Do Chemical Cleaning Products Affect the Growth of Plants?

Common Cleaner Chemicals

• Household cleaners are distinct chemical cocktails, but their active ingredients tend to be similar across brands. Air fresheners often contain formaldehyde. Bleach and disinfectants work because of sodium hypochlorite. Ammonia is another common chemical that appears in a wide range of cleansers, from window cleaners to floor cleaners and even some disinfectants.

Soilborne Pollutants

• Experiments have been performed by students and experts alike that involve polluting plants' soil with chemical cleaning products. Miami University students in 1999 exposed young plants to various concentrations of dish soap and window cleaner. All concentrations resulted in plant death. However, student researchers at Roanoke College in 2010 reported that they had exposed grasses to chlorine concentrations and observed no adverse effects. A separate chlorine experiment by professors at the at the Central Florida Research and Education Center showed that five of the seven plant varieties they drenched with chlorine water were unaffected.

Airborne Pollutants

• NASA researchers explored the effects of airborne pollutants on plants, hypothesizing that these plants would remove dangerous chemicals from the air without being killed, according to a Colorado State University Cooperative Extension agent who reported on the study in 2010. Fifteen types of houseplants were exposed to benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene. Not only did the plants survive, they removed up to 87 percent of air pollutants within 24 hours, the report said. The Central Florida Research and Education Center researchers yielded similar results when exposing plants to chlorinated air.

Air-Cleansing Plants

• NASA categorized its plants based on the pollutants they removed best. Benzene was removed by English ivy, Dracaena marginata, Janet Craig, warneckei, chrysanthemum, gerbera daisy and peace lily, according to the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension report. Azalea, philodendron, spider plant, golden pothos, bamboo palm, corn plant, chrysanthemum and mother-in-law's tongue best removed airborne formaldehyde, the report showed. Trichloroethylene -- a chemical found in paints, varnishes and adhesives -- was absorbed by gerbera daisy, chrysanthemum, peace lily, warneckei and Dracaena marginata.