Is a grow light considered direct or indirect light?
If you want to develop strong fundamentals in plant care, my book and online course will guide you in the right direction.
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Review: A-Pot by Dowan Ceramics
I’m excited to partner with Dowan Ceramics to introduce and test their A-Pot self-watering houseplant pot! This is a paid partnership between Dowan Ceramics and House Plant Journal I was immediately drawn to the design of the A-Pot because of its stylish combination of glass and terracotta. While I’m generally on top of checking up […]
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Grow Light Review: Soltech Solutions Vita Grow Light
Disclaimer: this is a paid partnership between Soltech Solutions and House Plant Journal. The products were given to House Plant Journal to provide an honest review. Plant parents of today should rejoice from two converging trends: (1) the fact that LED technology has come a long way – cheaper and highly effective; (2) light requirements […]
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Aerial roots: can I cut them?
If your growing conditions are good (adequate light) and you’re watering/fertilizing accordingly, then everything keeps growing – including aerial roots after they’re cut: A small Monstera deliciosa will eventually grow many aerial roots, creating a crazy jungle look – here’s the view from below my monstera: I personally like this look but if you’re looking […]
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Misting: What is it actually useful for?
In my book, I stated that misting is about as useful to raise humidity as it is to light up a match to warm up a room: the effect on ambient humidity is minimal and temporary. And I don’t use a humidifier anywhere – my ambient indoor humidity in the winter goes down to 30% […]
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Meet Greg 🌱
I’m so excited to share that HPJ has partnered with Greg, the app that helps you grow healthy and happier plants, to bring you even more data-driven, science-based plant care! The Greg team and I agree that plant care should be highly personalized, because no two plants or environments are alike. So we both emphasize […]
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Scale Infestation: Helpful Photos
Scale is an interesting pest: most people notice them when they see little domes stuck to the stem or any ridges along a leaf. The domes are actually the last stage of the insect since it is a protective shell that resists insecticidal soap sprays. Inside the dome are the eggs. When they hatch, the […]
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Ikea Greenhouse Cabinet 2: Detolf Edition
Just as I was running out of space in my first Ikea Greenhouse Cabinet (Milsbo), I stumbled upon a gently used Detolf display cabinet FREE for the taking in my apartment’s garbage disposal room! Disclaimer: this article contains affiliate links that help to support House Plant Journal content ~ Thank You! Product Summary (links where […]
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Thrips on Houseplants: A Gallery
Being able to catch an infestation at the earliest possible stage will give you the best chance at fully eradicating it. I went through 3 years where I was dealing with sporadic thrips infestations and ended up throwing away many plants, but in that misery/frustration, I took lots of photographs! I hope they will help […]
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Spider Mites
The keys to successfully eradicating pests is early identification and persistent treatment People are often taught to identify spider mites only by the presence of fine webbing…but there is another type of plant-damaging mite that does not produce webbing: the false spider mite – scientific name: Brevipalpus californicus (Banks). The (true) spider mite produces fine […]
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Plant Parent
I still don’t understand what they mean by indirect.
I use a grow light on my office plants because while I have a larger window in my office, and it’s even south facing, it’s mirrored on the outside and just isn’t enough.
I recently added hoyas and I am afraid of hurting them; does the further distance from the grow light make it indirect?
Darryl
The distinction of direct vs indirect applies ONLY to the sun and, when dealing with indoor natural light, it is assumed that the window is mostly transparent (not highly tinted). Tinted windows will definitely result in weaker light.
The only way to clearly understand whether your plants are getting adequate light is to measure it.
I designed the LTH Meter to help plant parents understand their light in a concrete way.
I’ve written a lot more on the subject here: “Bright indirect light” requirements by plant
Plant Parent
The meter also says its not suitable to measuring grow lights, any suggestions?
Darryl
Any light meter is suitable for measuring **white LED** lights (and natural light).
The only grow lights that aren’t perfectly measured by traditional lux meters are fluorescent, ceramic metal halide, high pressure sodium, and pure red/blue LED. As long as you’re using white LED grow lights, your regular light meter will work just fine.
Plant Parent
This was extremely useful thank you.
If you want to develop strong fundamentals in plant care, my book and online course will guide you in the right direction.