Interior Plantscaping Survey Results

The results of an interior plantscaping survey are posted on Greenscaper.

Measuring Is Meaningful

Many people know the adage that “what gets measured gets managed” (about 4,000 Google hits). Yet when we suggest measuring water to houseplant caretakers, we often get a quizzical reaction.

If you were serving coffee to a friend, would you hand them the coffee carafe? Or, would you pour the coffee into a cup? Also, remember you have a brain and your plants do not. They cannot turn the water off when you pour too much.

Everyone says that the most common problem with houseplant care is overwatering and then few do anything about it. Read the constant complaints, questions and incorrect advice about fungus gnats on houseplant forums.

Do yourself and your plants a favor and start measuring the water and sub-irrigating today. If you measure and add the right amount, the surface of the soil will always be dry.

There will be no fungus gnats or mold problems. There will be no water stains on your furniture or floors. There will be no messy drainage saucers.

There will be no problems with soluble salts unless you are over fertilizing or have unusually hard water (usually from a private well).

Horticultural academics who sound the soluble salts alarm are typically using greenhouse-watering experience as their frame of reference. This is an apples and oranges comparison that has little or no relationship to houseplant care.

Use measured sub-irrigation and you will have healthier plants. Guaranteed!

It's a simple matter to try it. When you discover how well it works, please tell your friends. We would really appreciate your telling us too. Post a comment or an e-mail message. Thanks!

More Rentokil News

Rentokil news on Greenscaper

Scary Headlines

True or not it gets reported.

Stormy Weather Breeds Scary Mold

Experts Say Mold Eats Anything

During winter months, mold tends to grow indoors, gravitating toward dark, damp, warm environments, including attic walls, house plants and garbage pails.

Ripon Students Like Green Plants

This is a follow on to our post Black Crepe on Green Plants.

Some students on the campus of Ripon College obviously like their plant companions. Unfortunately, they too are exposed to the same bad indoor plant care advice as the Ohio University students.

Just 75 miles from Ripon, WI, the University of Wisconsin Extension Program in Madison is publishing this out of date advice (PDF file).

Once again, "drench and drain" is the extension program mantra. It doesn’t matter how many times it is repeated. It will always be bad advice even if written by a PhD. And this is what they teach their master gardeners. The houseplant industry needs no enemies with friends like these.

Excerpt from Master Gardener training titled:

Healthy Houseplants.

How to Water?

Take the plant to the sink or tub. Remove tray or decorative container. Gently spray with tepid water until freely drains through the bottom.

Let Drain

Let drain thoroughly. Do not let sit in water!

Posted by Bob 'Greenscaper' Hyland at 01:55 PM | Comments (0)

Innovative Design

We found out about designboom.com from a post on the Treehugger blog. This recycled pop bottle watering can was the winner in the re-think and re-cycle Macef Design 2005 competition. We could spend a lot of time on the designboom website.

This hydroculture plant light concept got an honorable mention.

 
 
 
 
 

Rentokil Video

There is a link to a video interview with Brian McGowan, Executive Chairman, Rentokil Initial on GreenScaper.

Greening The American Dream

Those involved in the business of plants in buildings should find this Greenscaper post of interest.

Florida Plants Of The Year

The Orlando Sentinel reports on the Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association (FNGLA) plants of the year, only one of which is an indoor plant.

Anthurium Sarah (photo). The only houseplant to make the cut this year is the showy anthurium Sarah (Anthurium Andreanum 'Sarah') with its broad, shiny, heart-shaped green leaves. Erupting out of foliage are tall, narrow stalks growing to 16 inches tall with a large, pink-colored "flower" and a large white spadix.

Of all the anthuriums available through tissue culture, Sarah is head and shoulders above the rest. The pink, green and white mottled "flower" makes it a good houseplant and a long-lasting cut flower. For best results, give the plant bright light, and use a well-drained artificial soil mix. Every three to four weeks during bloom time, use water-soluble fertilizers.

Aquafur Anybody?

We have been testing Aquafur capillary mats. We find they do a fine job of wicking water and are simple to use. We are monitoring their durability and will keep you posted.

In our opinion, this is a sub-irrigation product with retail potential. The key issue is educating the public about the benefits of measured sub-irrigation.

This is a formidable task in light of the massive amount of published misinformation recommending drench and drain top watering.

Who's On First?

Some petty conversation going on here but for the record we posted this news on February 6 and confirmed it on February 7 well before any trade magazine.

We believe if you're interested in meaningful news about plants in buildings and greenscaping you won't find any that's more current than right here.

Status Report

We’re finding that the workload of publishing two blogs and maintaining the inside plants lab has become too great.

For the time being we are committing to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting schedule rather than daily. Breaking news will warrant posting as we learn about it. If time permits, we will publish more frequently.

We are looking for a way to dispose of the inside plants lab while having the research continue. We are interested in finding an organization willing to receive the lab as a donation with a commitment to continue the work. If you know of someone, please contact us.

Black Crepe On Green Plants

This article will likely upset people connected to the indoor plants industry whether in production, retailing or commercial maintenance. The story is about students in dorms passing sicknesses back and forth. It was reported by The Post Online, an independent student-run daily newspaper serving Ohio University, Athens and the surrounding communities.

The article quotes Sam Hanson, OU environmental health coordinator offering some professional advice.

 

Excerpt: Food is not the only breeding ground messy residence hall rooms provide.
"Mold spores are in the environment," Hanson said. "When mold finds conditions that are ideal for reproduction, like wet floors or carpets, or food, or walls or ceilings, they will grow."

Indoor plants, which some people use to clean the air, can actually have negative effects on a person's health, Hanson said.

While plants do take in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen, Hanson said, he does not know of any real health benefit they have.

"The problem with plants is they need to grow in soil, and can become their own mold problem and can also harbor insects," he said.

The first reaction to publicity of this type is usually to shoot the messenger, which is not the solution. We went on the Ohio University website to check out Sam Hanson's background. This is what we found.

He earned a BS in Environmental Health at Wright State University in 1976 and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Minnesota in 1982. Sam’s first job out of college was working for the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) in their Northeast District Office in the Akron area beginning in 1976. He worked for ODH until 1988 and then accepted a job as Health Commissioner for the Wayne County Ohio Health Department and served there until coming to Ohio University in November of 1994.

Mr. Hanson is obviously a qualified professional but more than likely unaware of a remedy other than removing the plants from the dorms. We thank him for voicing his opinion and raising the issue. If you think he's alone you're mistaken.

Here are the results of a search on the words indoor plant or houseplant and mold or Stachybotrys or asthma. There are almost 40,000 hits. Obviously, whether proven or not, there are many others with the same opinion as Sam Hanson.

Simple to do measured sub-irrigation of dorm plants rather than drench and drain would solve the problem. Using this method, the soil surface is always dry. There is no host environment for either molds or fungus gnats (Sciarid flies).

The measured sub-irrigation concept is easy for young minds to grasp. It would likely put them far ahead of their parents regarding indoor plant care knowledge.

Archaic top watering methods requiring a so-called green thumb have been handed down from one earth mother generation to the next. It is long overdue that we break this chain of misinformation.

Unfortunately, the misinformation put out by the extension program of Ohio State University just 75 miles away precludes this. If Sam and the students were to seek advice, here is what they would find in a web document titled A General Health Management Guide for Indoor Plants.

Obviously, it is not A General Health Management Guide for Dorm Students.

This is essentially the same out of date advice that appears on extension program websites across the country. It is simply bad advice in need of correction. It describes the worst way to water containerized plants in buildings.

We are making efforts to get these extension program websites revised with up to date plant care information using 21st century technology. We need the help of professional colleagues in this effort. Stay tuned. This story will continue.

Containers

Containers should have drainage holes that are large and numerous. Watch that the holes do not become plugged with roots or compacted soil. Use a saucer to catch water that drains through, but do not allow plants to sit in the water. Do not water plants via the saucer. If you wish to use an undrained decorative container, use a smaller, correctly drained container within it (double potting).

Watering

If soils are properly constituted, weekly thorough soakings are usually sufficient for plants in most indoor environments. However, do not depend solely on the calendar to schedule watering. Inspect the soil-under the surface, 2 to 6 inches-to determine watering needs.

Each watering must thoroughly wet the soil and the entire root mass. Use of tepid water (60 degrees to 80 degrees F) is beneficial. Excess water must drain out of the container. If soils have dried excessively, they may be difficult to rewet. Water may run freely through or around the root mass.

Watch for this and soak such soil masses in water for several hours until they are properly rewetted. Pot-bound plants and large plants in small pots will need watering more frequently.

Greening The American Dream

There is a business opportunity here for progressive interiorscapers and retailers of indoor plants who understand the green movement sweeping across the country. Organizations that support these businesses should at least attend conferences of this type if not participate.

"Greening the American Dream" is an apt slogan for plants in buildings. It has far wider meaning than a more narrow slogan such as "plants at work". It conveys a message about both meanings of the word "green".

We previously posted about a local green building tour we attended. One of the stops was a housing development advertised as being green by a leading homebuilder. The model home furnishings included a wide selection of houseplants. All of them were crudely installed in grower pots concealed inside decorative planters.

Drench and drain top watering is the antithesis of green methods and the spirit of green building. It was most disappointing to see interior plants misrepresented in this way.

Excerpt: The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) will build on its commitment to meeting consumer demand for resource efficient, environmentally sensitive and cost-effective new homes at its 2005 National Green Building Conference, March 13-15, 2005 in downtown Atlanta.

“To thrive as a green builder, you have got to be environmentally friendly while keeping in mind your customers’ pocketbooks,” said Ray Tonjes, chairman of NAHB’s Green Building Subcommittee and a home builder from Austin, Texas. “This conference shines a spotlight on successful green building techniques and concepts as they move further into mainstream home building.”

A special learning track will provide comprehensive information on NAHB’s voluntary Model Green Home Building Guidelines, recently developed to help builders incorporate affordable environmental practices into every phase of the home building process.

Aptly themed “Greening the American Dream,” the 2005 conference will also focus on meeting rising consumer demand for green-built homes through educational sessions such as “Building America’s Houses that Work,” “Why Green Development Makes Cents” and “New Approaches to Great Communities.”

RU A Flickr Tagr?

The slickest service we’ve seen for photo display on the web is Flickr. Jump in with a free Flickr account and find out about the power of tagging. There are not many photos tagged with houseplant or houseplants.

There is also a indoor plants pool group of photos. Here are the top posters to this pool.

You can see that tagging is by no means an exact science by scanning through the palm photos. Palm means everything from the botanical to place names like Palm Beach and Palm Springs with lots in between. Some tags are puzzling to say the least. What were they thinking?

A Bit Of History Remembered

Those with an interest in interior plantscaping might be interested in the news of the passing of Karl Linn and his connection to the history of the business.

Happy Valentine's Day

Here are some interesting Valentine's Day facts courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau.

One legend has it that Valentine’s Day originated to commemorate the anniversary of the death of St. Valentine, a Roman clergyman who was executed on Feb. 14, about 270 A.D., for secretly marrying couples in defiance of the emperor. According to another, the holiday began as a Roman fertility festival. Americans probably began exchanging handmade valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther Howland, a native of Massachusetts, began to sell the nation’s first mass-produced valentine cards.

We found an interesting paragraph in this article about Valentine's Day.

Excerpt: Most men have the flowers they buy for their wife or girlfriend delivered to the woman’s workplace, florists report. “Women like to get flowers at work,” Dickinson said. “It makes them feel special because their friends see it, and everybody makes a big deal about it.”

What we found interesting was the assumption that their wife or girlfriend was at work. Oh my, have things changed since we came of age. So who's taking care of the houseplants?

Here are all the latest Flickr photos tagged (214 at this count) with ValentinesDay. This will keep you busy for a while if you're a Valentine's day nut. We'll post more about Flickr soon.

What A House

Here's another interesting and well written article by Denise Cowie of the Philadelphia Inquirer online. What a beautiful conservatory house this is.

Be sure to view the slide show. We wish there were even more photos.

 

IKEA Mega-Mania

We've made no secret of our admiration of IKEA retailing but this is riduculous.

Excerpt: What is it about IKEA that arouses such strong emotions? Yesterday, several people were hurt in the crush as thousands flocked to the midnight opening of a new IKEA store in north London. It closed after just 30 minutes because of safety fears.

P.S. It reopened of course.

Rentokil News

There's more Rentokil background news here.

Good For Houseplants?

We’ve been tracking the TerraCycle (website) worms story since we first read about it back in September ’04. Read about it here, here and here.

Our interest is twofold. The product may have some merit relative to houseplant care and the success story is relevant to greenscaping. We’ll post about the greenscaping angle separately.

Light and water are by far the high priority needs of indoor plants. Contrary to outdoor gardener chatter on the web, fertilizer is a distant third. Houseplant caretakers experienced in outdoor gardening are too often looking for the “magic potion”. Superthrive is often mentioned along with all kinds of “tea” concoctions.

The missing “magic potion”, however, is usually light. Light starvation is the leading cause of houseplant ill health and death. Water may take the blame, but the root cause is more than likely insufficient light.

TerraCycle may be a good product for these folks in that it is organic and has low potency. The NPK ratio is 0.02-0.003-0.002. Compare that to using a 20-20-20 chemical fertilizer.

TerraCycle has the potential of helping houseplants while providing uber-nurturing houseplant caretakers with something to do. It might be a “feel good” product to pacify them when they're not spritzing the leaves.

We will get some for test.

Plant A Lamp

Pinch a leaf. Turn it on . Pinch a leaf. Turn it off.

And you thought you had everything. Jeff Page who sent us this link now has almost everything.

Who Would You Choose?

A Greenscaper post of interest to interior plantscapers and those who choose them.

Gung Hei Fat Choy

We send best wishes to all of you around the world who celebrate the Lunar New Year. We were born in the Year of the Rooster, but we won’t tell you which one. We read what it said about those of us who were born Roosters. Of course, you who are regular readers wouldn’t see any of these characteristics in the writer of this blog. Insert big smile here.

When we were a twice a month 10K racerunner, the Los Angeles Chinatown Firecracker 10K was one of our favorite races. We have fond memories of those days now ended due to osteoarthritic knees. We still power walk every day however.

We picked up a prescription at a local chain drug store yesterday and noticed an end cap display of Lucky Bamboo. The sign was a message to buy them for Valentine’s Day. Hello! Anyone here know about the Lunar New Year, Feng Shui and all that? We thought it was funny, but perhaps it's just humorous to Roosters.

More Rentokil Commentary

The Financial Times and Independent (UK) have more commentary on the Doug Flynn appointment. We've been through far too much of this kind of turmoil in our corporate years. It is not fun! Hang on folks it may be a bumpy ride.

How Green Is My Product?

Interior plantscapers and all who have an interest in green buildings should read this.

Real Or Replica

This article about replica plants reminds us that we’ve not blogged about the subject. Even though the writer used a poor choice of words, the content is on target. Her lead line is “Not too long ago, a good fake was hard to find.”

Fake is a four-letter word often applied to replica plants by horticultural tree hugger types. We’ve often encountered their extremist view that only live plants are “environmentally correct” as if the inside of a building was a natural environment.

Here is a definition of the word fake. It’s inappropriate use is obvious.

adj. Having a false or misleading appearance; fraudulent.
n. One that is not authentic or genuine; a sham.

We are strong proponents of the use of replica plants when appropriate. There are many finely crafted products out there if you look closely enough. Unfortunately, much of what is available in the big box retail market is of low quality.

This excerpt from the article pretty much sums up what has happened in the houseplant and replica (a.k.a. silk plant) market over the past decade. The quality of replica plants has improved significantly at the same time dual income households have increased.

Excerpt: Improvements in artificial plants and busy schedules are the reasons more people are faking it. Noe grew up preferring real plants. But as an adult she ha(s) never mastered the right balance of watering and sunlight to prevent leaves from becoming dry and yellow. And, frankly, she doesn't want to take the time to figure out the maintenance because she's already swamped with work. To her, a fake houseplant is better than a dead one.

“I want my plants to look pretty and healthy all the time,” she says.

Many women, who traditionally have been the primary care providers for both children and houseplants no longer have the time to hassle with the care of houseplants. "Green thumb required" drench and drain houseplant care is simply not user-friendly.

The result has been the aging (and stagnation) of the houseplant market. We believe the trend won’t change until houseplant care education improves.

Rentokil Update

Update: Initial Tropical Plants issued a press release dated February 11 and published here as "breaking news".

We called Initial Tropical Plants corporate headquarters and got a confirmation that they did indeed acquire the interior plant maintenance business of Valley Crest Companies.

We also did some research to learn a bit more about Doug Flynn, the new Rentokil Initial CEO.

This quote from a December 2004 press release on the Aegis Group website caught our attention. We could not agree more and anticipate him carrying this belief forward in his management of Rentokil.

Doug Flynn, CEO of Aegis Group plc said "Digital media will become the dominant delivery mechanism for media and advertising. Understanding the ways in which the internet can be used to effectively develop consumer interest and drive sales is the holy grail of marketers. We are very impressed with the vision of iProspect and are very keen to develop this part of the business into a true international capability."

He is obviously tuned in to the tech world of the 21st century. This could be a positive and much needed benefit to the interior landscaping business.

Excerpt: This makes it a very exciting time in mankind’s history and a very exciting time for our company and our people

We liked what we read here about his values. Much of it could have been written in context of his new job at Rentokil.

This may not add much of substance, but here is a June 2001 CNBC interview on Power Lunch Europe, if you would like to see and hear him.

Is This More Rentokil Breaking News?

This is the crawl headline currently running on the Initial Tropical Plants website.

VALLEY CREST - WELCOME TO THE INITIAL TROPICAL PLANTS FAMILY - WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE HERE!

VALLEY CREST - BIENVENIDOS A LA FAMILIA DE INITIAL TROPICAL PLANTS - NOS COMPLACE QUE ESTEN AQUI!

Is this an acquisition announcement? If it is, it's significant news. The most current press releases are May 7, 2002 on the Initial site and October 7, 2004 on the Valley Crest site. Our guess based on our knowledge of the industry is that Initial bought the interior plants maintenance business from Valley Crest Companies. That part of the business was formerly known as Environmental Care Inc. (ECI).

Interiorscape magazine still listed them as Environmental Care, Inc. in their November/December 2004 top 25 companies list. They were listed as number 10 at $5.5M annual sales.

Remember folks, this is our educated guess and only that. It isn't confirmed news. Film at eleven!

BREAKING NEWS: New CEO At Rentokil

Rentokil Initial Plc, the world’s largest pest-control and interior plantscaping company has named a new CEO. Rentokil Initial is the parent of Initial Tropical Plants, in the U.S. It is, by itself, the world's largest interior plantscaping company.

New CEO Doug Flynn comes to Rentokil from Aegis Group Plc, the world's largest independent buyer of advertising space, where he has served as chief since 1999. He will join Rentokil on April 4, replacing James Wilde, who was ousted by Chairman Brian McGowan last year.

Excerpt: Rentokil Initial, the support services group, has had to offer Doug Flynn, its new chief executive, a package worth up to nearly £5m ($9M US) in the first year to attract a leader of the calibre deemed sufficient to tackle the company's woes. Mr Flynn, currently chief executive of Aegis, is to receive an annual salary of £800,000 ($1.5M US), a performance bonus capped at the same amount and £800,000 ($1.5M US) of share options every year.

He will also receive £2.4m ($4.5M US) in compensation for share options forfeited at Aegis, the media services group, where he has served as chief executive since 1999.

Excerpt: During Mr McGowan's search, he was rebuffed by several potential candidates from within the support services sector. One analyst said: “Finding somebody willing to take the top job at Rentokil was frankly always going to be tough. The company has real problems.” Mr McGowan, who insisted he had largely looked outside the sector said: “There are positive advantages in not having a specific expertise in our area. Doug has the skill base and international experience which is essential. The group, whose pre-tax profits fell 12 per cent in the first 10 months of last year, has been in the sights of private equity groups since the ousting of Sir Clive Thompson, the former chairman, last May.

Excerpt: One analyst said: “This appointment should delay any plans for a break-up for at least a year. Mr Flynn will have a grace period to sort out the business.”