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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

#11

Post by rgbrenner »

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.

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?

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#15

Post by GFischer »

I really hope they took the Hawthorne effect into account:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect

I'm not sure if it's the plants themselves which generated the positive change, or whether anything else (paintings, something personal/warm) would have generated a similar response.

And while I rant about my awful working conditions, at least I don't have my keyboard fixed into place !!

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#16

Post by GFischer »

tatalegma wrote: post #4
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.

"Mother in Law's Tongue" does well indoors, and is also supposedly good at improving indoor air quality.

So, the 2 suggestions are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sansevieria_trifasciata

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spathiphyllum

(are those the Peace Plants pentabular refers to?)

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#17

Post by jedberg »

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.

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.

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#18

Post by sliverstorm »

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.

Perhaps you were over watering? Succulents in particular from allowing the soil to dry completely between watering. Heck, I have some succulents that are perfectly OK being watered once a month. (When you do water them, flood them)

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#19

Post by IvyMike »

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 of process and bureaucracy, and the raises we gave this year were below industry average."

Upper-level manager #2: "I just googled 'how to raise morale' and it said 'plants'"

Upper-level manager #1: "Let's do that!"

Re: Plants in offices increase happiness and productivity

#20

Post by nether »

jedberg wrote: post #17
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.

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.
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