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Pale
and small leaves, slow weak growth with long gaps imbetween leaves and
lower leaves yellowing and dropping off?
Your
house plants are not getting enough light!
Washed
out leaves, brown scorch marks on leaves exposed, shrivelled dry leaves,
dead crispy plant?
Your
houseplants are getting too much light, most will not tolerate direct
sun!
How
much light?
Light is THE food of plants enabling photosynthesis (Light+Water+Carbon
dioxide into Sugars and Oxygen) it is not surprising then that this
is one of the most important factors in getting your houseplants to
thrive and one of the hardest questions to answer. The environments
the plants came from differ as much as the look of the plants themselves,
therefore every plant has slightly different light requirements some
are fussy and some will grow just about anywhere (click here for lists
based on light levels).
As a very general rule flowering plants need a small amount of direct
sun, foliage plants don't want any direct sun and will survive in less
light (Variegated plants will need more light or the variegation will
fade) and cacti and succulents need lots of light (remember that most
interior palms hate direct sun and have nothing in common with cacti
or sun loving palms)
How to measure
the Light intensity
As one looks around a room your pupils will dilate and constrict letting
more or less light in, this makes the human eye rubbish for assessing
light intensity! The drop in light levels from a window to 3m away is
quite suprising.
For a guide to
houseplants and thier prefered light levels click the foliage and flowering
houseplant buttons above there is a light guide next to each one.
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