OK, researching this online and it seems most sources say that window film should not affect houseplants much at all. Perhaps the plant is just adjusting to a new location? Seems that after several weeks it would have adjusted though.

I guess I could move it back to its old spot and see if it improves. It fits so much better in its current window though...

I would leave it where it is and let it adjust

So could it really take longer than a month for it to adjust?

Plants are really not 'adjusting' organisms. They are subject to cause/effect relationships with their environment and are more accurately termed reactive. Moving a plant to any light conditions other than ideal will cause a reaction, but the plant will not adjust to the less than ideal conditions. We can reliably predict that it will grow with slowed metabolism, show longer internodes, grow larger leaves, make less food, use less water, grow with less vitality than you were used to seeing, exhibit some degree of stress symptoms, etc. These are reactions that you should expect to be persistent, as long as the cultural adversity remains a part of the plant's existence.

Window films are all different. Some are reflective and some simply absorb a portion of the light as it passes. All windows and films have an impact on visible light transmission - which is the portion of the spectrum important to plant growth.

An insulating glass unit w/o a pyrolytic coating (like low-e glass) usually allows around 75% visible light transmission. A single lite of moderately tinted glass will further reduce light transmission by up to 50%, so a tinted window could easily reduce light transmission to 40% of available light. Though applied films vary in their transmissive reduction, you can expect them to fairly closely mimic the reductions caused by tinted glass products.

Al

Thanks, Al. That's pretty much what I thought. I'll move this guy back to the other window - he definitely seemed happier there.

So... My question now is... Can anyone recommend a good window film for me to use? I installed the current stuff years ago, and perhaps there is another product that would be better. My main goal when installing this film was to cool down my dreadfully hot apartment in the summer time. It definitely worked for that but perhaps my plants are suffering as a result. Any suggestions or recommendations?

Passive solar gain occurs when light energy is absorbed on the surface of any molecule and is turned to heat. An example would be how hot the inside of your car gets in full sun when the light is changed to heat after it passes through the windows and is trapped inside - same as your aptmt. We add tinted windows to keep the vehicle interior cool. The glass absorbs light, turning it to heat, then dissipates a good part of the heat into the surrounding air outside the vehicle. Reflective films don't work exactly the same way, but they also limit light transmission by reflecting (instead of absorbing) parts of the visible spectrum. There really is no way to reduce solar gain without reducing the amount of light passing through the glass. I'm afraid it's one of those things that can't be had both ways. ;o(

Al

Makes sense. Drat!