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Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

theguardian.com

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Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#31

Post by [deleted] »

rgbrenner wrote: post #11
lutusp wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What plants can survive with 100% fluorescent office lighting? Marijuana. In the prohibition era just ending, many people discovered this in surreptitious basement experiments. > I tried a succulent but the soil was covered in mold in a few weeks. From an evolutionary perspective, that would indicate success, but for the mold, not the plant.

Marijuana. In the prohibition era just ending, many people discovered this in surreptitious basement experiments. You do realize that those are grow lights, which are at a different color temp and higher wattage than normal office lights.. right?

[deleted]

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#32

Post by exDM69 »

nether wrote: post #2

What plants can survive with 100% fluorescent office lighting? I tried a succulent but the soil was covered in mold in a few weeks.

Pretty much all green plants survive under fluorescent lights. I live up north and we have three months of darkness every year. Most people use normal fluorescent lights for their plants (and lighting) during this period. The plants might not exactly thrive (you'd have to put up a huge light to compensate for no sunlight) but they certainly do survive.

There are better types of lights for growing plants but fluorescent are not bad at all.

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#33

Post by mrweasel »

nether wrote: post #20
jedberg wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always request to sit somewhere where there is at least some natural light, mostly for my well being, but the plants offer a nice excuse as to why I have to be near a window.

Not an option at my workplace. I'm stuck in a windowless office with a door.

That sucks... I'm not even sure that a plant or eight would make that kind of hell hole any better. I'm happy to be in a country where it's actually illegal to make people work in rooms without windows.

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#34

Post by TrevorFancher »

whyenot wrote: post #25
nether wrote: post #2

What plants can survive with 100% fluorescent office lighting? I tried a succulent but the soil was covered in mold in a few weeks.

From a plants point of view, there really isn't anything wrong with fluorescent light, the issue is not enough light intensity. If you measure the photosynthetically active radiation in a normal office it's about 30-100 umol PPFD; that's about the same as a shady spot outdoors (for reference, direct sun is usually about 1800 umol). Temperatures inside also usually stay pretty warm all year round. For these reasons, t…

In case anyone else like me wants to know what these plants look like:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstera_deliciosa#mediaviewer...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieffenbachia#mediaviewer/File...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philodendron#mediaviewer/File:...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_benjamina#mediaviewer/Fi...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tillandsia#mediaviewer/File:Fi...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adiantum_aleuticum#mediaviewer...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_aphylla#mediaviewer/Fi...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_planifolia#mediaviewer...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea_arabica#mediaviewer/Fil...

Click the X to view the wikipedia article.

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#35

Post by gweinberg »

IvyMike wrote: post #19

Funny enough, when the plants show up, in my experience it's a bad sign. I have no proof this conversation happened at the last two places I worked... but I'm pretty sure it did happen. Upper-level manager #1: "The results of the employee morale survey are back. Morale is at an all time low. The employees feel that upper-level management is clueless, they are increasingly unable to do their jobs efficiently because o…

That's probably true as far as it goes, but they probably should have been there all along. If the plants disappear because management decides they are too expensive, start your new job search immediately.

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#36

Post by gweinberg »

lutusp wrote: post #3
nether wrote: post #2

What plants can survive with 100% fluorescent office lighting? I tried a succulent but the soil was covered in mold in a few weeks.

> What plants can survive with 100% fluorescent office lighting? Marijuana. In the prohibition era just ending, many people discovered this in surreptitious basement experiments. > I tried a succulent but the soil was covered in mold in a few weeks. From an evolutionary perspective, that would indicate success, but for the mold, not the plant.

Probably not the best choice for an office plant, though.

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#38

Post by jasonwocky »

IvyMike wrote: post #19

Funny enough, when the plants show up, in my experience it's a bad sign. I have no proof this conversation happened at the last two places I worked... but I'm pretty sure it did happen. Upper-level manager #1: "The results of the employee morale survey are back. Morale is at an all time low. The employees feel that upper-level management is clueless, they are increasingly unable to do their jobs efficiently because o…

Plants improve morale and productivity. Transparent attempts by management to manipulate their workforce do not :)

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#39

Post by anigbrowl »

exDM69 wrote: post #28
dominotw wrote: post #9

I have this[1] closed ecosystem on my desk that I share with a coworker. Best decision ever. 1. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IZOB5M/

We have a flood'n'drain style hydroponic garden at the office we use to grow Basil. We've tried some other stuff but nothing else is as low maintenance as basil. Now we have a problem where where to put it all. I make a huge bowl of pesto every week and force feed basil to all my coworkers whenever I get a chance but I just can't get rid of all of it. I can't even make a dent in the huge bush we have. We also grew so…

I make a huge bowl of pesto every week

I'll take your excess basil if you're in the Bay Area, they're always running out at the supermarket and interrupting my pesto schedule XD

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#40

Post by silencio »

exDM69 wrote: post #28
dominotw wrote: post #9

I have this[1] closed ecosystem on my desk that I share with a coworker. Best decision ever. 1. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IZOB5M/

We have a flood'n'drain style hydroponic garden at the office we use to grow Basil. We've tried some other stuff but nothing else is as low maintenance as basil. Now we have a problem where where to put it all. I make a huge bowl of pesto every week and force feed basil to all my coworkers whenever I get a chance but I just can't get rid of all of it. I can't even make a dent in the huge bush we have. We also grew so…

I've been growing some shiso in my Aerogarden - http://i.imgur.com/zitLRIV.jpg - and it's to the point that I have to replant it due to rampant growth crowding out half the other plants after I already pruned what you see there.

Herbs are easiest I think. Mint is super low maintenance and nice for flavoring water and for cocktails. Thai basil can be tasty, and other varieties of basil are also fun. I've had no luck at all with thyme, but... eh. I'm also growing lavender just because it smells good.

Veggie-wise, you can try fast growing sprouts and microgreens, perhaps? I'm also trying my hand at some bird's eye chilies despite lack of temperature control and general warm weather in SF.

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