Lighting

In the interest of optimizing growth, I have decided to inventory all of my plants and group them by lighting requirements.  That is, lighting requirements based on my interpretation of the various terminology used to describe each plant's ideal illumination.


Bright/Direct Sunlight:

For me, this means in the sill of an east- or west-facing window.  It would probably be best to be in a south-facing window sill, but I do not have any.

Aluminum Plant (I tried setting this next to an East-facing window and it seemed to stagnate its growth.  Placing it directly in the sunny window launched a significant growth spurt.)

Polka dot plant (If not in direct sunlight, the leaves get too green thusly kabashing the whole allure of the plant.)

Kalanchoe

Sedum

Echeveria

Gerber daisy

Cyclamen

Amaryllis


Indirect Sunlight:

For me, this means within a few feet of an east- or west-facing window.  Or, in a north-facing window sill (in the summer, some of my North-facing windows get evening sun).  There could be some direct sunlight exposure, but only briefly, like during the wee morning hours or towards the end of the evening.

Palm

Braided umbrella tree

Rex begonia

Ivy

Christmas cacti

Jade jewel

Caladium


Low Light:

For me, this is on the sill of a sun-less north-facing window, in a corner near a window or against a wall a more than a few feet from a window.  

Snake plant (I've read this can pretty much go in any lighting condition, but since I have an excess of indirect and low light, I put it up on the shelf.)

Wandering jew (These can really go in any lighting condition.  They get really full in total sun exposure, like outside during the summer.)

Orchid (In the winter, I may put these in an east-exposure, but in the summer I definitely keep them in low-light conditions.)

African violet (I'm not totally sure in what conditions this plant thrives, but for the moment, low light hasn't appeared to have killed it!)

Unidentified ivy

Chinese evergreen


And here is where the majority of them now live:

Thinking about making some changes

I tried placing my newer polka dot plant cluster outside for a few days, to give it some extra direct sunlight and hopefully turn those leaves anything but green (or crispy brown!).  It seemed like keeping them outside only helped to dry them out quickly, so I moved them back inside to an East-facing window sill.  Now I'm facing with almost entirely green leaves!  Granted, I pulled all my blinds down to half-way this week because of the blistering sun and high humidity.  But now I'm thinking maybe I'll put these suckers outside again?

What I'd really like to try is just straight up pruning this sucker so it simmers down its growth.  This is the second polka dot plant I have purchased and it seems to be growing in the same manner as my first one, i.e. growing out table and weak rather than short and full.  I may give this one some snips and see what happens!  In a subsequent post of course.

Also, it seems to have been a few months since I attempted my african violet propagation.  As such, I have decided to remove them from their zip-lock shrouds and expose them to the "dry" air (the relative humidity has been in excess of 75% the past few weeks, even with the AC - granted I keep the AC pumping as little as possible!

I'd like to prune back my gerber daisy somehow.  It's on its 3rd bloom (maybe 4th?) since I bought it, so whatever I'm doing seems to be working ok, but it is just getting a little too long and floppy as far as the leaves and bloom stems go.  I'll post a photo of that in a subsequent post.  Just wanted to check in and make my first post of the month!