Indoor plant industry going green

Be nice to that yellow, underwatered ivy. It's improving your air quality. And it might even make you happier.

Nurseries are signing on to the Green Plants for Green Buildings campaign, said Mike Waldron, a plant buyer for Delray Plants in Venus.

"Some new (University of Georgia) studies are going to be released that will quantify how effectively they remove carbon from the air," said Waldron. "Plants clean dirty air. We're trying to push that like the citrus industry has pushed the benefits of orange juice."

There are other studies:

•Penn State research focuses on how foliage plants mitigate indoor ozone.

•The National Gardening Association reports 79 percent of U.S. households gardened in 2002, making it the most popular outdoor hobby.

•Rutgers University shows flowers make women smile: "Women who received flowers reported more positive moods three days later. In Study 2, a flower given to men or women in an elevator elicited more positive social behavior than other stimuli. In Study 3, flowers presented to participants elicited positive mood reports and improved episodic memory."

The question for Delray Plants, the 15th largest nursery in the U.S., according to greenhousegrower.com: exactly which plants remove the most carbon and ozone?

"This is good for the industry," said Highlands County horticultural extension agent John Alleyne. "They have found that carbon intake has tripled."

Indoor carbon comes from exhaled human breath, indoor machines and outdoor pollution, says the National Ag Safety Database; indoor ozone sources include electrostatic air cleaners, photocopiers and laser printers.

Up and down

The horticulture industry was a $15 billion business in 2005, according to a University of Florida study. Alan Hodges, an economist and extension scientist in the food and resource economics department, said $118 million came from Highlands County.

Two other big sources: Costa Farms in Miami and Apopka, which is ranked No. 3 in the U.S. with 7 million square feet, and Speeding Inc. of Sun City, which has 4.8 million square feet of ornamentals, flowering plants and vegetables.

Delray is the third largest in Florida with 870,000 square feet of field production and 3.8 million square feet of environmentally controlled plants under roof.

Delray and the other indoor and outdoor plant growers both won and lost because of the 2010 winter freeze, said Alleyne. "They did a lot of business after the cold spell. It was positive in some ways."

Some also scaled back because of the recessionary economy. "They've scaled back, Alleyne said. "They are diversifying and going to niche markets."

One of those niche market is palm trees. Indoor palms are among the top sellers at Delray, Waldron said.

At Bob Mielke's 10-acre tree farm, north of Lake Placid, the queen palm is the best seller.

Such trees go for $6 to $8 a foot, said Mielke, who has 2,500 trees. "But there's not much of a market for tall trees."

The construction industry isn't using many these days, but residences call on Mielke for replacements. He also sells potted trees, like the pigmy date palm, for $29 to $100.

"Some of them are 6 to 8 feet tall, with maybe three trees together," Mielke. Since customers plant close to their houses, they don't want something that towers over the roof.

By the way, if the palm turns yellow, use a palm tree fertilizer, he recommends. "It needs salt and magnesium."

FAST FACTS

The horticulture industry was a $15 billion business in 2005, according to a University of Florida study. Alan Hodges, an economist and extension scientist in the food and resource economics department, said $118 million came from Highlands County.

Two other big sources: Costa Farms in Miami and Apopka, which is ranked No. 3 in the U.S. with 7 million square feet, and Speeding Inc. of Sun City, which has 4.8 million square feet of ornamentals, flowering plants and vegetables.