Best way to get cleaner air?

martyp

Hi all,

This is kind of related to the garden section as I really want to grow Spanish Moss but have learnt it is very sensitive to air pollution.
The problem is I live near a major industrial city and there is quite a polluted town near me and I also live close to a main road.
I know you get ionisers etc and air purifiers but what if anything can I do apart from moving to Scotland or somewhere to get cleaner pollutant free air in the house at minimal cost? Do ionisers and purifiers just create negative ions and get rid of tobacco smoke and pollen etc or can they help with air pollutants caused by industry or cars?

Also, not sure if anyone knows this but I thought my rainwater might be acidic so considered using distilled, mineral or that other water you get from Aquatics places?

Many thanks

Volcano

"Air pollution" is a pretty broad term that doesn't identify exactly what may be affecting its growth. A quick search is showing that the moss seems to prefer acidic environments, so your rainwater will probably be ideal (you can get cheap pH test kits from garden centres to test the water, but you'll need to check the soil too). Another search throws up that it may be sensitive to acidic air pollution, so it seems there's a bit of debate here! Mineral water is alkaline, distilled water is neutral (but tends to be a bit more 'reactive' than mineral water, I wouldn't recommend it. I think aquatic shop water is basically the same). Mixing tap water and rainwater may do it. Get a pH value for your rainwater and I can give you an idea of what ratio to try.

Without going into the chemistry, indoor air in busy cities can be a lot cleaner than the outside air. Air filters filter out large particles and won't really be any good unless you are actually having problems with a build up of dust from sources such as traffic. Ionizers generate ozone which is one of the pollutants that are known to damage plants, so forget about that.

It seems that the critical thing is to keep it above 60F-70F (so indoors is the only place to grow it) and it needs to be humid too.

With little about it on the web, you may be going into groundbreaking territory here and might have to experiment a bit.

Let us know how you get on.

martyp

Excellent reply, thankyou Volcano.
I didn't know about the ozone thing from ionisers, I was close to getting one.
The person I bought some from has said he collects rainwater after it has been raining for about 30 minutes as then the rain contains less pollutants.
I found out an old B&Q soil test kit and tried some fresh rainwater in it and it stayed green. I got some soil instead and followed the instructions and that came out quite dark green? Not sure if it's an accurate test, it came with a little test tube and a little bottle of dark green stuff.
I have carnivorous plants which must have rainwater which seem to be fine, they may be more resilient to pollutants though, I'm not sure.
I've bought two so might try one upstairs and one downstairs. Upstairs gets humidity from the bathroom as well as much sunlight, downstairs would be kept warmer and get much sunlight as well, less humidity though.

Will see if I can get it growing this time...