ClassX Video Lessons Youtube Channel ASAP Science We Tested Houseplants In ZERO LIGHT – The results were shocking
During quarantine, I found myself getting really into plants. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen many people lately, or maybe it’s just a new hobby. But here’s the thing: I’m not great at taking care of plants. I worry about putting them in the wrong spot, overwatering, or just forgetting about them. So, I decided to do an experiment to see which plants can survive the longest without any light, because I need something easy to care for.
To start, I reached out to Nick Pileggi, a plant expert with nearly 500 houseplants. He suggested some plants that might do well in low light:
Nick was curious about the experiment, even though taking light away from plants might seem a bit harsh. But for science, we decided to go ahead!
We named our plants after famous people like Beyonce, Shakira, and Lady Gaga. Then, we placed them in a room with no windows, our “dungeon.” Nick advised us to be careful with watering, as too much water could be harmful.
After 10 days, the plants looked mostly the same, which was good. However, Zelda, one of the plants, started to show signs of trouble. By day 20, some plants began to yellow, and Zelda had to be moved to a brighter spot to recover.
As the days went by, more plants needed rescuing. We learned that to revive a struggling plant, you should:
By day 63, I realized I had forgotten about the experiment because the plants didn’t need much water. Surprisingly, some plants were still doing well without light or water.
On day 100, two plants, Severus and Viola Davis, were still alive without any light or water. This was amazing! They showed that some plants can survive in tough conditions.
Through this experiment, I learned that some plants are really low-maintenance. If you’re new to plant care, don’t worry too much. Just avoid overwatering, and your plants might thrive even if you forget about them for a while.
This experiment was a fun way to learn about plants and see which ones can handle low-light conditions. If you’re interested in more plant care tips, check out our podcast with Nick Pileggi. And if you have any ideas for future experiments, let us know!
Test your knowledge of the plants mentioned in the article! Create flashcards with the names and pictures of the plants listed. Then, quiz yourself or a classmate to see how many you can identify correctly. This will help you remember which plants are suitable for low-light conditions.
Imagine you are conducting your own plant experiment. Choose a variable to test, such as water frequency or soil type, and write a plan detailing how you would carry out the experiment. Share your plan with the class and discuss what you hope to discover.
Using the information from the article, design a simple plant care guide for beginners. Include tips on watering, light requirements, and how to revive struggling plants. Make it colorful and easy to read, then share it with friends or family who are new to plant care.
Pair up with a classmate and take turns being the plant expert and the interviewer. Use the article to come up with questions about plant care and survival in low-light conditions. Practice your communication skills by explaining the concepts clearly and confidently.
Create a storyboard that illustrates the journey of one of the plants from the experiment. Include key events such as the plant’s initial placement, any signs of struggle, and its eventual recovery or survival. Use drawings or digital tools to bring your storyboard to life.
Here’s a sanitized version of the YouTube transcript:
—
This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream. Since being in quarantine and lockdown again, I’ve become a lot more interested in plants. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen anyone in months, or maybe it’s because I’m over 30 and suddenly enjoy doing chores. This is literally what I do in my spare time now for fun.
Here’s the thing: I am not very good at taking care of plants. Surely, every plant you’ve ever seen in one of our videos is taken care of by Greg, because I’m just worried about putting it in the wrong spot, overwatering it, neglecting it, or completely forgetting about it. Can you tell I have anxiety? So, I wanted to create an experiment to test which plants last the longest in zero light, because I need something low maintenance.
But first, let’s talk about the plants that we’re actually going to be testing. I reached out to one of my favorite plant YouTubers, Nick Pileggi, who has almost 500 houseplants in his home.
So, which plants are facing off in our challenge?
– [Nick] ZZ plant, Chinese evergreens, or Aglaonemas are probably the best foliage house plants for lower light corners. Dracaena and pothos are great options for hanging baskets. Spider plants and peace lilies are also good choices for larger floor plants. Satin pothos or Scindapsus is a wonderful house plant. Snake plants and ferns are great options for low light. Prayer plants or Marantas are more showy houseplants. The fishbone prayer plant is a Ctenanthe, which is closely related to Marantas. However, in my experience, they’re much easier to care for.
– Nick, be honest. Is it wrong that I’m intentionally taking light away from the plants?
– I’m actually very curious to see how this goes. Maybe some people might think that’s not okay, but for science, I think it’s fantastic.
Dear plants, this is your last few moments of light. Do you have anything to say? Good luck, and don’t mess it up. We thought it’d be fun to name them. This is Beyonce. This is Shakira. Lady Gaga. This is going to be Viola Davis. Charlie XCX, because she’s alternative. Halle-yoo. This is Shangela.
Into the dungeon! This room has zero windows. Look around. We’re in the basement. They’re just going to stay down here. Bye, sweeties. Do you have any advice ahead of time for this experiment? Stuff I should be aware of or look out for?
– Honestly, just be mindful with the watering. A heavy hand is really going to be the death sentence for this experiment. So, when in doubt, just do not water your plants until you think they absolutely need it.
Of course, not much happened in the first week, but around the 10-day mark, the first signs of trouble showed up.
Okay, plants day 10. Time to see where we’re at.
– Looks kind of the same, which is a good thing. I have been coming in here every few days, checking the moisture levels, watering as needed. Zelda seems to be suffering the most.
– [Greg] Oh, wow, yeah.
– Most of the tips are starting to go. I’ll keep an eye on this every day and see how much worse it gets.
– [Greg] ‘Cause I still want to salvage it.
– Yeah, we won’t let her get too sick.
Another 10 days, and the first casualties started falling. Day 20.
– [Greg] Wow.
– We’re going to take a look at how the plants are doing. For 20 days, they’re mostly looking pretty good. Don’t you think? I’m really impressed. Shangela is not looking bad, but you can start to see some of them are yellowing.
– [Greg] It looks pretty bad.
– Do you think? But I feel like it’s still okay. There’s still lots of greenery on this. These two, I haven’t watered a single time. Look, fully wet. Zelda’s really suffering. All the leaves are crusty.
– [Greg] I think we should save that.
– Literally, Zelda always has to be saved. I don’t know, day 20, Bad Bunny. Do you think it’s okay to take it out?
– [Greg] We have to save Bad Bunny.
Zelda and Bad Bunny, you’re out of the competition. Okay, Zelda, time to go to our little plant sanctuary by the window. Hope you’ll do better here. You too, Bad Bunny. Come on, let’s go.
Around 30 days in, and a few more were ready to come back to the light.
– Keith, oh no. You did good, Shangela. You don’t really want a plant to look like this, and this is one of the ones that I think is really pretty and want to keep. So, Shangela, I’m going to save you now.
Now that we’re slowly collecting these injured plants, I thought it would be prudent to have a segment I like to call:
♪ How to Revive Your Dying Plants ♪ ♪ After You’ve Completely Neglected Them ♪ ♪ For Days Or Weeks Or Months Even ♪
What is the best way to rehab a plant that’s dying, or has parts of it that are dying?
– First and foremost, I would say to increase the lighting. Of course, I wouldn’t necessarily just throw it in a bright south-facing window in the Northern Hemisphere, because that’s going to have a lot of direct sunlight that could burn your plant. But if you have a north or an east-facing window, that’s going to provide much more dappled light. Of course, trim up your plant. Remove any brown edges or yellowing leaves. You can actually just lightly pull them off with your fingers, but if you want to be more careful, you can use some shears and make sure that you’re being the best plant parent you can be.
After taking care of my wounded little plants, something happened, or rather something didn’t happen. Okay, you’re not going to believe it, but it is day 63, and I have not taken any plants out since the last time I went in, which was around day 30. To be honest, I kind of forgot that this challenge was going on, because a lot of the plants that are in there right now don’t require a lot of watering. So, I’ve just left them. Then, I just kind of went on with my life and forgot that this was happening. A lot of the plants that are left also haven’t really required a lot of water, so that’s why I was able to sort of leave them. But there are maybe one or two that I could have taken out a few days before this. So, hopefully, I’ll be able to recover them, but let’s go take a look.
Okay, there they are. The remaining plants. It looks like that one probably should have come out sooner. Honestly, shocked. How do you look literally the same, ZZ? Or what did we call you? Viola Davis is doing great. Obviously, the snake plant feels just as firm as ever. Also, literally in 63 days, I have not watered these ones. Beyonce really has her hair down. This looks worse than it is because it just hasn’t been watered. Normally, once I water it, after a day or so, it pops back up. But definitely lots of dying leaves. I need to save Beyonce. I’m sorry, Bey. We’ll take you out.
I’m not going to take out Lady Gaga yet, because even though she’s losing leaves, she still looks stunning at the top. But you can see a ton of growth trying to find light, all popping up around. So, I’m going to bring her out as well. Still looks literally the same. So, I’m taking Beyonce, and we’re taking out Charli XCX.
Let’s go home, girls. 63 days. These are still pretty reasonable choices if you’re looking for a plant that can survive low light, let alone zero light. So, I think I might have left this one a little too long. So, I’m taking it out now. It is the satin pothos, otherwise known as Shakira. Not looking so good, but I’m hoping I can rehabilitate her, and she’ll come back. I hope this one doesn’t die.
All right, day 82, I think? We’ve got Lady Gaga, or the Chinese evergreen that I’m going to take out, because there are a ton of leaves that are turning yellow and falling off. All of these top ones are still green. I technically could have kept it in a little longer, I think, but I didn’t really want a plant that was just a straight-up tree. So, unfortunately, I’d love to have not any more of it die, so I can rehabilitate it. But I will say the parts that are green are flourishing, and you can really see this new growth coming out, presumably in the same way some of the other plants are trying to find the light, which obviously it was never going to.
Did you think Lady Gaga should have won? (laughing) Should she have won?
So, while we’re waiting for our final plants to fall, I want to take a second to thank today’s sponsor, CuriosityStream. If you like learning about nature or science, or honestly just learning at all, CuriosityStream is perfect for you. It has thousands of streamable documentaries and nonfiction TV shows on topics like history, nature, science, food, technology, and travel. I just watched one called Nature’s Mathematics, which is so cool and highlights how mathematical formulas recur in nature from snowflakes to the stripes on a zebra to flowers and trees.
CuriosityStream is basically smart TV for your smart TV and can be streamed from any device for viewing anytime, anywhere. If you head to curiositystream.com/asapscience and use the code ASAPscience, you’ll get their service for $14.99 for the entire year, which is an amazing price. It also helps our show out a lot when you check out our sponsors. So, definitely click that link, go over there, and give CuriosityStream some love. It does actually help our show.
Now, back to our final three plants. All right, it’s day 89, and my favorite plant is suffering. It almost made it to 100 days, but in the last little bit, it just totally fell over and started curling on so many of the leaves. It was doing that throughout. Sometimes at night or for a few days, it would curl, but then they would open back up. But that seems to not be happening now, and so I’m just a little worried that it’s gone through too much shock. I need to bring it out. I want to bring it back into the light and hopefully rehabilitate it, because this was my favorite one. I want this one to survive.
So, it’s still amazing that it made it 89 days without light. I think maybe I only watered this once. I’m definitely happy with that and hope I can bring it back to life.
It’s day 100, and I’m honestly so shocked. I did not see any plant making it this far. I didn’t even think they’d make it to day 30. I thought by day 30, we’d have a clear winner or two, but we have two plants that have not only made it 100 days with zero light, they’ve also made it 100 days with zero water. So, let’s go take a look at them and see where they’re at today.
Would you believe that this has not seen light for a hundred days and has not touched water for 100 days?
– [Greg] You haven’t watered it?
– Not a single drop of water in these two. They probably need water now because they’re really dry. This one does have some tiny yellow leaves, but that’s been there for probably over a month. These dying ones. But these sprouts in the last month have really shot up. So, my assumption is that it’s starting to be like, okay, this location’s not working. Time to find something taller, some light. Viola Davis will probably be happy to find some light. The snake plant feels just as robust as it was the day I put it in here.
So, we got Severus and Viola Davis.
– [Greg] Wow, they did great.
– What an odd pair. Let’s get them out of here. Let’s get them some light, let’s go.
So, these are the clear two winners, even though there were a couple others that made it to the 80, 90-day point. I had a really fun time doing this experiment. I now know these are my first two little plants that I’m going to take care of. Greg can take care of the rest now. I’ll practice on these because I can just leave them in a corner and not worry about them.
I hope for any other beginners out there, this might inspire you to think that you can do it. You can neglect a plant and keep it alive. Just don’t overwater it. As Nick let us know, sometimes overwatering can actually be the problem.
I’m amazed also, because like I said, this is something I’ve never done. I feel like you’ve essentially just put the plants in the closet.
All the plants are looking good. They’ll find a permanent spot in our home now, where they will forever receive at least some light. If you want to hear even more about houseplant care, Nick actually came on our podcast, which is on YouTube. We’ll link it down in the description below or somewhere on the screen. He gave us some honestly mind-blowing advice about taking care of your houseplants.
So, go check that out. Otherwise, if you have suggestions for experiments or things you want us to do on this channel, let us know. Make sure you subscribe, like this video, and we’ll see you next time for some more science. Peace.
—
This version removes any inappropriate language and maintains a respectful tone throughout.
Plants – Living organisms that typically grow in soil and use sunlight to make their own food through photosynthesis. – Example sentence: In our science class, we learned how plants convert sunlight into energy.
Light – A form of energy that is visible to the human eye and is necessary for the process of photosynthesis in plants. – Example sentence: The experiment showed that plants grow faster when they receive more light.
Water – A vital liquid that supports life and is essential for the growth and health of plants and animals. – Example sentence: We measured how much water different plants need to stay healthy.
Experiment – A scientific procedure undertaken to test a hypothesis by collecting data and making observations. – Example sentence: Our experiment involved testing how different fertilizers affect plant growth.
Care – The process of providing what is necessary for the health and maintenance of living organisms. – Example sentence: Proper care of the garden includes regular watering and removing weeds.
Conditions – The various factors and circumstances that affect the environment in which organisms live. – Example sentence: The conditions in the greenhouse were ideal for growing tropical plants.
Survive – To continue living or existing, especially under challenging circumstances. – Example sentence: Cacti can survive in the desert because they store water in their stems.
Low-maintenance – Requiring minimal care and attention to thrive. – Example sentence: Succulents are popular low-maintenance plants that are easy to care for.
Revive – To restore to life or consciousness; to bring back to a healthy condition. – Example sentence: We were able to revive the wilted plant by giving it plenty of water and sunlight.
Yellow – A color that can indicate a lack of nutrients or other issues in plant leaves. – Example sentence: The leaves turned yellow, signaling that the plant might need more nitrogen.
