The Plant Air Purifier Review

After extensive research we were highly impressed with the Plant Air Purifier.  It is a pot that has been specially designed to enhance the amazing indoor air pollution cleaning ability of houseplants.  In another article we compared this pot system with the AIRY – Natural Air Purifier and the ANDREA: Plant-Based Air Purifier. Our Plant Air Purifier review will now provide details and give the honest pros and cons of this pot.

The Plant Air Purifier has been engineered by Dr. B.C. Wolverton.  He has worked for over 30 years with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Military.  His famous early studies done for NASA were specifically designed to create a healthy airborne closed environment system that would allow for long-term habitation in space.  He has spent years testing and tweaking his plant containers to work optimally at removing dangerous toxins from the air.  The pot design used in his early testing is described in this report: Interior Landscape Plants for Indoor Air Pollution Abatement.

Dr. Wolverton is an award-winning scientist and a world-renowned expert in the field of phytoremediation.  The simple definition of phytoremediation is the use of living plants for the removal of contaminants.  This can involve using plants to break down or absorb pollutants.

There is ample evidence that house plants will effectively clean many indoor toxins.  Interestingly most of the cleansing does not come from the foliage of the plants.  Plants clean most chemical and biological pollutants through their roots and with microbes that are present.  Because of this, the most efficient way to clean indoor air with plants is to make sure that the roots can in a sense breath.  The Plant Air Purifier system has been specially designed to increase the effectiveness of cleaning indoor air with plants.

Brands We Compared

We compared the Plant Air Purifier with the AIRY Natural Air Purifier and the ANDREA: Plant-based Air Purifier.  There are pros and cons to all three of them.  We highly recommend the first two and they have different features that may make a difference for your needs.  We do not recommend the ANDREA: Plant-based Air Purifier at all.

Outstanding Features

The technology from the Plant Air Purifier pot system will conservatively improve the air-cleaning power of the plants by over 60 times.  In some instances they measured a performance increase of up to 200 times.

A fan-assisted early prototype of the current pots removed the volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) equivalent to 15 regularly potted plants.  These tremendous results encouraged Dr. Wolverton and others to continue their important research.

These air purifying pots work by assisting air to circulate through the roots.  The roots also have microbes that essentially eat any toxins they come in contact with.  The device includes a low voltage safe and quiet blower.  This very small fan motor helps immensely to circulate the toxic air to the pot and the plant.  This speeds up the cleansing process and means it can also capture toxins from a larger area.

This chart shows the superior test results for removing formaldehyde when having the fan turned on.

Representing two different tests the blue and the green bars indicate the formaldehyde removed with the fan on and the yellow and red bars are with the fan off.  There was an impressive and significant benefit to having a fan.

According to the EPA, indoor air pollution ranks among the top five sources of disease.  The Sierra Club asked Dr. Wolverton, in 2006, to install one of his high-efficiency plant purifiers into one of their FEMA trailers.  This trailer, along with many others, had tested extremely high for formaldehyde.  It only took a few days for the plant air purifier to reduce the levels of formaldehyde from .18 ppm to .03 ppm.  The World Health Organization sets .05 as the minimum safe level so this trailer was no longer dangerously unsafe after just a few days.

How Does the Plant Air Purifier Work?

This planter is a scientifically designed air filtration system engineered to work with the best air purifying plants.  Each pot is filled with activated carbon and a specially created ceramic growing media.  It has a low-voltage energy-efficient fan to help suck in the unhealthy air and re-circulate the cleansed air.  It has an inner pot and an outer reservoir that holds water for about one week.  There is a low water switch which alerts you to refill the reservoir.  You simply fill the reservoir when needed and every few months add some nutrients.  The planter comes with full instructions.

Toxic air is pulled down through the system and captured by the activated carbon.  Then the microbes that are naturally populating the root system amazingly use the toxins as a food source.  The microbes break down and essentially digest these pollutants resulting in pure air being released.

Hydroculture

Hydroculture is also sometimes called passive hydroponics.  It is simply referring to various methods of growing plants in containers without soil.  The plant’s roots are supported in custom created ceramic stone or clay pellets.  This actually provides a great way for the moisture and minerals to get directly and efficiently to the roots.  This is also a huge factor in more airborne pollutants being exposed directly to the roots for faster and more efficient air cleansing.

Other benefits of a hydroculture medium include the lack of mold, bugs and bacteria.  It is an inert growing media that is odorless.  Hydroculture growing is also helpful for removing dander and dust from the air which is extremely helpful for an allergy sufferer.

Using these pots with specific air purifier plants is a very inexpensive way to give your family healthy air.  It helps you avoid expensive home air purifiers that require regularly buying filters.

These attractive pots come in five colors; black, white, copper, terra cotta and blue.  They can be placed on a kitchen counter, a desk top, a bedside or anywhere in the home or office.  These pots are 8.5 x 8.5 x 8 inches and weigh about 6 pounds.

Pros

• Premier pots to help accelerate air purifying with plants
• Attractive pots that can be placed anywhere
• Inexpensive and will last for years
• No filters to replace
• Inert growing media that suppresses mildew, mold and insects
• Superior to HEPA filters that do not include activated carbon
• Becomes even more effective over time in removing VOC’s

Cons

• Since this system does not use potting soil like a typical planter, large plants may be top-heavy and hard to keep upright.

(Choosing a smaller, slower growing plant should solve this problem.  The plants recommended to be used with these pots by Dr. Wolverton and the U.S. Health Equipment Company are the Lady Palm,  Rubber plant, Dumb Cane, Areca Palm, Corn Plant, Peace Lily, and Warneckii Dracaenas.  All of these have proven through many tests to be superior plants for removing indoor air pollution.  Also with this hydroculture medium plants stay healthy but naturally stop growing larger.  The roots will grow only to the size of the pot.)

The Plant Air Purifier Review Summary

Using the Plant Air Purifier is an easy way to grow luscious plants while at the same time cleaning your indoor air pollution.  This pot is scientifically proven to work synergistically with plants to detoxify the common toxins in your home or office.

The Plant Air Purifier currently comes in the colors Black, White, Terra Cotta, Copper and Blue. Click on the ad directly below this sentence to discover if there are any new colors and which ones are in supply at this time.