Light

        Most Houseplants require bright light without direct sunlight.

           Generally, keeping your plant within 5' of a window with sun exposure will give your plant the necessary light it needs to grow. Unfortunately most offices and some homes have minimum indirect light. When selecting plants, keep in mind the area where you will be placing them and the light conditions available.  

   Insufficient light will cause slow growth that is often stretched, thin and spindly.  Leaves may turn yellow and drop.  Variegated varieties will loose their variegation.  Over watering and over fertilizing will become a problem.  Over time the plant will start to deteriorate. growth will slow or be nonexistent.  The plant will over time, die.

   Excessive light is also problematic.  Sunburn may occur.  The plants will wilt, develop bleached or spotted leaves or leaves may have brown or scorched areas.

Light duration is also something that should be considered.  It refers to the hours of light that falls on a plant within a 24-hour period.  In low light conditions you may help the plants by increasing the duration time. Using artificial lighting is a good way to do this, however be careful not to expose plants to more than 16 hours of light.  They need rest too. 

Houseplants have three light requirement groups.

Low Light- Northern exposure with no direct sun-East or West exposure with filtered light.  Plants in this category only need one or two hours of indirect or filtered light.  Low light plants do need some light.  A good rule to follow is that the light must cast a shadow in order to be adequate. 

Medium light- Northern, Eastern or Western exposure with one to four hours of direct sunlight or filtered Southern exposure for four to six hours.

High light- Eastern, Western or southern exposure of direct sun light for three to six hours.  A word of warning is however necessary.  If plants in this category have been grown under shade they will burn if placed in direct sunlight.  They can gradually become adapted if they are placed in full sun for 30 minutes to one hour with an increase in the time allowed every five to seven days until full sun level is achieved.

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Last modified: 11/17/09