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You're Probably Not Giving Your Plants Enough Lights—Here's Why

Are your houseplants getting enough sun? Chances are, “bright indirect light” might not mean what you think it means!

Here’s how you can gauge the amount of light your rooms actually get and how much light your plants really need.

First, what happens when a plant doesn’t get enough light?

New leaves begin growing further apart, giving a sparse look. The plant produces lanky, weak growth and tries to stretch toward the light.

Very Low Light

I classify “very low light” areas as one level up from “fully dark” areas, which would be rooms without any windows whatsoever or totally dark nooks. Very low-light spaces have windows, but plants kept in there aren’t able to see the sky at all.

Low Light

“Low light” areas actually don’t seem that dark to our human eyes. In fact, most of our homes fall into this category. But for most plants, which use light to synthesize their nutrients, it’s just not enough!

Just like low light can seem pretty normal to us humans, “medium light” is actually quite bright to us. We’re getting into the pleasantly livable zone for houseplants here, where many understory tropicals can thrive and grow abundantly.

Medium Light (bright indirect light)

For houseplants, we define “high light” spaces as those that are getting close to giving the sensation of being outdoors. Plants can see a big patch of the sky from here, and they receive direct sun for a good few hours a day.

High Light

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