‘In The Garden’ — Light And Temperature Needs For Houseplants
By AMY MUNCY
Master Gardener Intern
Any time you move a plant, it will need time to adjust to its surroundings, even in the house. If you buy houseplants at the greenhouse, the plant may go through changes, drop leaves or droop its branches. Greenhouses are usually more humid and receive more daylight than your home, so your plants transpire a lot of water out through their leaves.
If the leaves continue to drop for weeks, there may be another problem. Take a close look at the symptoms before determining what action to take. For the first couple weeks, your new plant may need extra watering or misting.
As far as lighting goes, check what your plant’s needs are in this area through online or library research, or ask your local greenhouse. Most plants need plenty of sun. If your home is lacking in this area, there are ways to get more light on plants. I have used plant lights before with timers, but natural light is always best.
Not all plants need full sun or any sun on their actual leaves at all. This is called diffused light. And there are shade-loving plants. New plants may be full sun plants, yet should not be put in full sun right away until the plant adjusts itself to its new atmosphere.
To enhance natural light, I have used mirrors to help reflect more light in a room. Check it out with a gloomy corner sometime if you have an area that needs lightened up. Place a mirror in the corner and place a plant stand in front of it, maybe with a lamp close to the stand, and see if that produces more light.
When it comes to temperature, again research what your plant needs. Some plants, if outside under a sheltered and shaded area, can handle down to 45 degrees at night. A lot of what I call “true” houseplants are tropical and cannot handle temps below 55 degrees. Aloe vera is a good example, it does not like its temperature to drastically change or it turns colors and usually does not recover.
A note on hanging plants: you will notice that generally, hanging plants get dryer faster than others at waist and floor level. If you have hanging plants that are indoors most of the time and want to take them outside, you will want to keep them in a diffused light or shady area and protected from heavy wind if possible.
This goes for all houseplants. Even if a houseplant can handle full sun indoors, it is only receiving sun part of the day. Outdoors, tender foliage can burn or be damaged in full sun all day very hastily.
Watering needs for houseplants will be discussed next time. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at [email protected].
Amy Muncy was born in Wabash County and lived in Northern Wabash County for close to 40 years. Muncy grew up in the country, has always enjoyed gardening and mowing the lawn. She has been gardening since a small girl. She moved to Kosciusko County in 2000. She is a master gardener intern at this point, but will be a full master gardener before long.
“I enjoy all aspects of gardening. I really don’t have an expertise on any one thing. I make compost. I can, freeze and dehydrate. I like to grow veggies, flowers, herbs and houseplants. I like to plant trees everywhere I can. I know a little bit about a lot of gardening. I would say most of my experience has been on composting and different ways to do this. I believe we must conserve our land for our future generations and composting is a great way of doing this. The more we become self sufficient, the better off future generations are and we need to be teaching them by example.”