Light for Indoor Plants

Light for indoor plants is essential for photosynthesis, the process of plant growth, to take place. Color, intensity and duration affect the suitability of light for indoor plants.

Although indoor plants will adapt somewhat to available light, certain ranges of light color and intensity are needed by different house plants. Some houseplants will grow well in low light conditions, while others need the bright light of a south facing window.

A low light indoor plant will often be damaged by the bright light near a south facing window and may not survive.

A houseplant that does not receive enough light will not produce enough growth to remain healthy. It will produce growth with long stems or stalks and small leaves. We say that the plant has become leggy.

When we select an indoor plant, we must select a house plant that will grow in the light available in the location we want to place it.

Many factors affect the amount of light in a room. Some of the factors outside of the room include
- whether the days are sunny or cloudy
- the season of the year
- the color of the ground surface outside (much more light will reflect from ground covered with white snow than green grass).
These are factors that are out of our control and we cannot change them.

Some factors we can change are
- landscaping that encroaches on the windows blocking light for indoor plants
- awnings over the windows
- tinting of windows
- cleanliness of windows

Light entering the room will also be affected by the amount of window area in the room. Before the days of double and triple paned windows and good insulation, windows were kept small to keep heat loss to a minimum. This also kept light for indoor plants to a minimum.

The direction a window faces will affect the amount of light that enters a room. In the northern hemisphere, light entering a northern facing window is less than any other direction. A southerly facing window will receive the most light . East and west windows will receive lesser amounts as the time the direct sunlight falls on the window is early or late in the day when the sun's intensity is not as strong. Every home will have areas with a range of light siutable for indoor plants.

Inside your room, light intensity will be affected by the colors and textures used to decorate the room. Dark colors and flat textures will absorb light needed by indoor plants and our own well being. Lighter colors and shiny surfaces will reflect more light around the room. A mirror can be used can be used to increse the light intensity in a darker area of a room.

We can sometimes increase the intensity of light available for indoor plants by our choices of colors and materials used to decorate our homes and offices.

If we still can not get enough light for indoor plants, we can use fluorescent or other lighting to create enough light for indoor plants.