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Bypass Pruners
Thermometer/Hygrometer
Soft Wire Tie (Green)
Soft Wire Tie (Tan)
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Bonsai Snips
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My methods for treating spider mites, in order of

If it seems like pests keep coming back it's becau

In my previous post, you saw a method of approxima

In my previous post, you saw a method of approximating total light received in an indoor natural light context based on two parameters (duration of direct sun and range of indirect light)
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For a grow light lighting context, the parameters are easier to define because they are controlled by you:
- Strength of light at the leaf
- Duration
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So in order to fully describe the light situation for my plants under this grow light, I just need to measure the strength at the leaf (for each plant) and tell you the duration the grow light is on per day. Now you'll have sufficient detail to set your plants in a similar light situation.
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People get confused because they just see a number, like 200 FC, but the context isn't specified (indoor natural light vs grow light) and, in the case of grow lights, the duration isn't given.
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In the next post, I'll show you how this relates to DLI since a people seem to think "foot-candles doesn't measure the light that plants actually use" - which is a misconception that was based on old technology and different growing goals...
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#houseplantjournal #LTHMeter #measuringlight #growlight

In order to understand indoor lighting, we need to

In order to understand indoor lighting, we need to distinguish between *brightness* and *total light received*
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In an ideal world, we would all be able to measure the Daily Light Integral (DLI), which is the quantification of total light recieved, but it's not entirely practical given how natural light varies based on weather patterns.
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Instead, we can approximate the total light received based on some broad parameters - in an indoor natural light context as the sun moves across the sky, a plant in a given window *may* be exposed to some duration of direct sun and when the sun moves away, the patch of sky provides indirect light
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If we want to describe the light situation (indoor natural light context) in more detail than just "bright indirect light", these two parameters make up a good approximation for the total light received:
1) Duration of direct sun (0, 1, 2, 3, 4+ hours - a rough estimate based on your observation will suffice)
2) Strength of indirect light - measure frequently to find the applicable range:
➟ less than 100 FC
➟ 100-200 FC
➟ 200-400 FC
➟ 400-800 FC

Appreciating the latest leaf on my Monstera obliqu

Appreciating the latest leaf on my Monstera obliqua
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How to describe the light situation:
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In an *indoor natural light* context, a plant will see indirect light (where the strength is proportional to the size of the view of the sky) and maybe some duration of direct sun
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So if I want to adequately describe the light situation for my plant, I need to state how many hours of direct sun strikes the plant *and* the average strength of the indirect light
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For this particular situation, my plant is seeing:
➟ about 3 hours of direct sun
➟ indirect light in the 200-400 FC range the rest of the day
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Now you have a useful basis of comparison. Just saying "bright indirect light" is meaningless.
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#houseplantjournal #monstera #monsteraobliqua #measuringlight #LTHMeter

* IMPORTANT * Using eclipse glasses doesn't mean y

* IMPORTANT * Using eclipse glasses doesn't mean you can stare at the sun indefinitely
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Take note of the TIME LIMIT of continuous use (mine says 3 minutes), after which you should take a short break because some UV rays still get through the filter, although significantly reduced:
At 380 nm
~ 66 µW/sq cm (unobstructed sun)
~ 8 µW/sq cm (block by a rock)
~ 1 µW/sq cm (eclipse glasses)
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Happy eclipse viewing 🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕☀️
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#houseplantjournal #eclipse #eclipse2024

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