Growing Houseplants According to What the Plant Needs
Give Them What They Need the Way They Need it and Houseplants Will Thrive!
If the plant has the best amount of light to meet its requirements, then it will thrive without much intervention from people. After all, plants were here longer that us people. So how to find out what a particular plant needs is not difficult. Hundreds of houseplant books on the market today are filled with the requirements of most common houseplant--those tropical plants that grow and thrive indoors.
But even with that knowledge, how does one know if the amout of light in the place where the plant is going is enough for it to maintain? That is where the years of experience have allowed me to devise general guide lines that help to understand the level of light in an area as it pertains to a particular plant. Light for houseplants is measured in High, Medium, or Low light. But what is hight light? Is it direct sunlight streaming in from a south-facing window in mid July? What is the amount of light, according to these standards, in front of a norh-facing window in mid December? the manual "How to be Successful with Houseplants From the Plant's Perspcetive", shows how light is measured in the forms of footcandles; the amount of light given off by one beeswax candle at the distance of one foot. A foot candle meter is the best instrument to use to determine the amount of light that is available at any given time. The manual gives the definitions of how to judge the amount of light in relation to the distance from the window, what direction the window faces, and how the amount of light changes throughout the year.
Once the amount of light is determined, even if low light is the norm, it is important to choose the right plants for those light levels. There are hundrese of species and varieties of plants that will grow and maintain in low-light levels. Most plant books list these.
This a series of atricles written to give the best information on growing and maintaining plants in any interior environment. I hope to instruct readers how to work with the plants' needs, and how to understand how to give them to their plants.
Published by Jannnie
Horticulturist working in tropical greenhouses for 37 years. Consult and instructor of plant design and maintenance. Author of "How to be Successful with Houseplants From the Plant's Perspective". Owner of W... View profile
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6 Comments
Post a CommentHI again Jane, My second year anniversary on AC is coming up this month. I love it here. I'm not like you, I don't have a specific profession to write about. I just write whatever is on my mind at the time. Writing a book was a great idea to answer all of those questions you were getting. I hope you'll let us know here when you have your next book finished. Untill then we'll love the little tidbits you'll feed us now and then. :)
Great article! Welcome to AC!
Thanks Teresa. I have visited your site and you have very interesting articles. How long have you been writing here? I am going to write more about houseplants since horticulture is my profession. I did write a book and I am in the process of writing a second one. I am not, of course, going to give away all the guide lines I wrote in my book, but most of what I say is really commom sence when you think about it. I guess I just got tired of answering the same questions to the customers that come into the greenhouse where I work. Now I just show them the book!! :-) Jane
Hey Safara. Nice Name! Thanks for the comment. Let me ask a few questions and I should be able to help you decide on the light level of your door to the balcony. Where are you located; city and part of the country. If full sun shines in from sun-up to around noon, depending where you live, is low in winter if the sun is not out, and moderate when it is out in the shortest days of the year. It is bright in the summer. How many sunny days do you get through the winter?
I live in New England and my huge west window gets low light most of the time. We have 85% cloud cover through the year here. In summer when we get more sun, it becomes bright in the afternoon.
The area where you live will determine the light level during the shortest days versus the longest days. Low light plants should thrive all year, high light plants may have a problem during the winter. If your plants drop leaves from fall through early spring, you may need to have only low light plants in that place.
Interesting article, welcome to AC, I'm looking forward to more articles by you.
I'm looking forward to reading more about light. I have asked myself the same questions you brought up. I live in an apartment, with a balcony, so my outdoor plants can never get a full day of sun as if they were in an open field. If they get a full morning of direct sunlight, what does that count as? Welcome to AC!