AN American space agency study on how certain plants can purify indoor air has led to sky-rocketing sales for nurseries and florists in Malaysia following the Covid-19 outbreak.

The rush for local leafy plants such as “lidah jin” or sansevieria trifasciata, ficus lyrata or the fiddle-leaf fig and monstera deliciosa has become a lifeline for growers, such as David Lee of Katsura Garden.

The demand for these plants, which purportedly are able to cleanse indoor air of toxins, helped Lee recoup his losses when the movement-control order (MCO) shut down businesses for eight weeks beginning March 18.

“When we first reopened for business after the MCO, all our monstera plants were sold out,” said Lee of the dark green plant whose heart-shaped leaves grow natural holes just like its nickname “the Swiss cheese plant”.  

“People just kept coming to the store and asking for the plant because they heard it cleanses the air. There was demand for ficus lyrata and the lidah jin as well because they supposedly have the same properties.”

Fear that the coronavirus spreads more easily indoors prompted the interest and demand for these plants, said Lee.

Also, since many offices have given employees the option to work from home, demand surged for natural air purifiers.  

Lee said some customers bought in large quantities to resell online.

“We also had customers from as far as Johor and Penang who came to the Klang Valley to buy in bulk because the nurseries in those states finished their stock.

“It is not just us, but many nurseries ran out of stock of monstera.”

Katsura Garden Centre in Tropicana, Petaling Jaya, recently restocked its shelves with new monstera and ficus plants from its farm.  

Nurseries, florists and gardening supply stores were allowed to reopen on May 12 with new standard operating procedures.

“Sales before the MCO were a bit down but when the MCO ended, sales were better. So we were able to make enough revenue to break even,” he said.

Besides the indoor plants, Katsura Garden has seen brisk sales of its ceramic pottery, as Lee claims its prices are competitive because the items are imported directly from China.

“We’re not getting rich but at least we’ve just managed to regain the money we lost,” said Lee, whose business employs 15 workers.

The 1989 study by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) was to find plants that could help cleanse the air in space stations for chemicals, such as benzene and formaldehyde.

Lidah jin, ficus lyrata and monstera are some of the plants which purportedly have these properties.

Although other scientists have disputed the plants’ air purifying ability, they still encourage having plants indoors as they have a positive effect on human energy levels and stress.  

Next door to Katsura, Sam of Weng Thye Brothers nursery also saw a surge in sales for indoor plants particularly for lidah jin, ficus and mostera, when business re-opened.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic and the MCO, the proportion of sales of outdoor and indoor plants was roughly at 50-50 but after the pandemic, indoor ones make up 70% of plant sales.      

“People are concerned about indoor air quality these days, so we’re seeing customers buying more indoor plants compared to outdoor ones.” – July 24, 2020.