Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
Search

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Slashdot Log In

Log In

Create Account  |  Retrieve Password

Plants for Cubicles?

Posted by Cliff on Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:50 AM
from the green-with-your-grey dept.
Biotech Businesses
Frank of Earth asks: "Our company recently moved to a new location and I was lucky enough to get a cube with a window. Now that I actually can benefit from sunshine, I thought it would be cool to grow something in a potted container. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a lot of information on growing plants in your cube. Most of the indoor plant growing topics I found are related to illegal types of plant growing you do in your closet. What types of plants make good cube plants with a geek flare? Rather than just growing a boring spider plant, I would like to grow something cool like a fruit or vegetable. If you've had experience growing something unique, please post your thoughts!" What kind of plant would you grow in your cubicle?
+ -
story

Related Stories

[+] How To Get Rid of the Cubicle? 368 comments
wikinerd writes "How can we get rid of the widely hated cubicle and its ugly cousin, the stressing open-plan office? Some business owners and managers cannot understand the advantages of teleworking, different office layouts, or the morale benefits of private offices with Aeron chairs. There are still people in high positions who seem to think that stuffing a bunch of engineers into a noisy landscaped office is the best way to organize a company. It is not, and we all know it, but can we prove it? How can we communicate to them the fact that living in a groundhog warren is bad not only for the engineers, but also for the organization?"
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Plants for Cubicles? 50 Comments More /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More
Loading... please wait.

  • Get an Amarilys (Score:3, Informative)

    by Pig Hogger (10379) <pig,hogger&gmail,com> on Monday January 24 2005, @11:52AM (#11456710) Homepage Journal
    They look strange (perfect for a geek) and the three huge flowers, then they pop-out, are a huge gratification.

    Plus the time it takes to grow will make everyone wonder what's going on, and before long, everyone will pay you a visit everyday to see how it's doing.

    And when it finally blooms, everyone will congratulate you for a job well done!

    • Amarillys only bloom once a year near christmas. The rest of the year they are an ungly bulb half sticking out of dirt. Although that could be an interesting conversation piece in it's own right.
  • I attempted to do this, but the thing died. However, I do not have much of a green thumb. If you do, they look pretty cool.
    • I would agree that a bonsai tree is definitely the way to go, although I will admit that they can be a bit difficult to care for. I have two of them in my house, and everyone who comes over asks about them. If you put one in your cubicle, you will instantly transform into Mr. Popular.

      Another thing to consider is that there are actually many types of bonsai trees, each with their own distinct style. Check out http://www.bonsaisite.com/ [bonsaisite.com] for lots of good info styles, growing and care of bonsai trees.
      • Try a bonsai kitten. ;)

        OK, ok, you wanted fruits and vegetables---I would suggest peppers. They grow pretty quickly, aren't hard to grow, and you can use them in your lunches.

        Also, you can cultivate morning glories. They're not actually illegal (it's just illegal to consume the seeds), and I'm sure once you have a batch of seeds, a few people will covertly approach you and ask to buy some seeds off of you. It's not illegal to sell seeds (as long as you don't know they're being used illicitly), so you'd
  • /. accepted my story idea!

    Thankfully I didn't use any links to my homepage-- that would have been really stupid and costly [ignore the links in my signature!]

    • Oh!

      You mean those crispy, brown things...

      • Remember to always have at least 12 pieces of flare on at all times. Of course, that could cause a fire so you probably would want to carry around some water.

        You're right, I should have used flair. At least I used the correct "you're" in this post.

  • Try this [purdue.edu] Grows everywhere, under almost every condition, everybody will love you, you will be very popular. Good for your health as well.

  • A large tray of wheatgrass? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Klowner (145731) on Monday January 24 2005, @11:59AM (#11456817) Homepage
    Imagine a potential client visiting your cubicle, and you feel like you could use a little energy boost, just stroll over to your tray of wheatgrass and graze for a few moments, then rip some out and offer a small handfull to your client.

    I think it would really impress them.

    You could start wearing animal hides as well, that's also impressive.

    (seriously though, wheatgrass is easy to grow, and you can nibble on it or juice it)

  • bonsai!! (Score:3, Informative)

    by St. Arbirix (218306) <.matthew.townsend. .at. .gmail.com.> on Monday January 24 2005, @11:59AM (#11456824) Homepage Journal
    I have several bonsai all over my computer desk, on the computer speakers, and sitting in the window by my desk. Azaleas are perfectly suited for indoor life. Also nice is the rabbit's foot fern on one of the speakers which just looks weird and multiplies as fast as a spider plant. Behind my computer (a laptop permanently fixed on my desk) is a small cluster of palms of some sort which enjoy the heat that my laptop's fan pumps out at them.

    Occasionally the fern will droop down low enough to get in the way of my screen. This is a really good indicator that the plants need watering.

  • The BPFH: Dionaea Muscipula (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kosi (589267) on Monday January 24 2005, @12:01PM (#11456862)
    And if it's grown enough, you can even feed her your lusers.
    • heh, on the subject of plants that move when you touch them, how about a mimosa pudica [demon.co.uk]? It is a tree, but you can keep it in your cube when it's still a sapling... apparently when you touch the leaves, or give the plant's pot a good sharp tap, the leaves fold up and droop towards the ground. (according to the link, it's a protection against locusts.)
  • You can try a lemon tree ; sure, you'd have to wait a couple of years (or buy an older plant) before you can actually get a lemon out of it :p
    Anyway, the plant smells nice and it's quite resilient - my sister had a larger one in her room for almost 15 years.

  • Cactii (Score:4, Informative)

    by Loacher (816765) on Monday January 24 2005, @12:04PM (#11456909)
    I would recommend a cactus.

    They require little care (water once a week during the warm months, none at all during the cold months, fertilize once a year), so they can survive vacations and weekends unattended.

    Cactii come in all kinds of strange, unique geeky forms, and several produce weird looking edible fruit.

    Look up epiphyllum catus, beautifull flowers, and fruit that tastes like passionfruit (smell before eating, goes bad very fast).

    Most mammillarias produce small red edible fruits, and some have very interesting shapes. Look up mamillaria elongata cristate, or Mammillaria bocasana 'Fred', one of my favourites.

    If you like really weird shapes, look up Euphorbias, I specially like my Euphorbia obesa cristate.

    Note: Cristate means a Crested fromd of the plant. They usually look like brains.
  • Even though you have a window, you'll find that shade loving (or at least shade tolerating) species will do best. I seriously doubt that you can not find any information on growing indoor plants other than weed on the web, get real. That aside, here are some suggestions: Ferns, look nice, filter the air, easy to grow, love shade. African violets, small, don't require frequent watering so they won't die over weekends or vacations, don't mind shade. They don't bloom often, but they look nice even when they ar

  • Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by panker (461977) on Monday January 24 2005, @12:06PM (#11456923)
    A Chia Head [buying-chia-pets.com] would be interesting in a cubicle. And it would be the source of lots of discussion. Or, how about an underwater plant [watergardenweb.com]? Or one of those dirtless air plants [mgonline.com]? Or some wheatgrass [wheatgrasskits.com].

    I grow mold all the time, but nobody seems to be interested or impressed.
  • A buddy of mine who happens to be a programmer grows alfalfa sprouts in his window, they are easy to care for and he uses one of those busboy trays like in a restraunt as a planter. Also he has a really nice beer glass filled with nice stones and water and stuck some bamboo into it, then these nice offshoots grow from the sticks.

    • Could agree more with Bamboo. I have three big sticks in a nice ceramic vase on my vase and it'd terrific. It's maintainence free as well; I've had it on my desk for about and year and a half and had to water it 2-3 times. It's the best kind of plant for a guy like myself that often kills them.

  • Something hardy (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JoeD (12073) on Monday January 24 2005, @12:09PM (#11456969) Homepage
    Find something that can thrive on neglect.

    I like jade plants [tamu.edu]. They're very long-lived, and don't require much care beyond watering every couple of weeks. When they get older, they start to look like miniature trees.
    • Find something that can thrive on neglect.

      You could try growing Kudzu [ua.edu], that seems like it fends for itself [jjanthony.com] pretty well. Also, you are not going to be hassled by your fellow cubicle mates asking for cuttings; they'll get them whether they want them or not. If they've got their own plants already, well that's just too bad... Best of all, if you are running Red Hat it will even configure your hardware [redhat.com] for you, so there's a definite geek connection too... ;)

      • Believe it or not, I've been wondering what it would take to get some of that. I get the impression that since it went nuts in the southern states it's hard to get elsewhere (people afraid of it taking over...)

        If somebody would engineer some oil-producing genes into the stuff we could solve our fuel problems virtually overnight (biodiesel is our friend). I imagine the remains from processing the oil could be pressed into cheap building material, too...

  • If you're going to be growing anything in a cube, it should definitely be one of these:

    Tasty! [google.com]

    I mean, the parallelism alone would be great!

    And when you're done, you could probably use the husk to create a diorama of you growing it in your cube for an extra bit of surrealism in your day.
  • How about a euphorbia tirucalli, aka stick-plant, pencil-plant, pencil-cactus, etc? It's definitely different, easy to grow and a converstaion starter. Of course being an odd plant the comments range from "cool, where can I get one" to the classic comment from one of my mother's former neighbors, "What's that?", "It's a pencil plant"...pause..."Ugly f***er, ain't it." Google it for pictures. I found one picture of a dense outdoor plant [gardenweb.com] and a newly potted one [maccactus.com].

    A monstera [desert-tropicals.com](aka split-leaf philodendron). They ar

  • that goes in a small pot (ie on the desk, or on the monitor), try a Venus Fly-Trap :) Bring a bit of gristle or something every once in a while from home for it and it should stay pretty happy.

    No idea what the lighting/watering requirements are, though it should be easy enough to find out.

    • Venus Fly-Traps are fun but they are not a hardy plant.. you'll have to water them with distilled water.. tap water will kill em
      as for light they don't like direct light
      think swamp floor
      I grow many house plants and Fly Traps are the only ones I cant keep alive :(

  • Small bamboo plant... (Score:3, Informative)

    by dubious9 (580994) * on Monday January 24 2005, @12:26PM (#11457234) Journal
    I've had luck with small bamboo plants. I keep mine filled with water, so there's no overwatering. It doesn't require a lot of light, but they'll grow faster if there's more.

    They do grow very slowly though. However, there are many very nicely arranged ones.
  • The first thing that you should try is some Basil. True, it is not a veggie or a fruit, but it is an amazing plant that is great to start a window-box-ish type work project. Start with one of the smaller leaf varities (which should grow very quickly in direct sun... try 'small leaf greek') and see if it's for you, and then you can move onto one of the larger leaf varities (opal or italian large). I've had many co-workers enter my office and comment on how nice the smell is.
    • This is what came to my mind. I was thinking herbs to spice up you your lunch or tea. Maybe some mint. Another idea would be to get a strawberry pot with the multiple openings and see how many strawberries you can harvest for the year. One final option would be to setup some sort of salad garden in a box. That one might be interesting with leaf lettuce and some herbs to add to a vinegar and oil dressing.

  • Odd definition of lucky. How about working in a place where they actually treat you as a human being? (No cubicles at all?)

  • Garlic was fun.
    Tomatoes were useful.
    Corn was unwieldly after a bit,
    Peanuts are next on the list.

    Plants like these are a great way to break up the day and increase pleasure in the office.

  • If you're not picky on the exact sort of mushrooms you get then all you need is moisture, not too cold temperatures and some compost. In one of my previous offices we had some mushrooms growing out of the edge of the sink in the pantry...

    If you're picky on the sort of mushrooms you want then it's hard...

    Hint: don't eat them.
  • grow some Chipolte or Habenero peppers. They are pretty and tasty at the same time. They are Pretasty!

    Put some on your lunch, or give them away to your coworkers.

  • No info? (Score:2, Informative)

    by Hyrcan (316160)
    Why is it that there has been a lot of "Ask Slashdot" articles that could have simply be answered by asking Google?

    Well...incase from some reason Google is blocked by your network here's some suggestions...and web links...

    First site from google.com:
    All About Houseplants [gardenersnet.com]

    Garden Guides: Houseplants- Beauty and Clean Air [gardenguides.com]

    More info on what plants, and why:

    In the NASA/ALCA research it was determined that some plants are better than others for purifying the air indoors. The twelve plants tested were:

  • I suggest growing zinnias [seedsofknowledge.com]. They're easy to grow, grow quickly, and turn out some darn impressive blooms. Plus, you can always use them to surprise coworkers of the opposite sex...
  • You can have your very own ecosystem, complete with water and fish. It will not need any care (only a little light), since the bowl is completely sealed.

    http://www.gadgets.co.uk/eco-sphere-ecosphere-sh ri mp-ecosystem.html

    I thought of buying one myself, just for the geekfactor.
    • Actually, I had one of these, but when we moved offices, I had to bring it home... of course, I forgot and left in the car and the thing froze solid and killed my little shrimpies!

      To recharge it is almost as expensive as buying a new one so I'm going to try to "recharge" it myself.

      Here are a few links:

      http://www.amazingtoystore.com/clearplasgeo.html
      http://http://livebrineshrimp.com/

  • pineapple (Score:2, Interesting)

    by joejor (578266)
    On my desk, I have a pineapple plant. You can start you own by saving the crown of any store-bought pineapple. Mine is growing hydroponically in a glass jar. The plant is very forgiving and can handle prolonged neglect. I've let my jar run dry up to a week.
  • I've had a corn plant for 13 years. I forget to water it for a month sometimes. It's doing fine. It doesn't need much light, either.

    With some fertilizer, it decided to bloom and put out spectactularly-scented flowers.

    http://www.evergrowing.com/tips/cornplant.htm [evergrowing.com]

  • Ask the experts (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DaveJay (133437) on Monday January 24 2005, @01:39PM (#11458226)
    Since I don't know of a slashdot for gardeners (stemdot?) I recommend going to your local greenhouse, and telling them you want something...

    1. for indoors (duh);
    2. that will get light from [whatever direction your window faces];
    3. that generally requires a drenching of water once a week, but can handle twice a week and won't die if it doesn't have water for two weeks.

    They'll have a whole selection for you. Unless, of course, you'd rather stick with doing the equivalent of asking people in the gardening forum what kind of computer to buy for ordering seeds online. ;)
  • you get one of those plants from Little shop of Horrors [wikipedia.org]. Not only will it eat your PHB, it will do a little song and dance afterwards!
  • I have grown Japanese dwarf tomatoes in small containers indoors with no problems. The tomatoes are about the size of a large cherry with some plants producing yellow and some red. Pretty cool 12 to 15 inch plants with more tomatoes than you would think.

  • Upside-down tomato garden (Score:3, Interesting)

    by autarkeia (152712) on Monday January 24 2005, @02:22PM (#11458884) Homepage
    I saw this upside-down tomato garden [hammacher.com] on a recent flight in SkyMall and thought it looked pretty cool. The tomato plants grow downwards and then you can plant something else on top. It's rather large, but I think it's rather unusual and is the ideal geek planter.

  • bonsai (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Glog (303500) on Monday January 24 2005, @02:23PM (#11458919)
    If you want to be original I'd suggest adding a bonsai to the cubicle farm. You can get as geeky as you want with it - there is lots to learn about bonsai care and it might even make a nice hobby when you are not dealing with IT stuff.

  • Ask HR first (Score:3, Insightful)

    by travail_jgd (80602) on Monday January 24 2005, @02:38PM (#11459192)
    I hate to be a party pooper, but if you work at a bigger company you should check with someone first: either Human Resources or Maintenance.

    One large company I was with had very specific rules about what could and could not be kept in the office. While it seemed really petty and controlling on the surface, I was told that problems with insect infestation (especially ants) and allergy-causing plants were the reason.

    Or you could always get a silk flower, and impress the ladies with your gardening skill. Just remember to dust it every week or so. ;)

  • Avacado (Score:3, Informative)

    by mattsucks (541950) on Monday January 24 2005, @03:35PM (#11460098) Homepage
    Growing an avacado from a pit is pretty cool. After you use an avacado, take the pit and suspend it, round side down, in a small bowl or glass of water. I use 3 toothpicks, stuck into the outside of the avacado, roughly equidistant around the middle and halfway down. You want maybe the lower 1/3 in the water. After that, some references will tell you to give it a week in the dark, and some say to just sit it in the sun. I am lazy, so I just put mine on the windowsill and let them go.

    After a week to a month, the darned thing will sprout. You'll want to keep water in the bowl, and let it grow until you have 3 or 4 strong leaves. Then transplant to a small pot, keep it watered, and there you have it.

    You won't get a full-sized tree (they grow 60' 70' tall in the wild) and you probably won't get fruit, but the leaves are pretty, and its cool to tell people that you're growing an avacodo tree.

    This is a decent refs: at AllSands.com [allsands.com]. Of course a google for "growing avacado" will get 100s of results as well.

    I've also grown small herbs (ha ha, not THAT herb) in office settings. Basil, oregano, thyme, some mints .. the plants are pretty, they smell great, and if they get plenty of sun they'll flower. Nothing big and showy, but quite nice overall.

  • Word of Warning (Score:4, Informative)

    by RedHat Rocky (94208) on Monday January 24 2005, @04:20PM (#11460802)
    Watch for nasty visitors your plant may introduce or attract to your workplace.

    A coworker once had a plant in his cube, it became infested with some kind of mite. These mites then migrated through the halls to some other plants, can't recall if they killed the plants or what the deal was. Caused quite the stir, plants at desks were banned from then on.
    • My then-girlfriend found African violets to be very very picky--she killed them about as fast as I could keep buying them (no jokes, please). They're kinda picky about just the right amount of water and fry easily in too much sunlight.

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.