Winter Plant Light: We Know the Light Source and Light Intensity Changes Have You Thought of the Possiblities

When winter is on our doorstep, and the holidays will be arriving very soon. Let’s take a look at winter light and a few things to keep in mind.

As we start dragging out all the holiday decorations, it’s easy to make room for everything else by pushing our plants into the corner and out of the way.

We know that the light source and light intensity changes and/or decreases in winter, but have you thought of the possible reduced light sources, and light intensity?

Keep this in mind when moving plants around during the holidays. All plants require some light whether natural or artificial. Generally, flowering plants prefer stronger light; foliage plants will tolerate lower light conditions.

During the holidays your household may like to keep the lights a little lower and enjoy the colors of the season. That extra 3 to 4 hours of reduced lighting that your plants would normally receive coupled with the possible plants’ movement to lower light areas can cause your plants problems. This could mean a reduction of 30 to 50% or more of available light.

Many plants that can grow in 150 foot candles may not fare too well in the 75 foot candle range. If this continues over a 6 week period you may spend a good portion of your time trying to revive your plant(s). 

Future Light

There is an architectural trend going on these days. The trend is that buildings are getting darker.

Building owners and managers have been attempting to reduce their electrical cost. In some buildings motion detectors have been installed which turn off lights if there is no movement for a certain period of time.

Also, new lighting which have lower foot candles and energy requirements are replacing older lighting systems. All this means is that plants will have lower light levels and less light over time to sustain growth indoors.

Remember, if you’re going to put plants into low light levels and you want them to look good, select the right plant.

Check out the article on Tough plants for some suggestions.