Everything you need to know about light and your plants
For your plant to continue to grow lush and luxuriant, it only needs 2 things: water and light, lots of light.
To keep your plant growing lush and lush, it only needs 2 things: water and light, lots of light. It seems obvious, but the truth is that the quantity and quality of light your plants receive is a primary factor for their development, in addition to the fact that each species has different light needs. Understanding how light acts on plants can help us have a closer understanding of how to use this resource to our advantage.
That's why today we're going to tell you everything you need to know about light and your plants.
Why is light so important for plants?
Plants are wonderful beings, capable of making their own food, but to do so they need to undergo a chemical reaction called photosynthesis, which allows them to transform carbon dioxide and water into sugars, which is the food that enhances the growth of the plant. Sunlight is the energy used to set this process in motion.
Plant leaves absorb a portion of the solar spectrum. This occurs in the leaves, thanks to the presence of chloroplasts, organs similar to pores, rich in chlorophyll, which in addition to receiving solar radiation, absorb CO2 from the environment to initiate this chemical reaction.
But sunlight behaves differently on the plant, depending on other factors.
Sunlight has two fundamental characteristics that can vary and have a different effect on plants, which are quality and quantity. The quality of light is related to color and quantity to intensity. Let's dig a little deeper into these concepts so you can take advantage of them with your plants.
Colors
and qualityThe quality of the light your plant receives is related to the colors and type of light. This does not mean that you are going to put colored spotlights on the plant, but it is related to the waves that make up the light beam. Each of these wave frequencies has a particular color (which you can perceive with your eyes only when light passes through a prism) and not all of these colors are useful for the plant.
Plants prefer to absorb the yellow, orange, red, blue, and violet light spectrum. They don't need the green light at all and that's why they reflect it. The preferred light of most green plants is blue and red light. Blue light is responsible for making the photosynthetic process more efficient. It is responsible for the growth of the leaves, it allows it to stretch. Red light helps regulate the flowering process and fruit production.
The
amount of light is related to the intensity of the sun's brightness that reaches the leaves. To the extent that the light reaches the stomata, the process of photosynthesis will be stimulated which will promote the growth of the plant. Now, while the photosynthesis reaction increases proportionally with the amount of radiation the leaves absorb, this point at which you get the ideal level of energy to initiate it, called the light compensation point, changes according to each plant species. If these conditions are not met, then the plant will not grow. It may survive, but it won't expand or bloom. It will no longer fulfill its natural cycle.
As the amount of light increases, photosynthesis accelerates exponentially until it reaches a peak, known as the light saturation point, at which the speed of the process does not increase. It is the perfect time when the plant is working to the maximum of its capacities to produce food and continue growing, fulfilling its complete cycle.
Inside or Outside?: Using Light to Enhance Your Plants
Imagine you have a square room in the middle of a clear place, with a large full-length glass window. Anyone might think that it is the same to put the plant inside the house, behind the glass window, than to put it right in front of it but outside; But no, because the quantity and quality of light it would receive would be completely different.
Outside, a plant is receiving unfiltered solar radiation from all angles. There's nothing stopping her. Instead, within a room there are dense physical barriers (doors, walls, ceiling, windows) that block almost every direction. In enclosed spaces, light often comes from a single source: a window or an artificial light source. This may or may not be beneficial, depending on the type of plant you purchase.
Types of lighting:
Direct light or full sun
This refers to the absence of barriers between solar radiation and the leaves of your plant. Species such as cacti, succulents, and palms love this type of lighting, as they must receive at least one hour of direct light per day in order to reach their light compensation point.
Medium light or semi-shade
This type of lighting means that there is something that acts as a diffuser of sunlight. It can be a thin, translucent curtain, glass, and other plants. This type of lighting is preferred by tropical plants that grow in the lower part of the jungle or forest, such as monstera or ferns, where they are protected from direct light by taller trees.
There
are plants that have evolved to be able to live in environments where light conditions are minimal, so they manage to reach their light compensation point with very little. But you should keep in mind that this does not mean that the plant can completely do without light, it always needs something, even if indirectly, in order to grow. Many of these plants can survive, but they won't grow unless the sweet spot is achieved.
How do I know the light conditions in my space?
Knowing the light requirements of your plant is more or less simple, at Be-Green we give you a card with all those characteristics or you can look it up in our plant guide; but to know the lighting of a point in your home you only need a sheet of paper.
Hold the sheet against the light source (the window, for example) at noon, when the sun is very high. Place your other hand in front of you, about a meter away, and check the shadow it casts. If it's a dark, defined shadow, it's direct light. If the shadow is soft, it's medium light. If you don't see almost a shadow, you have low light.
Play with these conditions, move your plant around, find the perfect place for it and let it grow splendidly, receiving the light it needs.