If you’ve tried gardening, you may have come across the phrase “bright indirect light.” Unfortunately, this term is often not clearly defined, so it can be difficult to know exactly what it is. Luckily, we’re here to help.
What is bright indirect light for plants? Bright indirect light is when the sun’s rays don’t come directly from the sun to the plant, but rather reflect something off first. Plants exposed to bright, indirect light will cast blurry, indistinct shadows. Bright indirect light is about 800 to 2000 foot candles.
Read on to learn more about the different types of plant lighting and how to get bright indirect light in your home. It’s not always easy to tell if your plant is getting the right amount of light. We’ve put together this guide to answer your lighting questions so you can place your plants with confidence.
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What is the difference between direct light and indirect light?
One of the confusing things about proper lighting for plants is the difference between direct and indirect light. So let’s take a closer look at what each of these terms means.
direct light: Direct sunlight is a fairly simple concept. This is when a plant receives direct, unobstructed sunlight. The light part is central here. You may not realize how many objects obstruct direct sunlight throughout the day – think tree branches, houses, or anything towering over plants. Interestingly, direct light through a window is significantly less intense than direct sunlight outdoors.
indirect light: As we mentioned earlier, indirect light occurs when the plant is in an environment filled with light, but the sun’s rays do not fall directly on it. The area is still illuminated because the sun reflects disabled or broken by other objects in the environment before directly touching the plant. For example, light shining through a curtain or a plant on a shady porch becomes indirect light.
middle term: Like everything in gardening, lighting isn’t always black or white. You may only be able to find an area that receives direct light and indirect light. In general, it’s fine. It really depends on how much light your plant really needs.
In practice, direct sunlight for part of the day is also accepted by many gardeners as a suitable example of bright indirect light. For example, if your plant is near a window that receives only a few hours of direct sunlight in the morning, it is often considered a bright indirect light source.
How to measure bright indirect light?
In addition to knowing the definition, it is very useful to know how to test for bright indirect light. Here are two ways to determine if your plant is getting indirect light and how strong that light is.
Shadow technique: A useful way to tell if your plant is in direct or indirect sunlight is to use the shadow technique, which allows you to gauge the type of sunlight based on the appearance of the cast shadow. by the plant.
A well-defined shadow without soft edges indicates:direct light† This is because the sun hits the plant hard and clearly casts the perfect shadow.
A light shadow with soft or blurred edges indicates: indirect light because the sun does not hit the plant frontally and therefore does not produce a perfectly defined shadow.
A barely visible shadow indicates low light. There is still enough light for a certain amount of shadow, but it is very weak.
These are good rules to keep in mind when handling your plants. If you want a more accurate reading of how much light your plant is getting, it’s best to use a light meter, which we’ll explore below.
Luxmeter: A light meter is a tool that measures the intensity of light that is currently shining with a unit of measurement called candlelight. The difficulty here, of course, is that the reading changes depending on many factors, including the time of day, whether you’re indoors or outdoors, and which direction the meter is pointing.
Bright indirect light comes from around 800 and 2000 foot candles and varies depending on where the plant is placed. But if you combine your light meter reading with your understanding of indirect light, you should be able to paint a more complete picture of how much light your plant is getting.
How to create a bright and indirect light?
You may have come to this article for some examples of bright indirect lighting. In general, think of a bright spot where you can’t draw a direct line from the sun to your plant.
Indirect light is when something is obstructive the path of the sun, such as a blind, tree branches or anything else that is between the plant and the sun.
Bright indirect light can also occur when the plant is placed in an area that does not directly face a window. Try standing in the room and see if you can look directly at the sun from where your plant is. The distance from the window also affects the intensity of the light, and the intensity decreases as the plant moves away from the window.
Other factors affect light that you have less control over, such as the seasons, time of day, and weather conditions that obscure the sun. With these factors, you primarily want to know more about the general patterns in your environment.
Use this knowledge to explain how these factors affect average light levels. In winter, for example, you might want to position your plant closer to a window to account for the lower total daylight.
How do I increase or decrease light levels?
Light levels have to do with where the plants are placed. Whether indoors or outdoors, there are several ways to influence the level of light.
Moving your plant to an open area is the easiest method to change light levels. If that’s not an option, you can LED grow light to give your plant the extra light it needs. See our definitions of direct and indirect light above to learn how to get the optimal level of light for your plant.
How do I know if my plants are getting enough light?
The amount of light a plant needs differs depending on the species. plants like delicious generally have higher light requirements, while: snake plants Yes cast iron factories it can handle remarkably lackluster conditions. If you need more details, this site contains articles on many common houseplants that explain exactly how much light they need.
If in doubt, it is best to gather more information before buying a plant or soon after. Do a quick search for the plant in question and you’ll find many dedicated gardeners who have created helpful resources on the best places to grow this plant.
How do you know if light levels are too high or too low?
All plants are different, so not all plants will show the same symptoms if they receive too much or too little light. If your plant is having issues, find a resource specific to that plant. In general, however, many plants show certain symptoms with too much or too little light:
too much light : One of the main symptoms of a plant receiving too much light is leaf scorch. It looks like brown spots and burnt leaves. If your plant is burned, immediately move it to a dimly lit area.
Insufficient light: A plant that does not receive sufficient light often struggles to grow normally because it does not get the energy it needs from photosynthesis. This often results in a weak, drooping plant and not producing as many leaves or flowers as it should.
If your plant looks so sad, move it to an area where it receives more light. Be sure to research how much light specific plant species really need.
If a spot gets a few hours of direct light a day, but most has indirect light, is it suitable for a plant that needs bright indirect light?
Usually the answer to this question is yes. A plant that needs indirect light generally does well if it receives a few hours of direct light per day. As a general rule, you should try to keep this number down four hours of direct sunlight.
Of course, it also depends on the type of plant you are talking about. You need to tailor your approach to the type of plant you are trying to grow. So if your plant has trouble with a bit of direct sunlight, it may be best to avoid it altogether.
conclusion
This article focused on one of the most inconsistent variables in the plant world: indirect light. Not only is this term very misunderstood, but it can also be difficult to know where to place your plant to get the amount of light you want.
Hopefully, we’ve given you the tools you need to understand indirect light and test how much light a plant is getting at any given time. Understand that this is an imperfect science and you may need to experiment a bit to find the perfect growing conditions for each plant.