Light issues.

11 years ago

I have three glass shelves at a south facing window with a sheer between the plants and the window. Everything seems happy here, but it is back in my bedroom, and I like having my blooming violets in my living room/dining room. So, I have my leaves that are rooting back on the glass shelves, and I had moved my blooming violets to a desk right beneath a east facing window. They get nice bright morning sun here, and then it's bright the rest of the day. Everything seems to love it there, but there's not enough space for all of them! So I wanted to move some of them to my west picture window which is about 4' high and 3' wide... and it has a smaller window on either side of it... so technically this should be a good place for violets... but it's overshadowed by a 10' porch roof. The ceiling of the porch is white soffit (sp?), so I feel like it reflects light as much as possible... but it's still shadier than my east window. So I guess my question is... can these violets still thrive here?? We have bright white florescent bulbs in our five bulb chandelier in the living room which is about three feet away from the window and 5-6' above the table my violets are on. Will running that some during the day, supplement the light enough to make up for the shadier conditions?

Would pictures help people see what I'm talking about? :-) Please let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas or advice!

Featured Answer

quimoi

11 years ago

About all you can do is try it, maybe with a few to start. You will find that some need more light than others anyway. Some of the girl leaves don't need so much or they get bunch, for instance. Some variegated ones like a litle more. You just have to shift things around.

I think you're supposed to hold your hand over them and if it casts a shadow, the light's right. Maybe somebody else knows exactly how that goes.

Diana in PA

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Comments (9)

User
Original Author
11 years ago
thanks Diana! like how sharp of a shadow is it supposed to cast? ive heard that in relation to Orchids but hadnt heard that about Violets. is it supposed to be a sharp shadow or a fuzzy shadow?
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Karin
11 years ago
Sharp shadow is too much. But I guess there are various grades of fuzzy ;-)

I am noticing my plants mostly have too much light. So I'll be cutting back on how long I run the lights...

Karin
lucky123
11 years ago
Su

Every place is different.

As Diana said, take a plant. Put it in the place where you want to grow it, then watch the plant carefully. It will take a bit of experience to know the symptoms of too much light or too little.

I chased shadows. I bought a light meter. All that was helpful but even after I shadowed and meter tested, I had to place a plant there and watch to see if there was enough light or not.

Once you get a plant in a spot and it is happy, watch for changes in the light, summer, fall, winter and spring. I have a spot where the trees filter the light. Violets do well there in the summer and in the weaker light of winter but when the trees are still bare in the spring, I have to move the plants to lower light.
quimoi
11 years ago
It's also easier to increase the light a bit than it is to get them to recover from being fried. I think it's just a shadow. If you get a tan there's too much light ;)

Diana in PA
User
Original Author
11 years ago
thanks a bunch everyone!! i do only window light for my violets... so that it limits the number i can have. i love having violets as long as its a "putter" hobby but as soon as it starts taking electric lights and all that... well its too much work and money! so i was trying to see if i could expand my space to that particualr window! : P

i love all of your advice. thank you!!
User
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
heres the window.... complete with cat on the porch swing. :-P

and heres my east window... with morning sun... the west window above gets about 30 min to a hour of evening sun.
AnneCecilia z5 MI
11 years ago
It (the west window) seems quite bright even though I see what you mean about the deep overhang of the porch. I would certainly try it myself, if I was looking for more places to put plants. You'll know soon enough if the plants there begin to reach or stop blooming - and it won't hurt anything to give it a shot.
(Love your Siamese, btw.)
User
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you Anne! I moved my blooming ones back over to the East window, just because it looks better to have mostly blooming ones in a display, and then have non-blooming ones together. So I have six "recovery" plants in the west window now... and I'm going to leave them there for a little while. Thanks for responding!

About the Siamese... she's not the brightest light-bulb in the box... but neither am I so we get along great. :-P