There are often two crucial aspects of any new plant you take home that could take some time to get right: One is light, and the other is water. How much light does a monstera plant require if you love it and wish to maintain its health?
The good thing about monstera is that it can endure various lighting situations; however, outcomes may differ.
Fortunately, you can take advantage of this situation if you want to grow a larger or a smaller plant or perhaps adjust the lighting in your home! So how does your monstera respond to various lighting situations? Let’s discuss that in this post.
How Much Light Is Required For A Monstera?
There are two ways to assess light for plants: light intensity as well as light duration. The difference between light intensity and light duration is how bright the light is and how long your plants are exposed to it. For Monstera plants to grow healthily, light intensity, as well as duration are both crucial factors.
What Does Light Intensity Mean?
There are numerous terms used to describe light intensity. Low, medium, as well as bright light are all terms that may be used to describe it, along with indirect light, bright indirect light, direct light, direct sunlight, and perhaps even full sun.
It will be easier for you to select the ideal lighting for your monstera plants if you are familiar with the words used to define light intensity.
Low light
Low light indicates that your plants are receiving very little natural daylight. Your hand will throw a light shadow if you place it 12 inches from the plant and between the plant as well as the light source, or perhaps no shadow at all.
Moderate or medium light
Your plant is in medium light if it receives some sunlight but is not directly exposed to it. You will observe a light-colored shadow, including a fuzzy outline when taking the shadow test.
Bright light
Bright light indicates that the area surrounding your plant is well-lit and will throw a more distinct shadow, but it does not expose the leaves of the plants to direct sunlight.
Direct sunlight
When the sun’s rays are shining directly on your plants’ foliage, this is referred to as direct sunlight.
What Does Light Duration Mean?
The length of time your plant is exposed to sunlight or other natural light every day is referred to as the duration of light.
Usually, this is expressed in hours. However, there are a few significant points to remember regarding the length of light for plants.
The hours of light exposure don’t need to be consecutive. Exposure to the sun or light may consist of several shorter exposure periods.
For instance, your Monstera plant would receive 6 hours of light if it received 3 hours of brilliant indirect light from a window in the morning plus three hours of afternoon sun from a different window in the space.
It is also worth mentioning that not all light is considered equal. Your plants will receive more sunlight if they are exposed to two to three hours of strong, filtered light from a western as well as southern window as opposed to the same amount of dim light from a northern window.
How Much Light Would A Monstera Require?
To grow, monsteras require 10 to 12 hours of light every day, which is optimal in the summer but can be reduced to eight to ten in the winter with an increase in humidity.
Plan your calendar appropriately because your monstera will require a continuous light source all year long. You must keep your artificial light source on for at least 12 hours each day if you have one.
For the best results, if there is no access to natural sunshine, you should use your grow lights for 10 to 12 hours per day at first, then progressively increase this until you are delivering 14 hours of light each day.
Your monstera plant should ideally be kept close to a window that receives direct sunshine for at least 4 hours every day. To stop the sun’s rays from scorching the foliage, you can even use sheer curtains, as suggested by many plant owners who adore this option.
Other than that, if using outside light is not an option, you will need to use a grow lamp to enhance the lighting; it’s worth mentioning that this option will work wonders for taller plants.
You can purchase one for yourself online or at your neighborhood gardening store. Because monstera plants do not like their leaves to be overexposed to sunlight, you must place the light close to the plant.
A leaf that receives too much sunshine will burn or brown. Regularly inspect the leaves for burnt spots, and then use a grow light as necessary.
In addition, grow lights are far less expensive than purchasing a new plant and will maintain the health as well as the happiness of your monstera.
What Are The Risks Of Too Much Light?
Tropical plants like monstera suffer from excessive amounts of direct sunshine. If the afternoon sun is shining directly on their leaves, they will burn. But there are other consequences of too much light, which include:
Drying too much
The pot may overheat, and the soil may dry out too much in direct sunshine. Your Monstera will suffer as a result because it requires consistently moist soil to flourish.
Low Humidity
The air is also dried out by direct sunlight in addition to the soil. If you place your Monstera in direct sunlight, you’re inviting low humidity issues.
Browning Leaves
Your Monstera foliage may turn brown and get crispy around the edges due to low humidity as well as dry soil from excessive sunlight.
Scald Leaf
Tender Monstera leaves have developed an adaptation for soaking up energy from direct, strong sunlight. As a rainforest plant, Monstera’s leaves burn or scald when exposed to direct sunlight. They usually have a pale or white appearance, and they lose the capacity to carry out photosynthesis, which is essential for normal growth.
Conclusion
A monstera needs adequate lighting to develop healthily, but not too much, as this can dry out the leaves as well as stems of the plant. In either natural or artificial lighting, 8 to 10 hours of sunlight per day is ideal.
Remember that if your plant doesn’t get enough light, it will start to lose its green color and start to get leggy. You may avoid this by giving your plants regular waterings to keep them from drying out and by keeping them at a comfortable ambient temperature.