it is not doing so great, you win some and you slowly kill some.
I have now just collected some Pothos cuttings from my folks and trimmed them to get the roots happening. I’m feeling excited about these.
I just followed the instructions in this video …
I also got some more Mother in Law Tongue/Snake plants (Sansevieria) from a friend for my girls room. And just because, why not, I added a succulent another friend gave me.
The wonderful thing about plants indoors is that they can help increase productivity, bring botanical beauty to your indoor space and can also amazingly purify the air. These natural wonders are some of the top reducers of indoor air pollutants, removing toxins such as formaldehyde, xylene, toluene, nitrogen oxides and benzene. Now you might surprised to know that indoor air pollution is a thing and has become more of problem in our modern pre fabricated world due to all the pressed wood products, fibreboard, plastics in our paint, in our carpets and rugs, pollutants in the cleaners, insecticides, air fresheners, hair sprays and I could go on. Your carpet, painted items etc. give off gases (Volatile Organic Compounds, VOCs) into the indoor air we breathe and are essentially not good for you! The effects of these pollutants on our health vary from irritations to damage to our vital organs etc.
I am pretty mindful these days of trying to keep the toxic load to a minimum in our indoor environment given its impacts on my family’s health and also in trying to support my stressed thyroid. I didn’t realise a) the negative impacts of all the chemicals in my everyday environment and b) just how prevalent chemicals are in the products I had been using. It can be quite overwhelming; however if you just take a look at one aspect of your routine and change that, you will be making at least one positive health change. And then you can have a look at another aspect. I began with deodorants and then with my toothpaste. I try to use natural products wherever I can now.
Isabella Wentz, Hashimoto’s Protocol, talks about detoxing being a significant part of supporting the thyroid. Her website is a great resource for anyone with challenges in this area – www.thyroidpharmacist.com.
Warning – Pothos and Snake plants need to be kept away from dogs and children who might like to eat them, as they can be poisonous if ingested.
This article here was a great summary on Snake plants, including the different varieties. And this article goes into further discussion on some of the studies around how plants reduce indoor air pollution.
I highly recommend adding lots of green living toxin reducing plants to your home environment. I’m happy to share a pot of pothos with you! Probably just not worth posting if you live too far away, but if you ask around I’m sure someone would love to share a cutting or two for you.
Happy potting pothos’ and other green friends.
