The story of “let your plant see the sky”:
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Q: What kind of light should I give this plant?
A: This tropical foliage plant enjoys bright indirect light.
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Q: What is bright indirect light?
A: It’s a light intensity anywhere from roughly 200 to 1000 foot-candles. The higher the light intensity, the faster/stronger the growth and more rapid the water usage.
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Q: Ok, so WHERE would I get this indirect light?
A: Look from the perspective of your plant (#whatmyplantsees): put the plant where it can see the open sky and no more than an hour or two of direct sun. At any given instance, if your plant has a wide view of the sky but NOT a direct view of the sun, it is getting indirect light. 📷 1) Measuring at the leaf’s position, it’s getting 343 foot-candles right now – acceptable for this plant. 📷 2) Moving closer to the window increases the intensity of the indirect light ***because it is seeing more of the sky*** – just 2 feet closer takes the light intensity reading over 1000 (again, still not getting into direct line of sight with the sun, which would give readings above 2000).
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Notice: you don’t actually GIVE light to a plant like you give water. A plant gets its light as a result of WHERE it is placed. So “let your plant see the sky but not necessarily the sun” gives you the guidelines on WHERE to put your plant for “bright indirect light” – remembering that the larger the view of the sky, the brighter the indirect light. By contrast, for “full sun” plants, the #whatmyplantsees concept would say “let your plant see as many hours of direct sun as possible”.
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I’m trying out this Amazon influencer storefront (link in profile), which allows me to showcase products I enjoy and have found useful in my plant parenthood journey – like this light meter! Purchasing from those links helps to support the work of HPJ 😊🌿💚
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#monstera #monsteradeliciosa #monsteramonday #houseplants #chasinglight #plantlove #greenthumb #indoorplants #houseplantjournal #plants
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