Back to Top Ventilation House plants, especially flowering varieties, are very sensitive to drafts or heat from registers. Forced air dries the plants rapidly, overtaxes their limited root systems, and may cause damage or plant loss. House plants are sensitive to natural or blended gas. Some plants refuse to flower, while others drop flower buds and foliage when exposed to gases. Blended gases are more toxic to house plants than natural gases.
Tomato plants are extremely sensitive to gas.
They will turn yellow before the escaping gas is detected by household members and are sometimes used in greenhouses as indicator plants for excessive ethylene gas resulting from incomplete combustion in gas furnaces. They are available in many different combinations and under a multitude of brand names. Each brand should be analyzed on the label, indicating specifically how much water-soluble elemental nitrogen, phosphate, or potash is available in every pound of the product. Commercial fertilizers used for house plants are sold in granular, crystalline, liquid, or tablet forms. Each should be used according to instructions on the package label or even more diluted.