Indoor Light And Your Plants

Light is the most important factor in making plants grow well. House plants are commonly given the category of "sunny", "filtered sun" and "shady" - according to the amount of light they need. It is important to find out what specific light conditions your plants needs and then place the plants in the area where they can thrive best. A marginally 'right' light condition will only give you a marginally healthy plant, and no plant will tolerate unsuitable light conditions for long periods of time. As a simple rule of thumb, shade loving plants will tolerate dim reading level light. Filtered light plants will tolerate good reading level light. Sun loving plants do best in a north window or near a sunny window but out of direct sunlight. Part sun / part shade plants do best in a sunny window that is filtered by curtains or trees outside.

Keep in mind that sun loving plants need at least four hours of direct sunshine each day, and the more sun it receives, the happier the bloom will be. With a slightly insufficient amount of sun, you might end up with foliage but little or no bloom. If a sun loving plant is placed in a shady zone, it will slowly fade away.

No plant will survive in poor light conditions.

A light meter can be used to get an accurate measure of the amount of light in different parts of the house. They usually come with a list of plants and the amount of light each plant needs.

East, south and west windows are all sunny, but each will get different amounts of light according to the season and trees that might shade them. It may be necessary to move a plant to different windows to find the right amount of light. A few plants need more or less light when they are flowering.

Light can also be provided artificially with lights. Florescent lights give a good amount of green and blue light for growing but some plants need more red light for flowers. Mixing incandescent lamps with florescent will provide a full spectrum of light. Even better, full spectrum florescent lights are available.

For a rule-of-thumb guide to natural light conditions consults the graphics on this page.