I did because they just simply are not getting enough light in my north facing window BECAUSE ANOTHER BUILDING IS DIRECTLY NEXT TO ME, and blocks the sunlight
I’ve personally had a lot of success growing in a window that gets direct light rather than beating around the bush and getting grow lights.
I didn’t see a new leaf on any of them for 6 plus months in the same spot but a couple weeks ago I started putting them outside in the afternoon when the sun just barely starts hitting my balcony and pop there’s new leaves everywhere
**WARNING**
I’m not putting this on here as a fact that it’ll work for everyone
I wanna start a discussion that some house plants can do really well outside in short timeframes, not that they will
Edit: I am also very diligent about my pest control in my outside garden as they are all in containers
No aphids/mealie bugs or even ants are found, maybe the occasional frog
by Sewenityy
5 Comments
If your plants are going to get direct sunlight at any point you should make sure to introduce them slowly over the course of a few weeks otherwise they will burn their leaves.
If they don’t get direct sunlight it should be okay.
House plants come from outdoors, it’s just that most of the time they are plants that either survive on worse conditions or are adapted to filtered light because they live their life under the canopy or large forests so we can replicate that environment when they are next to a window.
Unfortunately commercial growing and also some content creators keep pushing the myth that some plants will thrive in low light, and what our eye thinks is low light and what a plant needs is vastly different.
Just because a plant is a champion at surviving like the epipremnum aureum (golden pothos) or the ZZ plant it doesn’t mean the plant is happy in the darkness.
People often blame the plant because the plant dies and it is because not every plant can sustain the same levels of abuse, even if it’s just coming from not knowing well what a plant needs.
The second bullshit term is “bright indirect light”. Every houseplant ever will require bright indirect light but the amount of light something like a Monstera deliciosa needs and something like an Anthurium warocqueanum are even an order of magnitude or two of light intensity and they both are marketed as bright indirect lol.
If you intend to grow a variety of plants properly you need to put some time researching the needs and don’t just go with your own confirmation bias: just because this plant is growing and not dying it doesn’t mean it is in its best possible condition. Maybe even indoors you can do much better without supplement grow lights.
How many people are proud of their etiolated photos crawling over walls with one leaf every 50cm? I mean, if that makes you happy go for it. But then they will go about recommending doing the same thing because it works for them (sic).
I do this sometimes. I moved about four months ago and my monstera was popping out leaves left and right before I left. Since I’ve been in my new house she just isn’t getting enough light so I started taking her outside on sunny afternoons. I hope to have the same success that you have had by doing this!
I keep all my houseplants outside. But I mostly don’t have anything particularly sensitive, just stuff like pothos, monsteras, and a peace lily.
I try to be a little careful about the placement of stuff like my peace lily, because I know that one’s a little more sensitive. But even that one is thriving with a couple hours of direct morning sunlight and occasionally hitting a PPFD of 1000.
My Thai Constellation and my moss pole pothos? I let ’em bake. They did burn a little bit when I first put them outside after winter, but they seem to have gone back to loving it out there.
Mine are outside most of the year because I live in a humid and sunny part of Australia, I just move them closer or further from the light depending on how hot/harsh the sun is. But they’re acclimatised to it anyway I’ve never had any issues.
I move them inside in winter and that’s it really. Mine are happier outside.
They’re good casting a shadow for a few hours a day.