Best indoor plants to generate oxygen?

Question

I am getting a new condo and think if one thing would make it feel more energetic it would be having fresh air indoors.

However I have been looking at electric oxygen separator machines and, beside being expensive ($1000+) they all seem to note it takes a couple of full sized trees just to make enough oxygen to fill up a small room. Are there any special plants known for producing a lot of oxygen even from small, low-light confines?

Answer 1

Your condo exchanges air with the rest of the building & outdoors faster than your plant can create a significant concentration gradient of oxygen in your place. However more important to you is the quality of air, the contaminants the plant removes from vapors items inside the house exhaust especially if this is new construction. Houseplants trap and absorb many pollutants from household products. They renew the air and clean it. The larger the total leaf and soil surface area the more oxygen and air scrubbing the plant can achieve. As few as 15 houseplants, in an average-size home, can significantly reduce the quantity of indoor contaminants.
http://www.plantea.com/houseplants.htm
http://www.thegreenguide.com/blog/tow/kw/indoor_air_quality
Some of the best plants for purifying the air are: the "Areca Palm, the Golden Pothos, the Ficus, the Rubber Plant, English Ivy and the ever popular Spider Plant."
http://www.perc.ca/PEN/2000-05/s-battle.html
Peace lily, bamboo palm, English ivy, mums, philodendron and gerbera daisies are recommended as air cleaning plants easy to grow.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/10/top_5_plants_fo.php
For a tall, low light, easy plant grow Aspidistra elatior, nick named spittoon plant because it could survive barrooms, is a tough evergreen, perennial herb noted for its ability to withstand abuse and neglect. Sansevieria trifasciata - Snake Plant. The upright fronds fit into a small footprint but are elegantly banded like some snakes are. The tough leaf fibres were use to make bow strings but earned the plant the evil name of 'Mother-in-law Tongue'. Sansevieria trifasciata cv "Laurentii" Goldband Sansevieria has a variegated band the length of the leaf. Variegation can be gold or silver

Easy to grow in low light Dracaena varieties include the popular lucky bamboo if you are into feng shui, Dracaena fragrans called Corn Plant because the leaves look like a corn's, but my vote goes to Mass Cane, the Dracaena fragrans 'Massangeana'. They are tough as nails and will not tolerate direct strong light.

Plant Studies showed air cleansing took place between the soil and air surface. The actual work is done by the "common soil microorganisms" most of which are "known to be capable of biodegrading toxic chemicals when activated by plant root growth." Practically this means a broader pot with exposed soil to create and air soil exchange surface. Do not allow the plants to cover the entire soil surface.
http://www.practicalasthma.net/pages/topics/aaplants.htm

This should give you a very rough point of comparison to the number of plants needed to supply oxygen for life support in a sealed system.
"A net production of 500 g to 600 g of dry algae per man per day is required for oxygen regeneration" This would be about 850-1000 g wet algae grown in a 20L tank.
http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?7000907
or "17.5 trees per person" to produce oxgygen but 20 trees per person to consume the CO2 according to NASA.
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/Contest/Results/96/winner/seis.html

Many people prefer the aquascape for both the view and the air quality despite the many technical difficulties. This means growing a near fishless tank but including a few algae grazers helps keep the tank from overgrowing and blocking light from the preferred plants. This is an entire landscape in water. Aquabotanics.
http://www.aquabotanic.com/aquascapingprincipals.html
http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.200306/msg00185.html
http://www.freshwateraquariumplants.com/
http://wetwebmedia.com/PlantedTksSubWebIndex/AquariumGardenSubWebIndex.html
http://www.aquabotanic.com/aquamenu.htm

Answer 2

Best Plants For Oxygen

Answer 3

Best Oxygen Producing Plants

Answer 4

Some plants - such as the snake (aka Mother-in-law) plant and bromeliads continue to produce oxygen at night. NASA also did a study of house plants to improve air quality and found that many remove harmful toxins from the air we breath. Toxins such as benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, and ammonia which can be often be found in today's closed up homes from paint, new carpeting, new furniture, and cleaning products. So it isn't just a matter of the most oxygen but also filtering of common chemicals that can make you feel sick. Suggest you see Wiki for "List of air-filtering plants" or the NASA clean air study.

Answer 5

Try a fern or a ficus. They don't persay create a whole lot of oxygen (all plants make the about same amount per weight), but they do filter air better because they have a better disposal system for toxins. So, if you have something nasty in the air, the plant will take it in and reuse it.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Hmmm... I'm not sure really but I do know that spider plants grow like a mother focker and are nearly impossible to kill. They're pretty cheap too.

Answer 8

I frequently spend my half an hour to read this blog's posts daily along with a mug of coffee.

Answer 9

Baby trees are the best plants for oxygen.

Answer 10

Sorry MS, but you could pack the place with all kinds of plants and not increase oxygen levels. You may have an effect on the humidity. Perhaps acquire a few new odors. Maybe have some unwanted guest, like bugs, insects and spiders.