Meet Inside Urban Green

As is always the case, times have changed. When I started this blog almost four years ago, the focus was solely on the use of modern scientific methods for maintaining decorative indoor plants in containers (aka houseplants).

Since then, climate change and the green movement have taken center stage. There is constant chatter about local food production and community agriculture. Buzz words like locovore and slow food have entered our vocabulary.

Rather incredibly, the use of sub-irrigated (erroneously called “self-watering”) planters for personal or family food production has been largely ignored. All you need do is a site search on the National Gardening Association, American Community Gardening Association or all the USDA Extension Program sites combined and you’ll find very little how-to-do-it explanation of the benefits of measured sub-irrigation.

Is it simply ignorance of the subject or are there hidden agendas? I know from direct personal experience, for example, that most houseplant growers do not want their plants to live too long. Rather than grow the market, they much prefer to grow replacement plants for the ones you kill. Just don’t blame them for the fact that the plant died.

The widespread use of arcane drench and drain watering is a direct result of propaganda and scare tactics about soluble salts. Yes, soluble salts are a significant factor to deal with in well-lit greenhouse production where water and fertilizer are poured on the plants on a daily basis. The objective is to push the plants out the greenhouse door as quickly as possible.

That is not the case with the maintenance of container plants inside marginally lit buildings. Note the operative word maintenance, as in "staying alive" rather than fast growth. Greenhouse plant growing and the maintenance of containerized plants in and around buildings are two completely different subjects.

If you’re hooked on clay pots with drain holes and saucers, know that you’ve been mislead. I can’t say it any more plainly. No need to take my word for it, you can easily prove it to yourself. All you need is an open, questioning mind.

Open minds are what kids have and that’s the reason for donating my ten-year-old Inside Plants Science Lab for the good of public education in New York City where I now live. Teach the children. They will teach their parents. If you haven’t noticed, that’s a part of the new digital age. If you have a question about your computer, ask your kids.

So, have a first look at Inside Urban Green. Bookmark it and add it to your RSS feeds. I believe you’ll be glad you did.

Plant Photos Problem

Before my cross-country move from San Diego to Brooklyn, I bought a MacBook. Recently I set it up as a desktop computer with an auxiliary 24” LCD display. This revealed a significant problem with all of my plant photos.

They were shot on a desktop stage with a black cloth backdrop. I then used Photoshop Elements to remove creases, folds and debris from the desktop stage without altering the plants.

Unfortunately, I was unaware that my old CRT monitor was out of calibration. The photos that looked fine on the old screen were badly flawed. I will be re-editing all of them as soon as new software for my MacBook arrives. This has certainly been a lesson learned.

Update: All photos have been corrected.

Status of the InsidePlantsLive.org Blog

The reason for my absence from this blog is that I took time out to move across country from San Diego to Brooklyn the city of my birth. It was an extremely difficult move in that it involved moving the entire Inside Plants Science Lab as well as my possessions. Doing this by myself in a 26’ U-Haul truck was a nerve-racking odyssey and I’m still recovering from it.

I now live in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and the lab is temporarily stored in the science lab of the Ebbets Field Middle School.

If your interest is in modern 21st century methods of maintaining plants in buildings the archived contents of this blog are the equivalent of a book on the subject.

It is straight talk without all the mumbo jumbo mythology so common in the houseplant world.

Indoor Plant Hobbyists and Others

Although not organized as a book, topics are categorized. For example, click on Sub-irrigation or Inside Plant Care or Hydroculture/Hydroponics. There are other topics well worth reading if your interest is in modern methods of maintaining plants in buildings.

See additional Topics (left column).

There is also an extensive photo collection on Flickr.com. Have a look at Digital Age Indoor Plants.

Educators

If you are an educator read about the Inside Plants Science Lab donation program at InsideGreenNYC.org. There is also an outline of the program below.

If you have an interest in this project please contact me at bobhyland[AT}insideplantslive.org.

New Blog Coming

InsideUrbanGreen.org will replace InsidePlantsLive.org in the near future. The site is under construction. The scope of the new blog will include more emphasis on urban agriculture and methods of growing vegetables on rooftops and in small city spaces. The range of topics will cover food, foliage and flowering plants in and around buildings.

An outline of plans for the Inside Plants Science Lab project.

Using modern science based methods of maintaining plants in buildings will help in the early science education of young people. Urban horticulture, or agriculture, is a subject of ever increasing importance in the new urban green environment.

The growing of foliage, food and flowers should not be confined solely to in-ground gardening hobbyists who demonstrate a tendency to be techno-averse while resisting modern 21st century methods.

Learning about measurement and methodology instead of clay pot mythology will help on the path to higher science education for children of all ages. All students will benefit whether pursuing science careers or simply living in a densely populated urban environment having limited contact with nature.

Temporary Storage

The lab is currently stored in the Ebbets Field Middle School science lab, to be moved as soon as possible to an accessible location in Brooklyn. This will be used to demonstrate the program to interested schools and organizations in the New York City area.

Initial Beta Phase - Donated

Distribution of ten rolling rack “mini-labs” to a wide cross section of public and private schools and appropriate science based organizations in the New York City area.

• One rolling rack and an assortment of plants
• Measuring tools – digital foot-candle/lux light meter, digital scale and other plant care equipment
• Statistical uploading to an online database is required
• Supported by teacher training
• Supported by InsideUrbanGreen.org, a new website

Local Roll Out Phase – With Funding

New York metro area - Distribution of additional mini-labs to science classrooms in the NYC area.

Regional Roll Out – With Funding

N.E. Corridor – No. N.J., Philadelphia, Boston

National Roll Out – With Funding

Chicago, Los Angeles and other densely populated cities across the country

A Founding Father of the Web Speaks About Progress

Vint Cerf is considered one of the "founding fathers of the Internet. He is also Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist of Google. In this video, he justifiably evangelizes about the Growing Connection and the EarthBox sub-irrigation planter.

As said before, Google reveals all. I discovered a Google Custom Search of all the 50+ Cooperative Extension program websites across the country. These 10 mentions of the word 'earthbox are the sum total results of a search using this engine. The search provides little or no educational information.

Why is that we as a nation seem to have a department of agriculture extension program living under a rock. It is no wonder that horticulturists wonder about their future. (It's a pdf. Scroll down to page 8 ) MS Word file. Download file

Also read on the subject here .

I'll post the results of many more searches of these sites that relate to the maintenance of plants in and around buildings. They reveal how out of touch this program is with the realities of 21st century life and the issues of sustainability, water conservation and the environment.

In the meantime, run your own searches using this feature. A forewarning, you’re not likely to find much about modernity.

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Malicious Defacement

Update 2: The porn photo defacements have been removed. My photos look normal again even to me as the account owner.
Update: I had a friend check my Flickr account and evidently what I see is not viewable to the public at large. I'm grateful for that but it does not change the opinions expressed here.

There has been a series of malicious defacements of both this blog and my Flickr photos. It’s best not to access my Flickr account currently.

Because of some past personal experiences, I am highly suspicious that these attacks are from someone in the horticultural community rather than some stray nutcase.

I have no personal enemies that I know of but I do know that I am considered "the enemy" by some for publishing this blog. I've been called the enemy right to my face.

If you think that houseplants are a non-controversial, innocuous subject, think again. I've personally experienced an anti-technology, anti-science, reactionary element in the horticulture community whose positions on the subject could easily be described as zealotry.

Short of zealotry, overly sanctimonious opinions, particularly on gardening blogs are an every-day occurrence in my research. Placed in the perspective of our current polarized national politics and world events, I wonder where we are headed as a nation.

I have a lot more to say but I’m in the middle of watering plants in the lab. This job will end before too long as I am in the process of donating what I now call the Greenscaper Inside Plants Science Lab.

Note the word science, for that is the operative word. I will donate this extensive database of information along with the plants to help teach science to kids, particularly young girls.

If you know of anyone connected to a NY Metro area educational institution or non-profit that is working to further the science and environmental education of young people, please contact me. The Big Apple is where the lab and I are headed by the end of this month. No Sleep Til Brooklyn

My vision is to see this work expanded 10 fold and then 100 fold…or more.

What’s your opinion?

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AeroGrow Reports

AeroGrow management deserves significant credit for their accomplishments since the launch of the AeroGarden.

Their success is the most positive news I've found in the rather moribund indoor plant market including both consumer houseplants and commercial interior plantscaping.

I wish them continued success in the future and hope that the AeroGarden brings new consumers who are comfortable with technology into the plants in buildings marketplace.

Accomplishments for AeroGrow for the quarter ended June 30, 2007 include:

-- Launching the AeroGarden products chain-wide with Linens 'n Things, including a Mother's Day promotion that featured the AeroGarden on the cover of 41 million Linens 'n Things Sunday newspaper inserts.

-- The launch of the new AeroGarden Pro 100 on April 29th on the world's largest TV retailer, where it sold more than $1.7 million dollars in just 24 hours. The Pro 100 features stylish stainless steel trim and Adaptive Growth Intelligence(TM) that monitors plant growth to give plants exactly what they need at each stage of growth for maximum plant health and yields.

-- AeroGrow expanded internationally into Japan through an agreement reached with Japan's largest TV direct response/retail distribution company, Oak Lawn Marketing Inc. ("OLM"), headquartered in Nagoya, Japan. OLM will sell AeroGarden products through a wide variety of retail outlets and television (including home shopping channels and infomercials) along with web marketing and public relations initiatives. Initial airings of the infomercial in Japan should begin in September 2007.

-- AeroGrow was approved for listing and commenced trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the new ticker symbol AERO effective at market opening on June 13, 2007.

-- AeroGrow launched a full-line, 16 page, full-color product catalog for database marketing to existing customers and purchased mailing lists. The new catalog features 31 AeroGarden products and accessories, including 19 new products. The new products included 9 new seed kits, 9 new accessories, and the new AeroGarden Pro 100.

"We are excited by the consumer acceptance shown for our AeroGarden products as evidenced by a 664% year over year increase," stated AeroGrow founder and CEO, Michael Bissonnette. "We look forward to continuing our growth with the addition of nationwide distribution at Sears, Macy's and Bed, Bath & Beyond in September and our initial product launches in Europe and Japan." Read more….

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Site Searching Reveals All

Most of my information is now coming from RSS feeds which I scan in the Google Reader. If the item looks interesting, I visit the website or blog. Site searching then becomes very valuable. It tells me if the site has information about the subject of inside plants or plants in buildings.

I then want to know if the site author is keeping up with the times. The following search sequence tells me a lot about that. Google reveals all.

For example, if the blog is writing about gardening, container plants, or houseplants, etc and they have never posted about self-watering, sub-irrigation, AeroGarden or EarthBox they most likely have an aversion to technology or they’re living under a rock.

To make searching easier, I have the Google Toolbar for Firefox installed on my Firefox browser (this is the toolbar for Internet Explorer). As mentioned, the "Search Site" button is in constant use as I search for information.

When I visit a blog or website these are the site searches that I use the most to screen for information for this blog.

• This is a quick initial search to see if the site writes about plants.

Search terms: plant OR plants

• If I find that the site writes about plants, I then do this site search

Search terms: houseplant OR houseplants OR "house plant" OR "house plants" OR "indoor plant" OR "indoor plants" OR "interior plant" OR "interior plants" OR "pot plant" OR "pot plants"

• If there are hits on the preceding search, I may then search on one of more of these search strings.

Search terms: self-watering OR sub-irrigation OR subirrigation

Search terms: "container gardening" OR "container garden"

Search terms: earthbox OR aerogarden

Search terms: light meter OR lux meter

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Dumb as a Houseplant

This is a cartoon houseplant available from illustrator Brad Fitzpatrick. Note that he drew it in a terracotta pot a cliché of the houseplant world. How appropriate.

Many outdoor gardeners think these are better for indoor plants because they ‘breathe’. That’s just urban legend stuff triggered by the tricky nature of drench and drain watering. Their objective typically is to avoid over watering and prevent fungus gnat infestations.

Terracotta pots and overly fast draining soil mixes just treat the symptoms instead of the cause which is the top watering method. All they do is create more of a need to be a plant nanny, poking and pouring ever more frequently.

There’s a phrase “dumb as a houseplant” that I see frequently on the web. I wonder what the plants are saying.

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The World Wide Web is a Lot More Than English

As previously mentioned, much of the best technical information about the care of plants in buildings is in languages other than English (German and Dutch for example). This can be frustrating for monolingual Americans like me. An article in the Wall Street Journal this week highlighted the Internet language problem and announced a search improvement from Google.

Excerpt from a Wall Street Journal article:

Linguistically speaking, the World Wide Web has a way to go to live up to its name. As the number of Internet users expands globally, most consumers can still only access content in their native language, unless, like Mr. Bevilacqua, they are multilingual. But now, well-known search companies are trying to help bridge those language gaps with more sophisticated language-translation tools aiming to provide the most comprehensive search results no matter what language the user is searching in.

The push comes as U.S. search giants are focused on gaining market share overseas, where the search and search-advertising industries are generally less mature than in the U.S.

At the same time, the relative share of the searchable Web that is in English is falling fast, roughly estimated at around 30% to 40%, according to Roger Bohn, a professor at the University of California in San Diego, requiring search engines to find a way to translate more pages faster or risk falling behind.

The announcement from Google is that you can now search in your native language and get the results from a search in another language.

For example , let’s search on the English word “hydroculture” and ask for results in German. While you’re at it take a look at the results in French and Japanese. You'll discover some interesting results. Unfortunately, Dutch is not yet one of the Google language translation options. The Netherlands is a world leader in many aspects of interior horticulture, including hydroculture.

The first hit in German is the wonderful website DGHK (hydroculture.org). If you are really interested in modern methods of maintaining plants in buildings you can justify spending a lot of time on this site. I've found nothing like it in the U.S. That reminds me. If you haven't yet visited the U.K. site Plants_in_Buildings , it's a world class website.

While there’s a long way to go in the quality of computer translation, Google is slowly improving translated results, enough so that you can definitely get the gist of the content. So, take a search trip in the language of your choice. There’s a lot of good info out there in languages other than English.

Googling Redirection

My primary source of information for IPL has been web searching using key words related to houseplants, indoor plants, horticulture, etc. One or more of the following adjectives…boring, repetitious, and inaccurate could describe most of what I find in the mainstream media. I’m tired of reading it and you probably would be too if I posted it.

Have no fear, Google to the rescue. I’ve recently discovered that Google has significantly improved blog searching, which by the way is a separate category of searching. With that, I’ve discovered a wealth of interesting and creative stuff about inside plants, some practical, and some rather loopy and far out. But hey, that’s where products and styles of the future are born.

Green geeks, designers, architects, artists, and people who simply have an eye for good design write many of these interesting blogs. So, you’ll notice the source of many future posts will be from this creative sphere of the blogosphere.

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Google the MRI

The past years of blogging research have given me a much clearer picture of the entire subject of “inside plants” or the use of plants in buildings in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

In the process, I’ve come to realize that Google is far more than a search engine or provider of answers to specific questions. With daily focused activity, it has become analogous to an MRI of the human body. It not only shows the bones of the business but it also reveals the vital organs, including the brain and heart.

Google News Alerts, web searches, site searches and blog searches are part of my daily life. In the process of using these tools, Google has been the vehicle for revealing significant information about the players in this market much of it in unflattering detail.

The players include among others houseplant gardeners, USDA extension program agents, so-called Master Gardeners, greenhouse growers and interior landscapers. Thanks to the Internet and Google, I know much more about them than I ever did before in my 30 years of experience in the field.

The overriding message coming through is that in one way or another these players have a strangle hold on the growth of plants in buildings. Only with more forward-looking practices and the entry of new players, will there be growth in the use of plants in buildings.

Stay tuned. There’s a lot more to come, thanks in large part to Google.

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popgadget blog

This is where I found the post about the Vege. What a neat blog. It's well worth exploring.

about popgadget

Technology magazines ignore women and women's magazines ignore technology. Popgadget is a lifestyle magazine that embraces technology as a regular and essential part of women's lives. We cover topics traditionally seen in women's magazines, such as health and fitness, beauty and fashion, home, family, and entertainment, but with a unique focus on the products and people that bring exciting innovations to those aspects of our lives. But if you're looking for a bikini-clad model straddling a Power Mac G5, you won't see it here.

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Houseplant Housewives

I’m on a Googling coffee break from watering plants in the lab and I read this . The thought came to me, not for the first time, that the advice I read from extension program horticulturists must assume that all houseplants are cared for by stay at home housewives. How 1950s is that?

Begin by moving them outdoors to a shady location for a few hours a day.

Do most urbanized modern day mothers (or fathers or singles) have time to be juggling houseplants around every few hours? Do they have time to check each plant daily instead of on a fixed schedule? Do they have time to mist their plants several times a day? Yadda, yadda, yadda...ad nauseum. Gimme a break!

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Good News and Bad News

The good news is that readership has been steadily increasing. The bad news is that because of this I had to buy more bandwidth. I'll keep IPL ad-free as long as I can but may have to change that some time in the future.

My apologies to those of you who visited when the site was down.

I've also recently discovered that comments are not working. I know how to drive this blog but working under the hood of Movable Type software is not my forte. Incidentally, comments do work on Greenscaper.org.

It would probably be a good move to convert IPL to a bundled service such as TypePad, Blogger or WordPress. I just can't handle doing it at this time. There's already too much on my plate.

Please email your comments and suggestions until I can get comments working.
e-mail Bob Hyland
bobhyland[AT]insideplantslive.org

Thanks for your patience and your interest in this blog. Please keep coming back ...and tell your friends.

Sergey Got Plants!

Hey, did you know Sergey Brin and Larry Page have plants in their office? What about you?

Look beyond your flat screen and get with the 21st century indoor greenscaper program. It’s easy if you follow the digital-age methods you can find here on this blog.

Be glad to help. Just ask...or search this blog. Check out some Flickr pics for ideas.

Stepping through the sliding glass door into their office is like walking into a playroom for tech-savvy adults. A row of sleek flat-screen monitors lining one wall displays critical information: e-mail, calendars, documents and, naturally, the Google search engine.

Assorted green plants and an air purifier keep the oxygen flowing, while medicine balls provide appropriately kinetic seating. Upstairs, a private mezzanine with Astroturf carpeting and an electric massage chair afford Sergey and Larry a comfortable perch from which to entertain visitors and survey the carnival of innovation going on below. And there is ample space for walking around, which is absolutely essential for Sergey, who just can’t seem to sit still.

Google Translation Tools

Here's a better way to translate I discovered on the PoynterOnline, E-Media Tibits blog. Check out the Google Language Tools page and install Translation Browser Buttons to make translations even easier. I've installed several of them and found them much more convenient than the way I had been doing it using Babel Fish .

The Greenscaper Blog Lives

After a too-long hiatus, I'm making an effort to resuscitate my posting schedule on Greenscaper.org. There has been some significant news from the interior plantscaping business. Have a look.

Hydrotip.de

Clearly the best website I’ve found so far on the subject of hydroculture is the German website Hydrotip.de. I have only scratched the surface of the knowledge base on this site. I am in awe and humbled by what I read. It’s that good. Incidentally, you will also find interior horticulture information beyond the subject of hydroculture.

Like Inside Plants Live, it is a non-profit website and free to publish critical comments and reviews. Note that neither site even carries Google ads.

Couple Hydrotip.de with Plants-in-Buildings.com and some hands-on experimentation and you can teach yourself to be a very well informed practitioner of interior plant installation and care. In my opinion, you’ll learn more about modern methods on these sites than you will by attending any ornamental horticulture (or floriculture) program here in the U.S. I’m quite familiar with what they teach. Sadly, most of it is long out of date.

Unfortunately, Hydrotip.de is in German with no English version as an option. With that said it is well worth your time to explore this site using Babel Fish as outlined here. Use either Babel Fish or a German-English dictionary to help clarify some of the quite rough translation. Let’s hope that Google is allocating a lot of their resources to language translation.

After you have translated from German to English in Babel Fish, click on “The bases” (i.e. the basics). There are 63 data records (11 pages). All of them are worth reading but I suggest starting on page 4 and then click on “I would like to begin with the hydraulic culture. What do I need?” Be sure to read about “changing over “(soil to clay pebbles).

You can also click on “Sitemap” and find the same information and much more.

If you’re keenly interested in the subject of hydroculture as applied to plants in buildings, you will spend a lot of time on Hydrotip.de. Bon voyage…but do come back. Please tell a friend, or two or more what you have found here. It’s my only compensation and much appreciated. Thanks!

Translation How-to

Relative to the following post, here's a jute wrapped Ficus benjamina "Natacha" from France (in French). If you read French, that's great. I tried to link to a BabelFish.com translation and it wouldn't work. I've tried the same with Google translations and I can't link to them either. If you're not familiar with BabelFish.com, here's how it works (using the linked site above).

1. Copy the URL (http://) address from your browser.
2. Go here to BabelFish .
3. See the section titled "Translate a Web page". Highlight the "http://" with your mouse. Paste over with the URL address you copied in Step 1.
4. Click on the "Translate from and to languages" menu arrow.
5. Scroll to the appropriate language from to, in this case "French to English" (or your favorite language).
6. Click on the "Translate" icon.
7. Voilà! You should be looking at the page in translated (broken;-) English. You can move the BableFish header section up with your mouse to see the whole page.

So, come on along my fellow Americans as we journey to foreign lands in the coming days. You're going to see some high quality plants, planters and plantscapes like you've never seen before.

Blog Update

Readership of Inside Plants Live is steadily increasing regardless of my sporadic posting schedule. Record keeping and maintaining plants in the lab takes a lot of time and it is getting to be more than I can manage.

My solution is to donate the lab and help the research continue as a consultant. If you think there is ongoing applied research about maintaining plants in buildings here in the U.S. please tell me about it. I’ve found no trace of it in my extensive research over the past years. That is a sad commentary.

If I relied on the results of Google and Yahoo news, web and blog searches to update Inside Plants Live you would likely stop reading and I would likely stop blogging. Most of the articles are repetitious and the information out of date or inaccurate. Incidentally, outdoor garden writers and USDA extension program agents write the majority of them.

Here are the results from one of the search strings that I use regularly. You be the judge.

Perhaps you’ll find this blog post amusing. It may be satirical (I think not) but it is definitely reflective of the knowledge deficiency that most outdoor gardeners have regarding maintaining plants in buildings. Clueless is the operative word. Read the comments too.

What to do? Go international is my answer. That’s where I find many high quality and interesting websites. I’ve learned to use Google in-country searches rather than sole reliance on U.S. domestic searching.

Language is somewhat of a problem partially solved by Google and BabelFish translations. The photos don’t need translation and you can at least get the gist of the text information with present day translation software. There’s no question in my mind that computerized translation will continue to improve. One day we will all be able to better communicate on the web regardless of language spoken.

Thanks for listening and stay tuned. There's lots more to come...in many different languages.

Happy Valentines Day

Click to enlarge.

Houseplant Modernity

Some "houseplant" high tech from Smith & Hawkin. Note the use of the word ingenious. Maybe it's time we moved out of the 9th century don't you think?

Thumb Pot Watering Can An ingenious method for watering plants dating back to the 9th century, this thumbpot is great for windowsill and herb gardens.

• Traditionally crafted from clay
• Simply hold your thumb over the hole at the top of the pot—release to water
• Unique gift idea
• Holds 12 fl. oz.

4" Dia. x 4 1/2" H

Happy Holidays!

Click to enlarge. The Treeson cousins and I are wishing you peace whatever you’re celebrating wherever you are in the world.

They say they would be much happier if you would plant a tree in your workspace like this or somewhere outside. Urban Treeson in particular needs your help since he lives in the city where the air isn’t so good. Both indoor and outdoor trees help him and his neighbors a lot.

Using modern plant care methods, he has learned to use his black thumb in a green way. Would you please help him to spread the word this holiday season and in the coming year as well. Both of them thank you. Those you help maintain trees will thank you as well.

Meet Treeson

Click to enlarge. Treeson is 5 inches of vinyl cuteness. He was born in the creative mind of Bubi Au Yeung a Hong Kong illustrator. Read the story of “Treeson & Ren.”

Andy Woo (aka Wookie) of Crazy Label in Hong Kong brought Treeson into vinyl reality. Uncle Greenscaper thinks he would make the perfect symbol for saving trees whether they are in a forest, your work place, or home. You’ll be seeing a lot more of Treeson in future photos. In the meantime you can see many more photos of Treeson on Flickr.

Treeson knows that archaic drench and drain top watering used by so many outdoor gardeners and horticulturists kills too many indoor trees. It may be a good way to water outdoor plants but it is simply a bad idea for year-round indoor plants.

The little Ficus benjamina trees in this photo are growing in expanded clay pebbles inside soup bowls. This will shock “houseplant” gardeners but there are no drain holes, no need for saucers. This method is most widely known as hydroculture but it is really a sub-irrigation technique. Sub-irrigation using an artificial soil mix works just as well.

As it says on the top of the box that Treeson arrived in, “Do Not Kill Tree!” First and foremost, give it light and then sub-irrigate to keep it alive and well.

I'm Still Here!

Perhaps you’re wondering about the lack of recent posting activity. I’ve been dealing with health problems, the most recent a bad fall on my daily power walk in Balboa Park. Silly me.

I’m a very lucky old dude that I didn’t break anything and am slowly recovering. The humorous part is that I have an ugly bruise on my right thigh in the exact shape of my digital camera. My fanny pack with the camera in it was the impact point. What a way to make a digital imprint.

There’s a significant backlog of stuff to post and I’ll get to it in the coming days. Meantime there are plants in the Greenscaper Consumer Lab that are crying out for water. Hauling water isn’t exactly what I want to be doing right now but there’s no escaping it.

Thanks for your interest in indoor plants and your patience. Stay tuned!

Ralph Waldo Emerson Quote

Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "People only see what they are prepared to see." and:

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”

If I didn't believe what Emerson said, this blog would have ended a long time ago.

Some Things Don’t Change

The following is from a newspaper article of a few years ago. Who knows whether Egyptian physicians were warning about the same thing?

If you're striving to gain the claimed air cleaning qualities of indoor plants you might think some more about the potential problems created by drench and drain top-watering.

Coupled with insufficient light this arcane watering practice is without doubt the leading cause of soil borne mold problems, fungus gnats and dead and dying houseplants. I read about it every day when doing my research.

MALARIA FROM PLANTS. Ague May Be Contracted from the Soil In the Window Garden,

There is an undoubted prejudice against house plants in the bedroom, which has not seemed to be justified by anything that has been proved against the plants. Most of such popular ideas, however, embody a truth, and it is not wise to ignore them. It has been recently found that malaria has been propagated among persons sleeping in a room in which plants were growing in boxes filled with malarial soil.

Several cases of this disease in winter have been traced by physicians to this cause. The germs seemed to thrive in the heated air of the house. When we remember the source from which the house plants are obtained and the common use of rotted earth from often malarial swamps in preparing the soil, it is surprising that this complaint has not been made before

It is quite possible to have too many house plants. A few blooming house plants, are a pleasure in living rooms. It is however the practice of some families of filling all the sunny windows with bowls of dark earth for the cultivation of flowers during the winter and spring months. It is not to be commended.

The most essential thing in any home is the health and comfort of the members of that home. If out of the sunshine, often the flowers must be given up, however delightful their presence is. There is no such objection to a conservatory built especially for the accommodation of plants, though it is possible to introduce the germs of malarial earth even in this case.

The objection to flowers in many houses is that they may occupy the sunny windows that the members of the family should sit in and enjoy. During a great deal of their time of growth, house plants are not ornamental, but simply a promise.

While summer plants are resting from growth, it is better to keep them in a well-lighted cellar than upstairs, where they are not often ornamental and are certain to be in the way. This applies to geraniums, begonias of some kinds and to the vast majority of the summer blooming plants, which must be taken in during the winter.

Curious about the date of this article?

It's about 107 years old from the The Trenton Evening Times on Monday, March 27, 1899 (Trenton, New Jersey)

Maybe it’s time to take a fresh look at so-called “house plants” and “indoor gardening.” What do you think?

Note: *The text above was extracted from the image using Optical Character Recognition technology and may appear disorganized. Members enjoy access to full size newspaper images as they were printed and therefore in most cases experience 100% readability.

Green Recognition

It was nice to be recognized in the company of the plants-in-buildings website and retired NASA scientist Dr. Bill Wolverton both highly respected sources of information about indoor plants.

You won't find any environmentally unsound "drainhole" advice on this or the other two referenced sites.

Click here and scroll down to Technical Guide 2: Plants and Indoor Air Quality Sources.

Excerpt: Technical Guide 2: Plants and Indoor Air Quality With most people spending up to 80% of their time in indoor environments, be it at home, in the office, at school or university, it’s becoming more and more important to ensure our indoor environment is a healthy place. This is even more necessary as buildings become increasingly air tight and ventilation systems become closed loop. The term “building ecology” has been coined to describe the interaction between building environments and their occupants (Levin, 1981). A healthy building is one that does not adversely affect the health of its occupants or the larger environment. An integral factor in this interaction is the indoor air quality of a building. Studies have shown that poor indoor air quality can substantially reduce the productivity and general health of workers in the office environment, with indoor air quality often being more polluted than outdoor air. Our appliances, decor, cleaning products and fixtures contain enormous amounts of potential polluting substances, so it is very important to ensure the internal air quality of all buildings is healthy and clean.

IKEA Majesty Palm Sale

DO NOT BUY FOR INDOOR USE

A search will show that I'm a big fan of IKEA. However, not when they sell Majesty Palms like this. This ad doesn’t identify indoor or outdoor use but we all know that IKEA sells furniture mostly for indoor use. The IKEA Green Room is not an outdoor nursery.

My straightforward advice is do not buy these palms from IKEA or anyone else for use as an indoor plant. They are simply a bad product. Unfortunately to the average person they look like a Kentia Palm which is a classic indoor palm.

If you can't tell the difference, a low price like this is the give away. Kentia Palms are slow growing and thus cost more. They are durable, low light tolerant plants and worth the investment, particularly if you are wise enough to use measured sub-irrigation.

Read what Gary Antosh, a long time Florida tropical plant grower, has to say about Majesty Palms. I couldn't agree more with his sound advice.

Excerpt: DON'T BUY a Majesty Palm as an indoor plant unless you are looking for a challenge in plant care.

There are many other indoor palms that do much better:

Chamaedorea elegans 'Bella' - Parlor Palm
Chamaedorea Sefrizii - Bamboo Palm
Howea Fosteriana - Kentia Palm
Rhapis excelsa - Lady Palm

Apartment Death Watch

The title of this article in The Washington Post is 2BR, 1BA, 4 Dead Orchids. It’s a funny headline but frustratingly real world.

Excerpts: “I’m a serial plant killer,” said Connie Tzioumis, 31, a human rights analyst who works in Washington. “I have plants in my office and I’ve killed every one. I’ve also killed every plant in my apartment this year.”

Tzioumis’s co-worker, Tara Guelig, can relate. “I’m starting to get annoyed,” she said. “It’s a lot of money down the drain.” Guelig, 25, reels off her victims – a jade plant, a gerbera daisy, a hydrangea – oh, and an orchid.

This death watch is familiar to many who live in apartments, where light and humidity can be painfully low: A once-lush houseplant loses its vigor and starts to wilt. Extra water and a watchful eye do nothing to reverse the decline. The plant gradually dies and, with it, a little bit of the budding gardener.

The article describes the problem but unfortunately provides little help. That's not the fault of the reporter or the people interviewed. It's just a commentary on the sad state of so-called “house plant” care information.

Now whose fault is that? I've said it before. Based on all the research I've done over the past years to publish this blog the prime publisher of arcane plant care mythology is the U.S. Department of Agriculture through its Cooperative Extension and Master Gardener programs. I'll publish research information to summarize and support my conclusions in the coming week.

It is a mistake to think of indoor plants as merely a gardening hobby. They are an underutilized urban amenity with environmental and psychological benefits for those who live in densely populated cities.

We are long overdue to end the "Black Thumb Disease" (BTD) that plagues most of our non-gardening population. You will find many of the cures and answers by reading more on this blog. Please don't hesitate to comment or email me at bobhyland [at] insideplantslive [dot] org.

Some Good Advice Here

USA Weekend published “24 sizzling tips to live it up” in conjunction with Prevention Magazine. There were many good tips I related to but none more than this one of course.

Keep plants in your home and office. Indoor plants have been linked to reductions in stress, fatigue and illness. And displaying them sparks social interaction.

Not having visited Prevention.com previously I did a site search to see what they’ve published about the overall subject of plants in buildings.

I’ll publish some interesting results in separate posts.

Plant Photo Set on Flickr

There are now 18 plant photos posted on Flickr.com. The set of thumbnails are here. You can view them as a slide show .

Caveat Emptor

These so-called bonsai plants are widely distributed both on the web and in retail stores. For example, there are more of them here on Overstock.com.

In my professional opinion they are an egregious misrepresentation of both bonsai and what is described as an “easy to care for” indoor plant. They are neither.

Please do not buy them. They might make a good first impression as a gift but recipient disappointment will soon follow when the plant dies. That, of course, is not the lasting memory you want to leave with a business prospect, associate or personal friend.

Practiced for centuries in China and Japan, the art of bonsai captures nature's beauty in a confined space. Not your traditional bonsai tree, the exotic, tropical Sago palm brings a bit of paradise down to earth. Exclusively from RedEnvelope.

* easy to care for, our miniature version adapts to indirect light or full sun and needs only occasional watering
* arrives in a modern, white ceramic pot with an ornamental river rock
* plant measures 14" to 17" high
* pot measures 7" x 5 3/4" x 2 1/2" high

story card (delivered with the plant)
One of nature’s most easy-to-care-for plants, the exotic Sago Palm brings a bit of paradise down to earth. This miniature version is very slow growing, allowing your palm to remain in the same container indefinitely. One of the oldest plants on earth, it will produce only one set of leaves per year and will take several years to develop a “trunk” of much size.

To care for your palm, follow these simple instructions:
Place your palm indoors in an area that receives very bright sunlight. Once the danger of frost has passed, you may move your palm outdoors to a lightly shaded, sheltered area. Before frost, bring your palm back indoors. Water thoroughly when the top half-inch of soil feels dry. Do not keep the soil wet or soggy. During cooler months, watering may be reduced to allow the soil to become nearly dry. Remove any dry or brown leaves by cutting off the leaf stalk near the trunk.

Happy Fourth of July!

Professional Recognition

The following review made my day (week, month, and year). It is more than flattering to have Dr. Ahern take the time to review this website on behalf of GEN (genetic engineering news). GEN, in its 26th year, is the most widely read biotechnology publication in the world.

No one should ever mistake this blog for a scientific journal. However, what does that say about “houseplant” and horticultural “scientists.”

Maintaining plants in buildings is not rocket science. It is however, a challenge to most lay people who are fed a steady stream of mythology instead of science. It’s no wonder that so many people kill their houseplants.

Inside Plants Live

Blogs are getting better at disguising themselves, which isn’t all bad. When I went to Inside Plants Live, I scanned through the abundant information at the site and found it most informative to read. After I clicked on the About the Site link, I discovered I’d been actually enjoying a blog, of all things. While one might quibble with exactly what is and is not a blog, I think what matters is what the site considers itself and more importantly, the value of its content. On the latter matter I can give high marks. With monthly entries dating to 2004, articles categorized into over 20 topic areas, abundant pictures, and a lack of attitude generally linked to blogs, Inside Plants Live is one of my most pleasant finds of the year. While it is low on the science end of things, it is great reading.

Read the review here.

Happy Father's Day!

These strawberries would be a special treat for your father. They are the best I've eaten in my memory and I'm happy to plug California Giant, the grower.

I bought these strawberries from Ralphs on sale for $2 per 2-pound box. They looked great, but I've bought nice looking red strawberries before that were as juicy and tender as hockey pucks. These are the real deal, just-right sweet, and firm but tender. They are obviously not going to turn to mush in a short time. I'll be back to Ralphs on my daily walk this morning to buy another box...or two.

As a marketing professional, may I share some other things I discovered about California Giant? When you open the box, this is what it says on the reverse side of the cover label - "Please visit our website/Visitez notre site Web, á www.calgiant.com.” I did and found a very well done consumer-centric website. Check it out. This is the site map. They even have a Blogger hosted Berry Blog.

My opinion is this company knows how to do at least two things very well...grow strawberries and market on the web.

Bring Back the Cookies

Click to enlarge. Notice the 10" x 3 ½" clear plastic cookie container in the upper left corner of this picture. It originally contained the most delicious and healthy Laguna Bakery 98% fat free oat bran with raisins cookies. They are one of my food staple items from Costco. I have many plants sub-irrigated in these containers.

I was shocked recently to find that Costco discontinued them and I'm suffering from Laguna Bakery cookie withdrawal.

If you think the Laguna Bakery is in Laguna Beach, CA guess again. The Laguna Bakery is really the D.F. Stauffer Biscuit Co. headquartered in York, PA. Its parent company is Meiji-Seika Kaisha Ltd. a Tokyo-based confectionery and pharmaceutical company. Ah, the complex world of multi-national corporations.

I read that these little cookie gems are “wire-cut” cookies and packaged manually. My guess is that they will reappear in Costco in a different package that they can fill automatically.

Too bad, if that’s so. These are really neat clear plastic containers for indoor plant subirrigation. You can see the root system and check soil moisture!

I’m going to contact the container manufacturer to see if there are other products on the market in these containers. I’ll let you know whatever information I get.

You can find cookies in other sizes of these clear plastic containers at Trader Joe's but not the 10" diameter size.

Termite Tenting Time Out

This old house is being tented for termite fumigation. All the plants (over 500) had to be moved out of the house. What a job!

I'll be back by Thursday or Friday.

Help Perpetuate the GreenScaper Consumer Lab

The GreenScaper Consumer Lab is now almost eight years old. It has been of invaluable help in compiling a wealth of applied research information about the maintenance of plants in buildings.

With ever-increasing growth now including hydroculture and hydroconversion research, the lab has come to dominate my time. Among other things, it prevents daily blogging. That is a loss in that these two public service websites continue to be the only known blogs on the subject of plants in buildings.

Rather than dispose of the plants privately, they have a potential benefit to society. The highest and best use is to donate the lab to an institution that will carry on the work and share it with the public. It could be the cornerstone for an Urban Center for the Study of Plants in Buildings.

The center would be an educational resource to train new teachers as well as teach young children about the science rather than mythology of plants in buildings. It could be the catalyst for them to pursue careers in bioscience or hydroponics or horticulture and floriculture.

An urban botanic garden would be an excellent choice to carry on the work because of the close connection to all elements of urban society. What better place is there to expand the science of plants in buildings than cities with a shortage of outdoor green space? No one should be excluded because of ability to pay or educational status.

The lab includes about 500 plants, 9 InterMetro type adjustable shelves, fluorescent lighting, tools, equipment, and a large collection of planters and plastic parts. Just as important as the tangible material is a computer database record of each plant’s history including daily water consumption. The donation also includes a negotiable period of free consulting time to train teachers.

There is a need for this lab. It should not be lost. It is of significant value to the field of plants in buildings and to society in general. Please pass this information on to anyone you know who might be interested in helping to save the lab by finding a new home for it.

There is no doubt in my mind that an Urban Center for the Study of Plants in Buildings would be of significant benefit to the citizens of every city in the US. Yes, it would require some modest funding, but more than that, all that's needed is a pool of open and enthusiastic minds.

Role Models

Do you recognize Julia and Chris? If you do, you're part of the more than 2.9 million viewers who watch America’s Test Kitchen. It's the most watched cooking show on public television and now a role model for this blog.

My dream is that someday there will be resources and professional educators to present a program like this for plants in buildings. Note the key words test, tester and most significant the word science in this website description.

America’s Test Kitchen, currently in its fifth season and the most-watched cooking show on public television, is filmed in the test kitchen of Cook’s Illustrated magazine, located just outside Boston. More than 2.9 million viewers watch each episode, and each episode features the editors, test cooks, equipment testers, science experts, and food tasters from the magazine’s staff.

If you’re a cook, you will likely enjoy this program. I really enjoy the rap and rapport between Julia and Chris along with the other chefs. I just discovered it and have already learned a lot. In the first program, I learned from their consumer testing lab that Glad freezer bags tested as the best for saving food. So, it’s goodbye to the more expensive slide lock bags I’ve been using.

If you’re a cook who would also like to have some plants in your kitchen, office, or family room, you will probably also enjoy this blog and get a lot out of it.

If you’re an outdoor gardener, who likes to play in the dirt you’ll probably not enjoy some of the things I have to say about outdoor gardener houseplant care practices. As I’ve said many times before, drench and drain watering of indoor plants is archaic and rather barbaric. It belongs outdoors in your backyard not inside your house.

If we had PBS programs like these that demonstrate modern scientific methods, the houseplant market would explode. I’ve seen houseplant programs on HGTV that were simply terrible. Amateur outdoor gardeners who have no professional experience with plants in buildings maintenance typically produce them. They’re part of what I call the uninformed and misinformed.

Simply Ming follows America’s Test Kitchen locally. Chef Ming Tsai is a talented and gracious presenter. He had Emeril Lagasse on as a guest today. What a culinary duo. I was taken aback at how gracious a host Ming was. He paid homage to Emeril without being obsequious and his sincerity was obvious. That is not easy to do.

There’s much to learn from Ming about presentation. He is truly an artist in the kitchen. I have no doubt that his talents would transfer to indoor plant presentation. One day we’ll find someone with his type of talent for the indoor plant market. Check him out if you haven’t already. He’s a neat guy.

Status Report

I’m getting back to posting with regularity now that some personal issues including illness have been resolved. Thanks for your patience and please accept my apology for not posting a status report long before this.

In the future, I will separate content between InsidePlantsLive.org and GreenScaper.net as originally intended. InsidePlantsLive.org blog will contain information about the care of plants in buildings and related topics. The focus is on consumer information.

GreenScaper.net blog will contain news and information for those with business interests regarding plants in buildings. This includes interior plantscaping, green building,