Bright Indirect Light “Requirements” by Plant Type
House Plant Journal
by Darryl Cheng
4y ago
Your interior light levels form the growth potential of the plant and your care (watering, fertilizing, repotting) realize that potential. Good light is the PREREQUISITE for a plant to grow but the term “bright indirect light” fails to convey anything concrete where you can be certain that you’ve achieved it. Disclaimer: this article contains Amazon Affiliate links. Earnings from qualifying sales goes to support the work of House Plant Journal - thank you! Step 1: Get a light meter and get to know how bright your indirect light actually is: https://amzn.to/3ckLlJC Step 2: Bookmark this page so ..read more
Visit website
Most Useful Photography Tool: Articulating Arm with Clamp
House Plant Journal
by Darryl Cheng
4y ago
I’ve created over a hundred plant time lapse videos and these articulating arms have made all the difference! Disclaimer: a portion of qualifying purchases made through these Amazon Affiliate links goes to support the work of House Plant Journal - bringing you clarity in houseplant care. Traditional tripods can’t fit into tight spaces but little table-top versions aren’t as stable. Articulating arms to the rescue! The clamp holds on to the shelf post while the other end uses a standard 1/4” tripod thread to hold the camera. The other one is holding an LED panel light (not shown). When you us ..read more
Visit website
Getting Rid of Fungus Gnats
House Plant Journal
by Darryl Cheng
4y ago
Let me start with this: fungus gnats are MINIMALLY damaging to houseplants when you compare them to other pests like mealy bugs, thrips, scale, aphids, and spider mites. If you see one or two every now and then, I really wouldn’t be too concerned - still try to control them, but don’t worry too much about your plant. Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, qualifying purchases helps to support House Plant Journal content. Control: Adults: adult fungus gnats are the little black flies that fly erratically and annoyingly close to your face, especially if you’re using your phone at night. Adults lay ..read more
Visit website
Tips for Moving with Plants
House Plant Journal
by Darryl Cheng
4y ago
As if moving all your furniture and possessions into a new space wasn't stressful enough, plant parents have an additional worry: moving their plant children! By nature, plants grow into the space where they are planted - the fact that we can pick them up and move them (because they are in containers) is a compromise so that we humans can conveniently have them in the places where WE live. But don't be scared, most plants are tougher than you think - they can handle a move if you keep a few things in mind: Base Stability/Top Sensitivity The best approach to safely move plants is to stabilize ..read more
Visit website
Grow Lights Part 1: A few grow lights I've used
House Plant Journal
by Darryl Cheng
4y ago
In this article, I'll show you 4 grow lights I have personally used with satisfactory results. I'll share my thoughts on what makes them a good choice, which plants would benefit from them, but also why you might look for an alternative. Disclaimer: this article contains affiliate links from Amazon. A portion of sales goes to support the work of House Plant Journal. I'm also pleased to present some brand partners who I've selected because I've been very happy with their products. The SANSI 70W Daylight LED Grow Light was generously provided by Sansi. The Aspect grow light is from Soltech ..read more
Visit website
DLI Part 2: Measuring DLI at Home
House Plant Journal
by Darryl Cheng
4y ago
The Daily Light Integral (DLI) is the number of PAR photons that land on a place in one day. We can get a reasonable approximation by measuring the foot-candle reading at one spot every hour throughout the day. DLI is like the temperature - each day will be different but you want to get an average based on the time of year, which will ultimately give you a quantitative/better answer to the question "how much light is my plant getting?" At the end of this article, I'll include a link that will address the question "how much light does THIS plant need?" - and I'll throw in my two cents to help ..read more
Visit website
DLI Part 1: The Prequel to DLI (Daily Light Integral)
House Plant Journal
by Darryl Cheng
4y ago
For quite some time, I have been describing "bright indirect light" like this: Put your plant where it will have the widest possible view of the sky and some direct sun is tolerable (usually 2-3 hours depending on the plant). At first, some people thought I was saying if you do this (putting the plant where it has the widest possible view of the sky), your plant will grow perfectly fine...NO! That's not what it means. The real implication is this: You need to put your plant where it will have the widest possible view of the sky because that's the spot with the best possible DLI - and your pl ..read more
Visit website
PAR vs. Foot-Candles
House Plant Journal
by Darryl Cheng
4y ago
People who know the science of photosynthesis will say that 'photosynthetically active radiation' or PAR is the true measure of light for plants. They'll say that measuring perceived brightness in lux (lumen per square meter) or foot-candles (lumen per square foot) is less accurate because perceived brightness is most sensitive in the green region of the spectrum (550 nm), whereas PAR includes the farther ends of the visible spectrum (blue - around 400 nm and red - around 700 nm). Theoretical Discrepancies Knowing this, we must consider: what kind of discrepancy could arise if we were to only ..read more
Visit website
Is it still "bright indirect light" if the sun shines on that spot for a couple hours?
House Plant Journal
by Darryl Cheng
4y ago
Last time, I talked about making connections between light meter readings with your physical environment. We saw that when the sun is in the direct line of sight with the light meter, the readings will be very high: 4000-6000 foot-candles through glass (as in the above photo) and 10,000 and above when outdoors. If the sun is blocked, the readings are proportional with the total visible area of sky - basically, the readings are higher with more visible area of the sky. The critical implication is this: your walls and ceiling are blocking MOST of the visible sky all around you, so the "best p ..read more
Visit website
Understanding Light - Using a Light Meter
House Plant Journal
by Darryl Cheng
4y ago
The other day, I posted a question on my Instagarm stories: "How can I help you understand light today?" Hundreds of questions came in so I decided I'll make several blog posts on the subject based on the common themes I gathered from the questions. One thing I will say is this: the fact that you all have so many questions about light tells me that you're all smart people, capable of logical reasoning - and that the current ways in which light has been described as they relate to houseplant care are overly simplistic, vague, and unhelpful. This will be an ongoing series with the goal of helpin ..read more
Visit website

Follow House Plant Journal on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR